More of Incredible Istanbul with Karen

Moira and I went on an outting to the Galata Tower. 

Moira on the Galata Bridge.

Fishing is super-popular in Istanbul. 

We left the bridge and walked through a fish market, then through a neighbourhood in which there were clusters of shops dealing with various kinds of hardware and construction equipment.  If you step back and get a view you discover that the buiding on which the wheels are displayed is many hundreds of years old and rich with history.

We walked up steep and narrow streets to get to the Galata Tower.  Originally built in 1348, it has been damaged and restored a number of times.  It is the highest-standing ancient structure in Istanbul.  Happily, an elevator takes one most of the way up, leaving only two flights of spiral staircase to the top.

 

A kind fellow-tourist took our photo on the tower.  That's the Bosphorus below.  I suffered vertigo the whole time we were up there, hugging the wall.

 

After we came down, we came across this fellow in a nearby plaza area.  He had a tighly rolled bbqed log of some sort of meat, which I thought looked like pork (but Turkey, being Muslim, doesn't feature much pork so that seemed unlikely).  He sliced some off and chopped it and mixed it with a bunch of herbs and spices and grilled it over real charcoal, while heating a big hunk of bread, then assembled it with some roasted peppers.  I thought it was terrific -- chewy, greasy, spicy, exactly what I wanted. I liked it so much that a few days later at my urging Karen and I lunched on the same treat. Moira was a bit less enthused and thought that the chewy white bits might be tripe, against which she holds a prejudice.  Nope, apparently it's just sheep intestine.  It's called Kokoreç . 

 

On another day, Moira and Karen and set off for the Topkapi Palace.  But first we did various errands in a neighbourhood between home and palace.

Massive!

 

We went to a tiny little hole-in-the-wall place (to which a colleague had previously taken karen) that specializes in kaymak, an extraordinarily rich, creamy yogurt or clotted cream that is served on a pool of delicious honey alongside good white bread. A real treat. The photos on the wall apparently feature ancestors of some of the cows that make the cream used for the kaymak.  The proprietor asked if we would like Turkish coffee, and we decided that this was a good opportunity to try some (I've had it before, but not in Turkey).  You might think that if in a restaurant you are asked if you would like some coffee that means that the restaurant makes coffee, but you'd be wrong.  They somehow signalled a nearby coffee shop that sent a runner with a tray and our three small cups of strong brew.  Being careful not to slosh it around, you can drink amost two thirds of it before you really get into the sludge.

 

I don't know what the strings are about.  Perhaps there is some risk that these squash will float away in the strong breeze if they are not tied down.

Wonderful little baskets sort of like shredded wheat with tasty roasted sugared nuts.  Wish I had eaten more of them.

 

We were on our way, remember, to Topkapi Palace.  But the route went nearby the Blue Mosque and we hadn't been able to see it the last time we tried (and Karen had likewise been stymied on two previous occasions), so we decided to have a quick boo at the mosque before going on to Topkapi.  This entailed Moira and Karen nipping into a shop to buy scarves, leaving me vulnerable to a carpet salesman.  We ended up agreeing to visit his carpet shop after the mosque.

 



  As you can see, the Blue Mosque is stunning.  Gorgeous.  Lovely. 

 

 

 

The young guy who reeled us in (Fessi) is not, unfortunately, in the picture, but he was still in the room, along with an assistant or two.  The man pictured is Cihon, Fessi's uncle, owner of the shop.  They gave us tea and showed us carpet after carpet and we bargained and ended up getting the one to Cihon's left. 

 

Oops, meant to put this earlier -- a few of the ablution stations outside of the Blue Mosque.

 

Karen has these hair-shirt tendencies.  She has an apparatus for hanging upside down in her kitchen.  So if you ever feel the need to hang upside down, you know where to go.

In truth, if feels quite good -- really stretches the spine and loosens the shoulders.

 

Moira had a go as well!