Turkey Part 2: Istanbul
With two nights in Istanbul, we hit the ground running. Brendan packed a lot in the time we were there, visiting churches, shopping districts & eating-- eating-- eating.
Our airport transfer took us straight to our Airbnb in the old part of town. Riding backwards made me feel sick, so I quickly moved seats to the other side of the van. Istanbul felt familiar; an expansive city with streets of vendors, trams, cars & tourists. After about an hour on the road, (spent mostly stationary in traffic) we were dropped off on the southern part of the city, on the "European Side".
We headed north, snaking through the streets uphill towards the main road. Along the main road we found kebabs flowing out of faucets & stores selling baclava on every block. Our first stop was the Hagia Sophia museum, formerly a Christian basilica & later a mosque. A mostly dim & cavernous space, it was hard to focus on any one thing due to its' sheer size & detail. It was like a single piece of artwork that was too big to see it all.
I was impressed by the technique of these two photographers
We bought a transit ticket & took a train north across the bridge to Taksim, where we followed the tourist trail down to the Galata Tower. Īstiklal Cd. is lined with souvenir stores, high-end boutiques & cafes. A rickety old tram runs down the street, transporting people between Taksim and Simhane. Every few minutes we'd take a glimpse behind us to make sure we weren't about to be steamrolled.
Craving fast food, we had dinner at Shake Shack, then wandered in search of dessert. Along the way, Brendan found a steel drum in the "musical instrument" section of Īstiklal Cd. & vowed he'd return to buy it. He bought it the next day.
Wandering in some of the malls, we found massage chairs that looked too good to pass up. It was mostly nice, apart from one particular massage that felt like someone prodding your butt-crack with the blunt handle of an umbrella.
Sitting on the roof of a cafe, we drank our coffees & snacked on cakes while watching the people mill in the streets below.
Tuesday
Breakfast was at T-Cafe along the main street, Ordu Cd. We each ordered different flavours of their homemade ice tea & Brendan ordered an extra juice. We didn't know that the ice teas were served in jugs.
Our waitress was both puzzled & amused by our order.
Here is a picture of food because people like that.
We walked breakfast off & made our way to a hipster part of town. We crossed the Galata Bridge where people like to fish off the side.
We walked up Galip Dede Cd. & had pancakes. I'm finding the words to make any of this interesting...
Pictures!
And some more photos from the rest of the day...
