March 4, Day 8, Sultanahmet, Beyoğlu, and an immense food tour

This is not going to be a very inspired post. We're coming off a five-hour-long food tour, and it feels like holding thoughts in one's head is a physical effort. Plus, we walked a lot. But since you have come, I will try.

In the morning, we passed the perpetual row of fishermen on the bridge — such a welcoming sight. It must be very competitive while also satisfying to see a guy next to you (and it is, with one exception, guys) pull up the string of the fishing rod with five silvery fish wiggling on it.

When we got to the other side, we passed by the Egyptian Spice Bazaar — really lovely. We did not remember it being so grand-looking, with beautiful, wide halls filled with all kinds of spices, dates, sundries, and whatnots. The sellers were just setting up at 9am, and no one tried to talk to us, which we found to be true in other markets we visited. No one hassles you unless you take too close an interest in the wares. The markets in Morocco tend to be narrower, with more interactive sellers and a more informal vibe.

We then transferred to the Grand Bazaar and spent some time there. After that, we decided to visit the Blue Mosque and worked our way there. It is such a lovely area.

The Blue Mosque was built much later than Hagia Sophia. It is also magnificent but lacks the almost “fossilized” feel of Hagia Sophia, as if it has been around since the beginning of time. The only other place that I know that has that feel is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, a baobab of archaeology, a silent witness to over a dozen centuries.

The crowds remain predominantly Russian.

We decided to save Hagia Sophia for Novichenoks, Fishteyns, and others who will choose to come back with us. It is under heavy construction on the outside and reportedly on the inside. Similarly, we decided to save the Topkapi Palace for next time. We lost some steam at this point in the day and were not ready for another few hours of visual stimulation. Plus, it is almost $70, kind of bizarre to charge this much for a museum. Then again, the cisterns yesterday were $34 for about a 15–20 minute visit, so… hmm, I guess there are a lot more sights to see.

We walked in Gülhane Park near Topkapi and watched stork nests high in the trees. Then we booked our next destination for Friday — you will find out soon.

After that, we hung out a little by the water and watched jellyfish in the sea and fishermen outside of it. And cats — so many lazy cats waiting for the share that kindly fishermen gave them, or they helped themselves to.

Then we walked back to our side of town, grabbing a fish sandwich from a restaurant right below the fishermen on the bridge. It did taste like it came from the Bosphorus water, but it was fresh, so who minds a little extra mercury and other compounds.

After a little break, we went out to grab our laundry from Elif Laundry. The walk there along the east side of the Beyoğlu peninsula was very pleasant — restaurants, people moving around. We moved more inland when we passed the Istanbul Modern museum, which we have to come back to tomorrow.

Our laundry was ready — marvelous. We are happy — less than $10 for 2.5 kilos. A bargain.

We came out again and spent several hours at World Coffee, sipping coffee and watching people. At a towel store across from us, there was a cat sitting on a pile of pillows. Some people passing by were trying to pet it, and there was an occasional "Ouch" as the sweet little predator retaliated against the violation of its personal space. 

Then we walked up Sıraselviler Street and Akarsu Street to meet our guide, Remziye, for our tour of Hidden Beyoğlu. We were the only participants. It was marvelous.

I will refocus and revisit all the stops we made along the way later, but it was incredible and we very much appreciated getting a closer look at the neighborhood originally called Pera (“the other side”) of the Ottoman city — how Westerners first settled here, how it became a major center for commerce and culture, with graceful Istiklal Street leading up to Taksim Square, once the main thoroughfare with the first banks, fine restaurants, and movie theaters.

As Istiklal gradually became more of a shopping artery featuring clothing stores and “typical” Turkish handicrafts and Turkish delights, the real locals moved into the side streets of Cihangir.

We spent a bunch of time in Cihangir, with some highlights like lokantas — canteen-like places serving precooked food, cooked fresh every day, a great way to grab a quick and healthy lunch, a very similar concept to what they have in Lithuania and other countries of the former Soviet bloc. We started the tour at a place called Zerve. As the area became more gentrified after being abandoned, the owners of this place are trying to bring this concept back. We loved it.

This neighborhood is our new favorite in Istanbul — insanely diverse, lots of expats, LGBT friendly. With a more conservative Sultanahmet, the area used to be the first Hollywood of Turkey — many actors and actresses lived here, and films were shot here first in Istanbul.

The next stop was an area where a local cat aficionado built Catstantinopel — a little cat town with wooden houses he made for cats. Grandma Lilia would have loved that.

Next stop was Cihangir Mantıcısı — manti, little Turkish ravioli. Super delicious. But what was equally awesome was stuffed eggplants — mind you, those were stuffed dried eggplants. We saw them hanging on strings in the Grand Bazaar. Very highly recommended — so cool. And the women who worked there were from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. 

Then we went to get a cup of brine and pickles at the historical Asri Turşucu, a place famous for pickles and even featured in a cult movie that Turkish people love to watch the same way the former Soviets love to watch a certain movie about New Year's. People come to Asri Turşucu to get a cup of pickles or take some away. Maybe this is the next brilliant idea? :) 

Next, we went to a café bar called Symbol to watch the sunset with beers from the rooftop. The entire street has interesting bars, and they are famous for having fortune tellers on staff who read tarot cards or coffee grounds. We did not ask for fortunes. We knew our fortunes would take us further tonight.

After a brief walk, we found ourselves right back in the middle of Istiklal Street. It is amazing what is hiding in those back streets.

We went into a meyhane — basically a traditional wine tavern. Locals order rakı (an anise vodka), which they drink diluted with water and ice, along with meze — vegetable appetizers and often fish. Regulars even keep their personally labeled bottles there.

Then we went to another iconic Istanbul place: Saki Nevizade Ocakbaşı, a grill restaurant with the grill in the center. The name and the place felt a little Japanese again. That whole area has many iconic grill houses called ocakbaşı that specialize in grilling. Realizing that Hasan's Barbeque, where we ate our first night, was likely one of them. They let me cook at the centerpiece grill — the chef looked a little pained, though. But I succeeded, and we all ate there.

Lastly, as we were about to make the final stop at a dessert place, we passed by a shop that makes iconic sandwiches from sheep’s head meat - the tongue, eyes, cheeks, and all. Of course, we had to stop and get one. So highly recommended: BEYOĞLU KELLE SÖĞÜŞ MUAMMER USTA. There was a group of Russian women from Ekaterinburg who were enjoying their own sheep's heads. Remziye said it is always interesting to have Western and Eastern groups on a tour together to occasionally see the former look like they are about to gag at the sight of some of the foods, and to have the latter "ask if you are going to finish that" and dive right in. 

Finally, we ended at the marvelous Sakarya Tatlıcısı, where Remziye got us the typical Ramadan desserts — whipped clotted cream with quince preserves (much better than it sounds) and flaky dough with nuts soaked in condensed milk.

So that's it. A bit of an overdose in eating and writing about this stuff. Sorry, feel free to skip a few days now.

As we dragged our bodies to Taksim Square and back to the hotel in a futile attempt to burn a calorie, we amused ourselves by counting the number of people with freshly bandaged over visible nose jobs in the crowd. We got tired of the game after 12 nose jobs and one hair transplant. Apparently, this is a place to get those, if you’re wondering.

We will try to make sure tomorrow’s pursuits lean a little more toward the intellectual side… though there is a good chance we will return to a few of these places again.

Have a good night! Georgia - congrats!!!!!!