One of the best decisions I made when planning our trip was frontloading most of the sightseeing into the first couple of days in Istanbul. Sure, I dealt with some pretty gnarly swelling in my lower legs and feet and even my hands, and I was wiped out at the end of each day, but I was able to keep going for all of the walking we were doing. By the time we wrapped up our time in the city, it was all I could do to get from our room to a pool chair!
Our second full day in Turkey, we had booked a food tour in the "New District" of Beyoglu through Istanbul Eats. We were in Istanbul for some of the last days of Ramadan, so many of the restaurants in the older, more conservative part of town were closed due to the sunrise to sunset fasting observed by many of the residents. However, the New District is a much less conservative part of the city, and most businesses continue to operate as usual during Ramadan. We had a wonderful tour guide from Greece--it was very interesting to get his perspective on the friction between Turkey and Greece as well as Greece's current financial situation with the European Union. And of course, he also took us to a ton of amazing restaurants to sample authentic Turkish cuisine.
I really had no idea what to expect of Turkish food, and I'd still have trouble explaining it succinctly, but it was a sort of combination of Greek, Italian, and Indian with its own unique flavors. We started off with a delicious typical Turkish breakfast--bread with beyaz peynir (a soft, white cheese) and honey, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and a flavorful Turkish omelet. For "snacks" we sampled six different Turkish cheeses, ate mouth-wateringly delicious profiteroles in a bakery, tried some tripe soup, munched on fried sardines, and sipped on pickle juice with chunks of pickled vegetables including cauliflower, beets, carrots and more. The highlight of our snack stops was a Durum shop, made popular by Anthony Bourdain, where we each got to try a lamb durum--oh my goodness, SO GOOD!
We took a small break from eating to stop at a Turkish coffee shop. I opted out of the coffee as I expect it probably had 14000 pounds of caffeine per serving, but had a delicious apple tea instead. I tried a little taste of Colby's coffee, and thick just doesn't begin to describe it! We also broke out the chicken pudding that our guide had purchased at our breakfast stop. Yes, you read that right, and considering the fact that it did indeed taste exactly like what you'd expect chicken pudding to taste like, it was surprisingly good! For lunch, we had three different stops. The first at a restaurant serving borek--essentially a Turkish pierogi with a yogurt sauce. Then our "main meal" which included a to die for stuffed eggplant. We also had a sampling of baklava--chocolate, traditional, walnut, and one that had the phyllo dough rolled around a pistachio stuffing rather than in thin layers. Perhaps not so shockingly, the chocolate was my fave! Our final stop was our most adventurous one of the day where we all put on our big kid panties and tried kokoreç--strings of lamb intestines wrapped around sweetbreads and offal. Ha! And again, as disgusting as that sounds, it was not bad... at least in small doses. I'm not sure I'd go for the super sized kokoreç meal...
Our next stop was supposed to be The Grand Bazaar, but on our walk back to the metro, we happened to stroll right past the Galata Tower, and decided to take a detour to climb up for a view over the city. And upon exiting the tower, I stumbled upon a pottery shop, and just had to take a peek inside. The shop keeper was so happy with this decision that he sent me away with two free magnets "for the babies"--I just loved the Turkish people, they were so sweet!
Finally, we made it to the Grand Bazaar. As it turns out, the Grand Bazaar is indeed quite grand in size, and it's a strange combination of mall, souvenier shop, auction house and flea market. I actually found the Spice Market to be a lot more charming, and the Grand Bazaar vendors were much more aggressive. My favorite sales approach was the gentlemen who shouted out to me, "I have t-shirt in your kid's size!!!!" Really, sir? You have unborn fetus sized shirts? My feet, legs, hips and back called it quits at this point, so we sloooooowly strolled back to our room where we cranked up the a/c, turned on Netflix and ordered room service ice cream. Hooray for hotels!
Sounds awesome!! I can't wait to go to Turkey next year!
Posted by: Casey | August 29, 2012 at 02:56 PM
All that sounds amazing! I would love to go to Istanbul and do that food tour! Thanks for all the descriptions of the food, that's always my favorite part.
Posted by: Melissa | August 29, 2012 at 03:35 PM
Amazing, just amazing!! The memories, experiences and photos from all these trips are priceless :) Any plans for a big photo album or compiling the photos into a printed photo book through a company where you get to make the book layout yourself? But to taste the authentic food, I'm so jealous! And I know I just tweeted you but I need to give a virtual high five to you about that dress in this post you're wearing---looking fab missy!
Posted by: Sara | August 29, 2012 at 04:58 PM
Glad you had a great trip! Mmmm...room service ice cream. Did they have Ben and Jerry's?
Posted by: thoughtsappear | August 30, 2012 at 05:32 PM
Thank you SO much for taking such wonderful pictures. I am loving your Turkey recaps. It looks absolutely amazing!
Posted by: Karen | August 31, 2012 at 10:08 PM
So, you know all that food makes me want to visit Turkey even more. But, I have to say that the coffee is a little bit scary. I had no idea it was THAT thick. Wowzers.
Beautiful views and you look fantastic in that black dress. What a perfect travel ensemble.
Posted by: Molly | September 01, 2012 at 10:35 PM
Got your blog address from Janet (Love is Blonde) as we're going to Turkey next week! These posts are making me even more excited - which I didn't think possible. I had to comment on this particular post for two reasons:
1- a food tour? girl! you are speaking my language. definitely signing up for that!
2- unborn fetus sized shirts had me cracking up.
You are rocking everything you wore, too. I hope I can look that classy and I'm not pregnant with twins. :)
Posted by: jen | September 07, 2012 at 06:15 PM