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| Topkapi Gardens |
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| Topkapi Gardens |
We
awoke slightly more refreshed on Saturday, ate breakfast at the hotel (a poor
imitation of the gloriousness that is a Turkish breakfast, but free food is
free food and we can always eat a good one back in Malatya for half the price)
and then, armed and ready with our jackets and cameras, we hit the city.
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| Joe and I in the gardens. |
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| Very cool green parrot. |
Although it wasn’t raining (thank heavens) it was also very grey outside- not masking the beauty of Istanbul, but not
enhancing it in photos either. We headed
to the gardens at Topkapi Palace first and spent a good hour wandering
through. We couldn’t get in (we think
due to Bayram) so we decided to try again later. It was the same at the Ayasofia, and the
Blue Mosque had a line that far exceeded my patience levels. (Apparently it was
cruise ship day and all the day trippers were out and about) so Joe and I
decided to head to the little Ayasofia and have lunch.
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| Blue Mosque |
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| Hagia Sophia |
Actually, we were just wandering away from
the tourist hords and stumbled on the little Ayasofia by happy coincidence,
but that version isn’t as glamorous.
We had lunch (sans booze) at a
little café- I had the Iskendar kebab (apparently a favourite of Alexander the
Great) and Joe had chicken stew. Both pleasant dishes, although my eggplant one
is still winning.
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| Chicken Stew |
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| Iskender Kebab |
We finished lunch up
with Turkish tea and then headed to the water.
We did a beautiful seawall walk with the looming city overhead, and the
ancient walls bright and crumbling beside us.
It was a beautiful walk indeed.
We took an afternoon siesta, and then headed back out for dinner (lots
of fun- Joe had this amazing kofte thing and I ordered a fish dish- and we used
our limited Turkish with the waiters: much to their amusement). They gave us free tea, and we hit up a couple
more restaurants for beer (I would say pub crawl, but it was a restaurant with
beer crawl) and then called it a night.
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| Seaside walk. |
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| Joe making friends |
By Day 3 we were starting to get
a bit tired. The fish dinner I had
indulged in the night before was sitting a bit funny, but alas. We headed down for breakfast, then got ready
and headed out across the Galata Bridge to the other (still European) side of
the river. We followed signs, climbed a
giant hill, and found the Galata Tower. Since it is one of the oldest and most
beautiful towers in Istanbul, with stunning 360 degree views of Istanbul and
the Bosphorus, (built as a lighthouse in 528, and then rebuilt in stone in 1348
to be captured by the Turks in 1453) it also has a queue reflecting this. Fortunetely Joe and I were there early enough
that we didn’t have to wait too long. We
paid our 20TL each to get to the top, and enjoyed the panorama immensely. By the time we descended, we found a quaint
and pricey little coffee shop to grab an Americano, and then headed back down
to the Bosphorus.
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| Views from Galata Tower |
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| More views |
We had been talking
about doing a boat cruise down the river to see the Maiden’s Tower, the
Bridges, and a couple of palaces and castles we were running out of time to
see. All the tours by the Hagia Sophia,
etc were averaging prices of 40 Euros per person (which seemed like a lot) but
as we wandered through the harbour, the prices dropped significantly. We hopped on a boat that was about to leave, paid 10TL each,
found decent seats at the front and were off on a two hour journey. Granted if you pay more, I think they have
running commentary, but all you really need is a map and to do your research
before and then you can be your own running commentary.
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| Famous Palace I can't remember the name of. |
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| Mosque |
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| Maiden's Tower |
By
the time we got back to dry land, we were quite hungry. We found a cheap (albeit delicious) borek
shop just outside the touristy areas (I have missed borek since I was introduced
to its fabulousness in Albania) and dined for the wonderful price of 4TL per
person. We still had to go into the
Basilica Cistern, but upon viewing the line, we decided to go spice shopping,
have a rest and then try again later. I
bought five fabulous spices (upon much hemming and hawing) that I cant find in
Malatya and am very pleased to experiment with a couple of new ones (Ottoman
Spice and Kofte Spice) as well as the old faithfuls (Tumeric, Garam Masala and
Corriander.) An hour or so later, we were
refreshed and ready to go. The line for
the Basilica Cistern was still lengthy, and as the Hagia Sophia would be closed
on Monday, we decided to give it a shot.
This was the most expensive tourist attraction we saw (at 30TL) but well
worth the money. While the Ayasofya
doesn’t look overly impressive from the outside, the inside was to die for, and
the history along with it. (Again they charge 20TL for a headset so do your own
research ahead of time if you don’t want to get ripped off).
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| Hagia Sophia |
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| View of Blue Mosque from inside Ayasofya |
We headed for dinner, and shared the Testi
Kebab: cooked in a ceramic jar in front of you and then broken and served for
your enjoyment. It is a two person
dinner, ranging from 75TL to 40TL (we managed to find a 40TL place) and just
goes to show the price range difference just by walking two blocks off the main
drags. We called it a night after our
fabulous meal, heading back to the hotel to rest before our final day.
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| Testi Kebab |
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