Istanbul Day 5- Hello Again!
It was the last full day in Istanbul and we wanted to make the most of it. It started off with a sumptuous breakfast buffet and lots of chatter with the family. We were meeting up with some other family members during the day making us a total of nine people! We decided to meet in Taksim square, which is in the new part of Istanbul. It was a beautiful day and we were excited to explore the city one last time. As we met, we realized it was going to be very hard to plan the day with so many people and opinions- so we decided to just start walking towards the old town. We must have only walked for about 20 minutes when we saw a restaurant/café with very inviting couches outside. We decided to take a break for some fresh pomegranate juice, etc. As we sat down, we noticed the café also had different flavors of hukka or water pipes. We decided to order one and share. We ordered the rose flavor and watched the waiter set it up for us. We all slowly inhaled the wet, cold smoke enjoying the rose flavor.
Preparation of the Hukka (Water Pipe)
We started off again, walking by the water and found a vendor selling fresh mussels. I wanted to have them one more time and so I asked for 4 mussels. He also had pickled hot peppers- they were delicious with the mussels! We ended up having 10! Satisfied we walked further and saw a vendor selling halwa. It is made with semolina in India but in Turkey, halwa is made with sesame seeds as well as semolina. This vendor was selling un helvasi – the semolina variety. Well, we had to stop and have some! We ordered two cups, one with ice cream and one without- both were outrageously delicious!
Halwa- Un Helvasi
We continued walking toward to old town and now found ourselves back to the area concentrated with street vendors- same as day 2. We found the same doughnut vendor and enjoyed some. We also drank Turkish lemonade infused with mint! As you can imagine, we were quite full- so we walked over to the spice market and did some shopping. After a few hours, some of us sat in a café and the rest of us hiked up to a local mosque- by then, it was well into the evening and everyone was confused about dinner plans- as most of us were quite full. After meeting back in the café, I noticed across the cobblestoned street, there was a little roadside restaurant selling fried sardines! I had to try them- and I did. They were covered in some kind of breading, fried and served with a parsley and cucumber salad. There was bread on the table with the pickled hot peppers. They were by far the best sardines I have ever had- small, tender, crispy and delicious! As we walked ahead, may be just 50 steps, we saw another road side restaurant serving rotisserie chicken legs and wings on hot coals.
Rotisserie Chicken
We decided to order one platter as most of us were quite full- well, that one platter led to another one. It also led to 3 adana kebab platters and a few rolls. We couldn’t believe how yummy the food was and how much we all ate. We enjoyed the traditional Ayran– which is a lightly salted yogurt drink (lassi). The owner sent us a few plates of complimentary halwa- we quickly devoured them not knowing he would send us more! All in all, it was the most fun we all had that day. We decided to walk off some of the food and hiked up hill back to our hotel, tired and very satisfied.
Adana Kebab
