Leaving Istanbul…we’ll be back

 Today was our last day in Istanbul.  We stayed in the Old City, visited most of the tradition tourist spots in it, and managed to visit the Asian side for our wee foodie tour.  

Our last breakfast at the TAN Hotel Rooftop…we noticed our regular visitor

Our Istanbul Photo Spots

This morning we just went for a walk to find a good coffee shop, and found Espresso Lab - that funnily enough sells the same coffee as Fi has at home - Single O.  It was the best we’d had since leaving home.

We have both decided that we will definitely be back to Istanbul and Turkey.  Next time we I’ll stay on the northern part of the European side, or even the Asian side and perhaps venture into the country.  

We then caught the tram with our luggage over to Galataport where we boarded our home for the next seven days - Explora I.  

Welcome aboard sparkling Rose

Our original room was 6048, however we noticed we had one king instead of twin beds, so we requested a move which was no trouble.  Same room style, but essentially two singles pushed together with two quilts so we can both toss and turn without wake the other!   Fi tells me I snore!

Our cabin is well equipped with nothing left to the imagination.  There was welcome Champagne chilling on arrival in an ice bucket.  We selected our drink of choice - a 1 litre Tanqueray Gin, with sugar free tonic.  The mini bar is stocked and replaced as needed.   We have a coffee machine, and on demand room service (at no charge).  

We took a short tour of the ship to make sure we found all the bits we needed - multiple bars, restaurants, gyms, pickle ball courses, multple pools, whirlpools…enough to keep us busy for the next 7 days.  

We booked our first dinner at the Med Yacht Club restaurant…a Mediterranean style designed to offer tastes of the Med in shared style.    Our entrees were bbq’d octopus and mussels, with mains of Sea Bream and Dover Sole and a casserole of vegetables and cream corn polenta.  For desert we had a salted caramel hazelnut semifreddo and a pistachio apricot tart with cream.  We rooooolllllllled out of the restaurant and decided to do some laps on the running track - at walking pace.  We completed 7, so just over 2kms before hitting the Journey lounge to listen to some jazz before a show called MotorCity…a review of some Motown classics.  The food is definitely fabulous…the musicians were great but the ‘artistes’ singers very average!   Still, we laughed as we chatted to other travellers, tapped our feet and then wandered to bed.

A tantalising tasting tour of traditional Turkish food

 We booked a Get your Guide “Istanbul: European and Asian Side Guided Foodie Walking Tour” for today.  We met at 10 am  with another 8 people and our guide Bahri, to wander street food stalls, restaurants, markets on both the European and Asian sides of Turkey..catching a ferry between the two.  

(We were struck by how similar the ferry/water felt to Sydney harbour, and indeed other travellers from Denmark said the same to us.  

Today is best told in pictures…as I can’t adequately explain the taste sensations.  Sweet, sour, salty, intense, strong, spicy at times.  Lots of lamb, garlic, greens, bread, tomato, peppers, pistachio, filo, yoghurt, cheese, clotted cream, honey and sugar.  

On the European side, we enjoyed multiple breakfast tastes - mostly savoury and including two soups.  

On the Asian side we enjoyed many lunch foods, drinks and deserts.  We attempted to keep track of all the names but they escaped us as we were just too busy eating and chatting with our fellow tasters!  

Bahri was an excellent guide - an actor in the low tourist season - who had himself worked in hospitality and run his own (unsuccessful) cafe business.  He now can do two 5.5 hour foodie tours a day - with great local history and cultural knowledge to add to the experience. 

Fresh bread rolls - crunchy at street vendors are called Simit

The fresh rolls - eaten with two types of cheese, fresh olives; a red paste (Biber Salcasi) and a pastrami type meat slice, served with Turkish Coffee

Choosing the olives and cheeses for breakfast

Spiced Lamb Mince with tomato spread on Pita - you then put fresh rocket and lemon juice and roll to eat. 

Lamb Pide

Stuffed Mussels - served with two shells - once for each hand and you scoop to your mouth.

Stuffed Mussels with a variety of sources and stuffings

Pickle Juice with a variety of pickle vegetables

Fish wrap

The pickle shop

The pickle shop…you can have your own selection in pickle juice

Goat milk icecream flavoured with Salep, cut a slice and make a baklava sandwich…cold baklava

A pistachio paste inside filo

Ayran - a cold yoghurt drink

Rose water Turkish Delight

Kaitafi - shredded Filo Pastry, pistachio and honey syrup

Iksander Kebap - Lamb meat on a bed of pita with tomato, peppers and yogurt covered with hot butter

The covering with hot butter at the table

Lentil soup

Spice Bazaar

There are approximately 90 different types of olives available, and then add the flavourings and different pickling…we tried green olives in beet juice, and green olives in blueberry juice.

The day was fabulous.  We have very full stomachs, very sore feet and enjoyed the immersion into Turkish cuisine, which I loved!  

Full on Tourist in Istanbul

 Today was full on tourist mode.   We booked a Get Your Guide walking tour of three of the major Istanbul landmarks - The Blue Mosque; the Basillica Cistern and Hagia Sophia.    While the tour was only 3.5 hours, it was really a full day as it was fast paced and full of information and wonderful.

We started with the Blue Mosque.  Correctly named Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Camii in Turkish), is an Ottoman-era mosque located in the old city of Istanbul.  It was constructed in the 17th century during the rule of Ahmed as a mosque, and is still very much used as a mosque today.  Today was a celebration day…which we could not specifically identify what for…some said ‘Salvation of Istanbul’ others seemed t say celebration of conquering of Istanbul.  It did not seem to be a holiday as schools were still in attendance and all the surrounding shops were open.  However, there were lots of people and our guide indicated that there were longer queues than normal.  It is a Sunni mosque. 

Us in the forecourt of the Blue Mosque

It seems with all things I’ve visited in the last few years, the Blue Mosque was undergoing some renovation work - scaffolding on the outside and portions blocked from view.  The pic above is actually one from Wikipedia, as it was fairly difficult to get a good long distant view.    

We quad for over 40 mins to get through security and into the mosque.  Wearing head scarves and removing shoes at appropriate times, we were allowed inside to view the domes and the most gorgeous display of blue ceramic tiles that line the walls - and hence the name Blue Mosque.  It was a magical experience.

Next stop was the Basilica Cistern.   A subterranean water harvest and storage spaced that dates back to 6th century.  It was built by slaves and is extraordinary…the sheer size of the excavations that was required, the lining with pavement bricks, building walls, the columns and the domes and not to mention the aqueducts that were to fill it and to direct water from it in later years (after slaves carried water ).  It holds little water probably about 50 cms - enough to create a water ripple and reflection of the lights that are located under the walkway and illuminate the columns.   There are a couple of upside down medusa heads at the base of a couple of columns…our guide said it was slaves appeasing the pagan worshipers (who were in the minority, if not hidden).  Other pieces I’ve read were that the Medussa heads came from other buildings and were reused.  They are thought to have been placed upside down to avoid the gorgon gaze of Medussa’s eyes!   It has lied in a state of poor repair for centuries, but was recently renovated and is quite spectacular.  The lighting shows it romantically and there are occasional art pieces placed in the water.  I could easily imagine a sculputues by the sea type exhibition which would be stunning…lighting and water reflection could be used to great effect….that said, I am not a PR/Event person anymore!

Basillica Cistern

Medusa…but so you can’t make eye contact

Some of the art strategically placed

The third stop on our tour was the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque.  I had heard of it as the AyaSofia…which apparently is not its correct name in current times.   Built in AD 537 in the Eastern Roman Empire times, it has representation of three religions - Pagan, Christian, Islam.   Credit where credit is due, the fact they as the next inhabitants took on the building they allowed the keeping of elements and didn’t just destroy as many others would.  we saw the marble pagan pillars, the Christian frescoes and the Islamic elements so beautifully co-existing in this 1500 year old building.  Security was extremely tight so it was best to keep moving, however after our guided tour we took time to take in the magnificence of the building and managed to just people watch from the balcony.  It was really interesting to see worshippers simply relaxing in the space - groups of women sitting in a circle chatting; a father laying with his wife and child sitting near; groups of men standing and chatting - it was really interesting to see the space transform from the prayer time to non-prayer time and see the community use.  

Mary, Jesus and Joseph…Jesus has 3d eyes that follow you

Mary is covered so she is unseen from the prayer area as there are no icons allowed in Islam.

At the end of the day, we were exhausted to so back to our room for a cup of tea and rest before heading out to a local sidewalk restaurant for dinner - A yoghurt and tomato salsa style mezzo plate with hot fresh bread; Haloumi Salad and and Ali Nazik (Smoked eggplant with lamb) and of course finishing with Turkish tea and baklava!  

Traditional Turkish Hamam and the Grand Bazaar

 We are both still adjusting to the time change, and while we collapsed at the end of our first day in Istanbul, we both awoke at 4.30 am but at least we got a good chunk of sleep in the earlier parts of the night.  

We deliberately did not make arrangements for the day, in order to see how we felt.  After sitting in bed for a few hours, with a video call home and a few cups of tea, we decided to have breakfast on the rooftop of our hotel and then wander up to a hamam - the traditional name for a Turkish bath house.    After a bit of research we decided to not book online but to front up to see what sort of price we could organise, and as it would happen, it was much better to be in person than via WhatsApp or online.    We found Acemoglu Hamam which was a 20 minute walk from our hotel.  The original bathhouse was built in the 1500s and today is attached to a hotel. 

Fi can’t stop patting the cats…and they purr away at her!

While we waited for our time slot at the Hamam, we wandered a little further and came across the Sehzade Mosque and surrounds.  It was such a peaceful place and surrounded by gardens and a park.  There were cats everywhere you turned, and one even came inside the mosque, making a beeline for people to  smooch for a pat!  

Sehzade Mosque

Celebrating 100 years of Democracy!

Our experience started with a swim, steam room and sauna for 30 minutes before being led to the public bath house where we lay on a heated marble slab awaiting our attendants.  Our two lovely lady attendants were from Lombok in Indonesia (Lena and Siri) and they pampered us with a full body wash, then a scrub, a bubble massage and rinse.  This included a hair wash and head massage before being rinsed with spring water…with a final cold water rinse which took our breaths away.  We were then offered water and tea and cooled down slightly in a lounge area before being led to a private massage room.   Lena and Siri then spent 75 minutes massaging our bodies, from tip to toe.  In chatting to them, they both trained in Bali and we recognised the massage style - Fi particularly as she used to fly to Bali regularly!  They were both surprised that we knew where they had come from.  

The central marble slab is heated and the spring water enters into the tubs on the walls.  

The outside of the dome - from inside, when you lay on the marble slab you look up to the dome and light shines through the glass holes.  

We spent some time walking around some of  the main thoroughfares of the Old City - admiring the breadth of commerce available - the shops were a constant hive of activity.  The vistas are something out of the movies….I continually wondered how a few days ago I was on a farm with flooding paddocks and the next thing I am walking streets and seeing relics and some buildings that are 15 centuries old!  

The bathhouse really relaxed us - so much so that we could have easily succumbed to the jet lag and curled up for the afternoon, but decided to keep moving to stay awake, so we wandered to the Grand Bazaar.  I thought I had an idea of what it would look like, but when we arrived I was absolutely stunned to see the size of this place.  They call it the oldest and largest undercover market - it covers 61 streets!  We walked around and around - past jewellery shops with glittering diamonds, rubies, gold, silver and then around the corner there were small curios antiques such as snuff boxes.  On the next corner a scarf/pashmina seller was opposite a desert/tea/spice shop.  Fi purchased a couple of silk scarves - she needed to be coached in the game of haggling!  Once she realised it was a game and the shop keepers were expecting her to banter, then she did a great deal on her scarves (after a few practice runs in different shops).  Mr Prada man (who sold Fi the scarves) then introduced us to the sweet/tea/spice shop man, who then introduced us to the carpet man.  We had fun looking at them all and attempting to understand the contexts of such commerce!  

The arch roof of the streets and alleys.

Gateway to the Grand Bazaar

Rows of teas

It was an excellent day - our eyes were opened to the hustle and bustle through the lens of the relaxing aura post bath house!