Tag: sultanahmet
Good Bye Istanbul- Final Thoughts…
It was our last day in this beautiful and friendly city as I woke up and couldn’t help thinking how much fun these last eight days have been. It was partly because we traveled in a group with family, partly because of the sights, food, once in a lifetime experience of hot air ballooning, but mostly because of the hospitable and friendly Turkish people. The people in Istanbul were super nice but the people in Cappadocia were gracious and genuinely kind- the way I have never experienced before- I guess that is why I didn’t feel like leaving Turkey. Usually when we go away on vacation, I am happy to come back home after about a week- but this time was very different- I was sad to leave. I will cherish these wonderful memories for a very long time to come and look forward to going back and enjoying the amazing mix of east and west again some day.
For any of you out there thinking of going to Turkey, I would highly, highly recommend it.
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
Istanbul Day 3- A Palace, Crispy Potato And Grilled Lamb
Day three started with some wind, rain and a delicious Turkish breakfast. We bundled up and headed to the Topkapi Palace, which was walking distance to our hotel. We spent a few hours viewing the Blue Mosque and the Palace. Somehow walking around in museums, etc makes me hungry. We came out and immediately started looking for somewhere to warm and eat. On the way, we found a vendor selling crispy potatoes. He had a machine to cut the potato open onto a stick. He then fried the whole thing and sprinkled it with spices and salt- it was delicious! We stood there for several minutes devouring many sticks of potatoes. 
We also had some of the Turkish pretzel again- this one was not as crispy and fresh as the other one. We finally found a restaurant/cafe and ate some kebabs and lavash and drank some buttermilk.
We then headed to do some shopping. They have beautiful ceramics, rugs and stoles all over Istanbul. The trick is to bring the prices way down by haggling with the vendors- which is a skill I don’t possess but I think I held my own as I shopped.
After a few hours of rest, lots of research, we headed to a restaurant near our hotel called Tria. As we were 9 of us, we decided to order family style and instead of an entree each, we ordered lots of appetizers. They started us off with baskets of lavash, black olives and olive tapenade- delicious!
Olive Tapenade
Meze Platter
We ordered their house red wine which was also delicious. The wine I have had so far has been quite yummy- the problem is that alcohol is not served in the very down to earth eating joints- which is where I like to eat when we travel.
The appetizers kept coming- a plate of meze, which is like eating Turkish tapas. It consisted of lots of interesting things like grated eggplant in a white sauce, lentil kebab, tomato sauce with a kick, a fresh cheese spread, some kind of grilled fish, etc. The grilled squid was yummy as well! We were quite full and satisfied when the grilled lamb over mashed eggplant arrived. I was a bit skeptical about the mashed eggplant- but it was by far the most delicious thing on the table. It was soft, velvety and delicious! Believe it or not we were too full for dessert!
Grilled Lamb
We decided to walk some family members to the tram station which was near our favorite dessert place.. somehow the walk made the idea of dessert more palatable… so we strolled over and sat down for a few sweet things..
Tomorrow, we are off to Cappadocia!!
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!