Istanbul Day 1- Are we there yet??

Our trip to Istanbul has been in the works since last year in June! We have all been really looking forward to it- especially since we had cousins, etc meeting us there. As some of you know, we were in Lisbon last month and the trip was amazing- the problem was getting there. We had a cancelled flight;lost luggage and lots of frustration in between. As we were headed to the airport for our Istanbul trip, I thought to myself- our flight should be on time, especially since the weather was beautiful, it wasn’t raining and it was a direct flight- what could go wrong?? Well, long story short- we were sitting in the lounge for a very long time as our flight was delayed for almost 4 hours! I think someone at United doesn’t like me!

Anyway, after a long 10 hour flight, we finally made it to Istanbul! We walked out with our luggage intact and the first thing that hit me was the smell in the air- I can’t really describe it but it smelled like India! I immediately felt at home and couldn’t wait to get to our hotel to start our vacation! As we drove by the ocean, we saw hundreds of local families picnicking and preparing their meals on tiny grills. I also found myself peering into local’s cars and trying to envision what kind of a life they lived in this city. Half an hour later I found us in Sultanahmet, which is the old town in Istanbul. Windy, cobblestoned roads led us to our tiny little hotel.

Lentil Soup

We unpacked, showered and headed out. We were hungry and ready for an early dinner. We are lucky enough to have lots of restaurant recommendations from friends who used to live in Istanbul. They directed us to this hole in the wall (Sultanahmet Koftecisi)for meatballs. We walked in and were directed to head upstairs. We saw lots of local families enjoying the evening- a good sign! We promptly ordered and immediately started munching on some bread that was brought to our table. We enjoyed a lentil based soup,

chicken kebabs,

sheesh kebabs, meatballs- which were not what we thought- they were more like kebabs

. We ordered a fresh salad, some yogurt- which was delicious and buttermilk! The meal was served with a tomato based spicy sauce and it was all delicious. They had two desserts on the menu- a semolina pudding

and a pastry pudding. We decided to try them both. For all my Indian readers- the semolina pudding was halwa and the pastry pudding was gulab jamun! They were yummy. We marveled at how similar the foods were to North India! We walked out and felt we needed more dessert and headed to a large tea house  (Hafiz Mustafa) that had an array of beautiful looking desserts and puddings. We ended up with a fig pudding,

turkish delights and the most delicious chocolate pistachio baklava!!

It melted in our mouths! Satisfied, we walked around and came across an out door restaurant with lots of people eating and watching a Dervish dance. It was beautiful! After a bit of window shopping, we headed back; bought a bottle of wine and enjoyed it on the terrace and made plans for the next week!