We were in Turkey for a long weekend at the end of June and it was amazing! I was surprised to feel more 'at home' in Turkey than I initially did in Southern Italy. Istanbul was definitely more Western than I had imagined, and to prove it, our first stop once off the bus from the airport was at the Starbucks...a company most of my Italian friends have never even heard of. After refreshing iced venti, decaf, vanilla soy lattes, we took the Funicular from Tasnim Square down into new town, then a metro ride over to Sultanhmet (old town) where our hotel was. I had found our hotel on Trip Advisor and when we first arrived at the address given on the website we were shocked to find an abandoned building, but thankfully, the address I had was wrong, and we were quickly pointed to the correct building and we found the Maywood Hotel to be quite nice, especially for the bargain rate I found on line. We spent each day enjoying the huge buffet breakfast at the hotel complete with lots of chopped salads of eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta; huge platters of honeycomb, olives in every style--from fresh in their own juices to marinaded or spiced up with red peppers, large varieties of "Turkish Delight" a sweet, candy type item, plus egg dishes, pastries, and of course --Turkish Coffee...although we observed that tea seemed to be the more popular beverage among the Turks. For lunches and dinners we tried as much of the local fare as we could, and enjoyed the restaurants that had pillows on the floor for seating, since that allowed Josh and I some freedom from holding Evan as he was more than comfortable playing on the cozy cushions next to us while we enjoyed meze plates, super cold Turkish beers, Turkish pizza, and various lamb and beef dishes--yum! I was a definite fan of the food and impressed by how consistently iced-cold the Elin beers were. Very refreshing considering the temperature each day was in the upper 80s to 90s.
Some favorite spots:
-Lunch under the bridge along the Bosphorous straight. The breeze was great, plus it was fun to see what the fisherman were pulling up before even they saw, as about 100 fishing lines were dropped down in the water from above where we were dining.
-Taking the bus over the bridge and on one sign seeing "welcome to Asia" and then driving in the other direction, "Welcome to Europe".
-The Blue Mosque--the history and architecture were so impressive!
-The Grande Bazaar--you just can't believe how huge this shopping area is. It is all inside,with tons of hallways/wings selling similar items--i.e the Leather wing, the Candy wing, the Jewelry wing etc. It's like a maze and hard not to get lost in it.
-The Spice Market, fun place to walk through and watch the locals buying their spices, nuts etc. The scents are incredible as you walk through.
-The various restaurants with the floor/pillow seating. I wish there were more of those in the US and Italy as it was a very fun and comfortable way to dine. Hmmm..maybe I shouldn't have spent so much time assembling my Ikea dining chairs...throw pillows would have been much easier and maybe I could have started a trend in home dining decor...hmmm...
-The people. I found the Turkish people to be very nice and wow..do they love babies!! I didn't think anyone could love babies more than Southern Italians, but the Turks definitely do. People were practically diving over each other on the crowded trains to get a chance to stroke Evan's cheek or hold his hand--unbelievable!
-The Whirling Dirvishes!! These guys are amazing. I had never heard of them, so in case you haven't either, they are these monk-type guys who wear long white dresses and twirl in place to music. They hold there posture in such a way that their arms are out, their head is slightly tilted and looking up, and they just spin their feet with their whole body kind of on an axis and with the white dress flowing out to the sides. They are truly mesmerizing to watch, and we watched 'a dirvish' while we were indulging in pistachio baklavah and sipping apple tea at a cafe in the park between the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya.
-Sultanahmet was a great neighborhood to stay in for ease of access to all the sites. It is the "heart of old city" and was once home to Byzantine emperors and Ottoman sultans, but now it's just the perfect spot to stay if you are visiting and it is within walkind distance to most major mosques, museums, hotels and cafes.
We didn't buy a Turkish rug on this trip, but if you are ever in the market for one, I'd recommend a trip to go buy one in person. You won't be dissappointed by what Istanbul has to offer!
No comments:
Post a Comment