Part 2: Istanbul

I’ve been to Istanbul a number of times but had never before flown into Sabiha Gökçen, which is on the Asian side of the city and where the flight from Trabzon took us. Getting over to Sultanahmet, which is where the hotel was located, was easy enough, though. From the airport, we took the E10 bus to its terminus then hopped the ferry across to Eminönü. By the time we got off the ferry, it was raining and we were hungry. Happily, there were all sorts of balık ekmek (fish sandwich) vendors to choose from and Peter immediately went and grabbed us each one. Imagine a slice of seasoned & grilled, white fish nestled in a thick roll with lettuce. Sprinkle a little bit of lemon juice on top and the whole thing just totally hit the spot (well, it could have used a little heat to spice it up, but it was pretty darned tasty). Then it was off into Sultanahmet to find the hotel, drop our stuff, and start exploring.

Istanbul is a city that I love and that first day we did two very Kirsten activities: visited the Blue Mosque and had beers-with-a-great-view at Leb-i Derya.  Somewhere between the Blue Mosque and Leb-i Derya it started to rain again, so we popped into a restaurant selling gözleme, which is cross between a savory pastry and a savory crepe. Once again, Turkish food was totally satisfying. The rain let up a bit and we went off to find the only place in Istanbul that I know with a great view (there must be tons of places with spectacular views, but there’s only one that I have in my pocket and that’s Leb-i Derya). For Istanbul, it’s a pretty pricey place to go for a beer (12 lira/$6.70 for a bottle of the dark Efes). However, it’s worth it for the vista over the city and the water. The place serves food as well, but I’ve never eaten there. Maybe next time.

Late the next morning, we headed out to the one other place I wanted to go, the Basilica Cistern. On previous visits to the city, it seemed like every time I wanted to go to the cistern, there either was a really long line or it was right near closing. This time, there was a bit of a line, but it moved pretty quickly and before I could get too grumpy standing around, we were inside. The cistern is, well, a cistern that was built around the 6^th century AD by Emperor Justinian I. There are two pretty impressive Medusa heads tucked into the back corner, but what captivated me was the fantastic ceiling of vaulted arches.

Afterwards, we went and had lunch and then we hit the Aya Sofya, which at 20 lira has a pretty steep entrance fee (especially considering that the Blue Mosque is free), but inside is a beautiful sight to behold. For almost 1000 years it was the largest cathedral in the world. 1000 years. It, too, was built by Emporer Justinian I in the 6^th century AD.

1000 years. It’s hard for me to imagine such a span of time!

We spent a fair amount of time inside wandering around and enjoying the grandeur of the space. Not sure what to do afterwards and not wanting to hang around the overly touristic Sultanahmet area, we stopped for some overpriced sweets and tea and got on a tram headed over Galata Bridge where we got off and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked. Without a real destination except to keep going, we walked all the way to the Bosphorus Bridge in Ortaköy (stopping once along the way to sit and have a coffee), and then we walked some more. Eventually we stopped at a grocery store, bought figs and beer, and found a nice bench along the water to park it for a while and rest. I felt a bit conspicuous sitting out with my bottle of beer wrapped up in a plastic bag, but no one seemed to notice and that beer tasted damned fine going down after all that walking.

Peter had mentioned that the weather in Baku was supposed to be pretty warm. I didn’t have any clothes with me suitable for weather warmer than 65F, so I suggested we go back to Taksim so I could do a little shopping and maybe we could find a place to eat dinner. We jumped on a bus and discovered that our bus cards didn’t have enough money on them for a ride and the bus driver couldn’t accept money. The driver looked at me, closed the door, started barking at the crowd of passengers behind him, and drove away from the curb. While I was contemplating how we were going to resolve the payment issue, a young man emerged from the crowd behind the driver and swiped his card across the reader twice. We each gave him 2 lira (which I hope was more than the fare) and the man disappeared back into the crowd. We rode all the way up to Taksim, stopped into Starbucks for a bathroom break and a quick coffee, and were off down İstiklâl Caddesi so I could do some shopping. After a few false starts, I ended up in a Mango where I bought two shirts and then we were off to find dinner.

We ended our search for food at Sultanahmet Köftecisi, chosen because it looked full but not overly crowded and it was time for us to stop walking and sit down and eat something (beer and figs only take a girl so far). Afterwards, and because it seemed like we hadn’t walked enough that day, we trotted down to Galata Tower and ended up on a rooftop café called Konak Teras to have a cup of tea (we probably would have had a drink, but this particular place didn’t serve alcohol). It was a little chilly to be sitting outside, but the heat lamp kept most of it at bay.

We decided to walk the rest of the way back to the hotel (about 45 minutes) stopping along the way to buy us each one of those rings of fried dough that have been soaked in syrup (it’s super similar to a tulumba but I don’t think that’s what these particular creations are called). As soon as we got back to the hotel, I collapsed and tried to get a good night’s sleep in preparation for Part 3: Azerbaijan.