Travels

Day 13 This was the last leg of our journey. A return to mad Istanbul for three nights after the relative peace & tranquility of Anatolia & Cappadocia. We had a few sites left to see & I had promised some bazaar shopping. Without a doubt, Cappadocia – and in particular Göreme – was one of those great destinations for us. The physical beauty of the topography is impossible to describe & photos don’t do it justice. Göreme is in the throes of transforming itself from a lazy backpacker’s secret to a deluxe destination. We loved it. But we would never go back again because that would spoil the magic. Our shuttle to Kayseri went without a hitch although a no-show in anonymous Avanos – seemingly a tour bus hotel area – did squeeze the time a bit. But we got through the dual securities & boarding pass line up for our last internal flight to Istanbul (SAW). The last of 6 flights! All were on time & all were very efficient – except for the cancelled flight. Once again, the Backpacker’s rep was waiting & guided us easily to our van. The drive in from Sabiha Gökçen (SAW) was not without incident unfortunately. Just after a major traffic crunch for the north bridge exit, we were the first arrivals at a nasty accident. A car had slammed into a frontend loader parked on the side of the highway around a slight bend. Our driver got out & rendered assistance as a crowd gathered with other motorists pulling over. A cop arrived & supplied orange cones. Further along, another traffic crunch occurred just before the bridge. This was obviously a near-permanent fixture with vendors walking between the cars selling water & food. On the bridge our driver commented that there was very little traffic heading east & after a collection of police cars on the side halfway across he said: jumper. We finally got to the Zoe (again & penthouse #401 again) in Sultanamet after a two hour drive. I had booked Empress Zoe at both ends with the thought that if we really hated it, we could find something else for the return portion. It was comfortable (except for the 1001 stairs), friendly & I had learned the neighborhood, so we went back. After sleepy Göreme, Istanbul hit me like a bad dream. It was Friday & the Aya area was a mob scene of bodies & buses. The sidewalks of Divan Yolu Cad were teeming. We ducked into some eatery that was just OK but it was really quiet & it had a great view of the Blue Mosque from a rooftop terrace. Major photo opp. Feeling somewhat recharged & facing the inevitable, I directed us to the Grand Bazaar. Just to explain, I am the one that gets us there, wherever there might be. I work the maps & remember the routes. I was born reading maps (geographer father) & I learn a city quickly. As for the Bazaar, remove the jewelry stores & the place would be half empty. View it as a carnival with the carnies out to give you thrills & take your cash. All the prices we checked were higher than the spice market which was equal to or higher than the street shops & sidewalk vendors. Bargain & have fun. In pursuit of copperware, we ended up on Cadircilar Cad & eventually up in the square between the university & Beyazit Cami with its camera-shy pigeon-feeding ladies. A North American Indian troupe (or reasonable facsimile) was performing a quiet dance performance in one corner, but it sure sounded like Peruvian music to me. One weird & common thing on the street was the spirograph guys. They were everywhere with a table & a chair selling spirographs sets like we had in the 60s. Strange.
The Grand Bazaar

And on the streets
22K gold	Spirograph guys		North American Indian troupe
	A window full of Turkish Delight & Sweets
On the way back, we went to the Aya Sofya about a half an hour before it was set to close. A very good move. It was virtually empty. 20TL This building drips history & its bulk dominates Sultanamet. The few Byzantine frescoes & mosaics need no further description by me. The Blue Mosque beats it for beauty & tranquility, but the Aya has the presence.
Aya Sofya (Haghia Sophia) 537AD


Dinner had to be local. Our legs were still painful stumps & the four tier stair marathon at the Zoe wasn’t helping. The Medcezir – across from the Four Seasons - sucked us in with the big sesame seed puffed flatbread that they position on empty outdoor tables as bait. It worked. Pretty standard kebap fare – and nothing wrong with that - with a cozy feel & a great staff. A bottle of anonymous 50TL wine was consumed & the bill was 100TL. The bread was simply amazing.
Bread at Medcezir
Day 14 This day started well, got nasty & then – with effort - was salvaged & ended well. Obviously, this requires an explanation. We had the hotel call us a taxi to take us to the Chora Museum - which lived up to all expectations. 15TL The mosaics & frescoes are superb – jumping right out of Byzantium. After a tile purchase by my wife outside the church – some of the cheapest we had seen btw – we made our critical error. A cab was sitting & we took it to get to the drapery shops on Atatürk Bulyari – breaking all the rules. His ‘father’ got in for the ride (or was he the witness?) I didn’t check the size of the ‘extra’ on the meter. I didn’t speak up when we seemed to be going the ‘long‘ way around. And I wasn’t careful with my money when I paid. And he left us nowhere near the destination we had told him. And it cost us. Getting out of the cab, I was ready to kill. I refused to even consider another taxi for the rest of our time in Istanbul. We had been taken & I felt really, really stupid for letting it happen. A lot of should haves/could haves . . . We knuckled under & decided that we weren’t going to let this incident blow the day. We were enjoying Istanbul & damn it . . . we were going to keep enjoying Istanbul. But warily. After getting our bearings – thanks to a kindly vendor – we had nothing but kindly responses whenever we asked for directions in Istanbul btw – we aimed for the Grand Bazaar again. I apologize to the vendors along that way that received some of my anger. We tramped a goodly portion of the Bazaar, left on side streets & somehow circled right back in again. We fought our way down Sabunco Hani Sokaḡi & Fincancilar Sokaḡi to the spice bazaar, picking up some curtains for a song along the way. The single benefit from the earlier incident is that it made my wife ruthless during haggling. We walked from many vendors empty-handed but when they said yes, we knew that we had a very decent price. Aside from the curtains – that match the curtains in our Arcadia cabin btw – we were just buying tiles & trinkets for gifts to take back home. We had lunch near the Spice Market again & walked up Ankara Cad & Bab-I Ali Cad which is a particularly steep way to go, I can easily say in hindsight. Loop over to Alemdar Cad if you want to make the climb much easier on your leaden legs. We demanded a local restaurant again because we cancelled our Ciya reservations after deciding that transportation to the eastern side & back for dinner just might get really complicated & expensive. I hit the guidebook & spied a listing for Magnaura, just down the road. We sat outside with propane heaters & watched a bus ding said heater with his mirror as the traffic crawled by. I asked the waiter if the marble steak was good & he assured me in that buddy-buddy way that it was. It was. It came rare & sizzling on a hot marble ‘platter’ that lets you do some personal frying at the table. While not the equivalent of a good North American $45 behemoth piece of beef, it was much cheaper & pretty good. And a bottle of Anatolian red went down very smoothly.
Church of St Saviour in Chora

Cruise ship arrives - from Zoe's balcony		Marble steak
Day 15 The last day in Istanbul. The last day in Turkey. The only Top Ten thing that we hadn’t done - and that we also wanted to do – was a Bosporus cruise. I didn’t want to commit to the whole day adventure so we aimed down to the west side of the Galata Bridge for a Turyol cruise. 1 ½ hours. Up to the second bridge & back again. The morning had started foggy with the horns moaning on the Marmara. By the time we got to the docks around 11AM, it was still a little hazy. It was cool & thankfully I didn’t wear shorts. We hustled to the top floor of the ferry forty-five minutes before cruise time & it was filling fast. 12TL Everybody – mainly Turks btw – wanted the open vista for picture taking. We went briefly over to the Karaköy shore & then across the Bosporus for Üsküdar, the only stop. Then we hugged the eastern shore & crossed at the second bridge & down again on the western. Make Note: The right side (starboard) of the boat/ship was the right side for pictures. It was pretty cool though & I mean that in a temperature sense. I was short-sleeved & shortly after halfway we retreated to inside. The cruise was well worth it. Excellent historical or geographic perspective or just for the fun of a boat ride. Quite the current in the Bosporus btw. We wandered over to the vicinity of the Archeological Museum buying last day trinkets in misc stores & had lunch at Montana’s. With the long wand ice cream vendors as entertainment, we had crêpes – mushroom & chicken – both of which had a strange orange color (marjoram?) but tasted just fine. And cheap at 30TL with cold drinks. I wanted to see the Serpent Column from Delphi & my wife wanted to re-view the Blue Mosque so we headed in that direction. Easy success with nice people watching opportunities on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. The Blue Mosque was just as wonderful as we remembered it, except the crowds had multiplied. And the smell. A lot of stinky feet. And some women sneaking in without scarfs. Umm. Ladies . . . this is about respect . . . not about you for once . . . We discovered the Arasta Bazaar & the vendors on the street southwest of it. No hoards. No aggression. My wife bought a few things & we went back to the room to collapse. By this time my legs – and I kid you not – would seize painfully when I stood on them too long. My wife said it only happened when we were shopping. Ha. Ha, ha. Ah well, we were done. All that was left was dinner. We slummed & went back to the Medcezir – the restaurant across from the Four Seasons with the bread. Our waiter was from Brooklyn. With a Turkish mother, he came back to see the homeland & stayed. We had the lamb chop kebap – which deserves songs of praise from Aya’s minarets. Yes, it was that good. A bottle of wine - unknown – was consumed & we had a great conversation with two women from Edmonton (well, one is living in Toronto) about other parts of Turkey on their horizon & life in general. I should mention that the Medcezir’s owner Ҫen (just call him John) was quite proud that Jimmy Carter + wife had stopped in for dinner two years ago. He has the pictures inside & out. But please don’t hold that against him & stop in for the lamp chops kebap & some bread. Did I forget to mention the great bread?

Aya Sofya from the Bosporus	Yeni Cami - On the cruise		On the cruise
			Crowds in the underground tunnel
Comfy cat			More crowds on Alemdar Cad
	Let sleeping dogs lie
	Blanca on the Zoe's rooftop
Day 16 Backpacker’s pickup @ 9AM. Turkish Air to YYZ. And just how many passport stamps can they put on? First Class was very, very nice. The End Postscript Tidbit: Turkey’s traffic lights give a yellow caution for both: Red light warning AND green light warning. Post postscript Tidbit: English is widely used everywhere we went. Almost everyone had some English except for a few vendors & hand signals sufficed with them. So we never did learn more than 1 1/2 words of Turkish . . .
Best Restaurants of Our Trip While eating was good in Turkey, there was a sameness to almost every menu. Of course, we were in touristic areas so that might be part of it. And we didn’t stray from Turkish food. They all had kebaps & ʂiʂ. They all had some stews. They all had fresh fish. The lunchier spots usually had pizza & pide (Turkish pizza). Cappadocia added testi which is stewed meat and/or veggies in a small clay pot. Similar entrees averaged from 10TL to 22TL depending upon the location of the restaurant. The busier the locale was, the higher the price. Istanbul Med Cezir - Kebap & Pide Restaurant - Sultanamet – Istanbul: Order the lamp chop kebaps & the bread. Just 3 small chops but they are exquisite. Other dishes are good but not a standout – except the bread. 50TL for 2 http://www.hotelmedcezir.net/en/restaurant.asp Magnaura Cafe Restaurant – Akiyik Cad, 27 – Sultanamet – Istanbul: Seating outdoors can be noisy with the busy road but it is also good for people watching. However, this is a tourist area so that is what you will see. We had the marble steak – served on hot marble – and it was quite good. This restaurant was busy when all of their neighbors were empty. 80TL for two The Turquoise Coast - Ҫirali Arcadia Hotel – Ҫirali: Dinner on the beach. With tables set with linen in the sand & a crackling fire, does the food really matter? It was very good, though. They have set menu or à la cart. I assume that they will take non-guest diners but check with them before you go. 80TL for 2 http://www.arcadiaholiday.com/ Simge – Ҫirali: A laidback pizzeria in the village. Service takes a while but the pizza was very good. They also have other offerings on the menu.. 40TL for 2 Oleander – Ҫirali: I liked this for the friendly atmosphere & the great flatbread. This is the place the locals go in town. Standard kebaps & ʂiʂ. The owner has a display of the offerings so you can point & choose. 50TL for 2 Cappadocia - Göreme Nazar Börek Café – The first time you walk by it you will think: Are they crazy? This tiny nondescript café with one outdoor table can’t be the restaurant that is getting all of the raves. 25TL for 2 Seten – I am including this even though we thought that it was overpriced. Just a few doors from the Kelebek, it is billed as fine dining. The service was, but the food – while good – was not. My wife had the Dry Bean with Pastrami which was just a bean soup for 25TL. I had the Seten Style Lamb Kebab for 40TL – which was just lamb & a very few veggies in a big standard pita. 90TL for 2 http://www.setenrestaurant.com/
Conclusion When people ask: How was Turkey? I usually say: Great. What else can I say with a word or two? How can you describe The Blue Mosque? Or the absolute crush of crowds near the Bazaars? Or the fairy chimneys in Göreme? Turkey is like Europe Eastern Style. Istanbul has the narrow twisty streets like an Italian city but then there will be an ice cream guy at the end in his getup smacking his ‘scoop’ & doing his routine. And a kebap shop with their wonderful smells. And a carpet shop – always a carpet shop. I have never seen as many healthy street cats as I saw in Turkey. The tourists feed them & the Turks feed them & love them. Istanbul is a big busy city. Jammed with big city traffic, people, noise etc like any other & the beauty & history of its mosques & monuments equals anything in the world. North of the Golden Horn, it is a modern city – albeit with a Turkish twist. South of the Horn is the history, where every street holds the story of the glory of the Byzantine era, the rape of the Crusaders & the rise & fall of the Ottoman Empire. And around every bend is another fabulous view of the sea or the Bosporus. Intertwined with all of this is enough shopping potential to make your head spin. Because truly, Istanbul is one big bazaar. We really liked Turkey, but for us, Anatolia & Cappadocia were the special bits. Anatolia with its snow-capped mountains folding down to the sea. Beautiful doesn’t describe it. We saw such a small part of it, but I surely wanted more. And the scenery in Cappadocia is one of the rare unique parts of the earth. It must be seen to be believed. So there you have it. As I write this, it is late at night & I am in a Hampton Inn in Boca Raton - which is certainly the antithesis of everything I saw in Turkey. But I have to work so I can return to Turkey some day.