This time, my lack of planning resulted in me landing in Istanbul the weekend of the Tulip Festival.
I don't think my accidental timing could have been perfect. Tulips lined all the major streets, filled the gardens of the Blue Mosque, the parks, Topkapi Palace, and even could be found in tiny pots welcoming visitors to shops and restaurants.
Unfortunately, the festival, combined with Spring Break in the states, meant a crush of tourists in the major landmarks. I arrived at Topkapi Palace (Sultahmet) early enough to avoid most of the crowds, but when I emerged from the Archaeology Museum there I found that what seemed like 1,000 busses had all dumped out their tourists on the site at once. Fortunately, many of those tourists did not seem to want to pay the extra money to see the Harem, which is really all I wanted to see (was it posh? was it beautiful? was it amazing? yes to all three!). I tried to see other parts of the palace museum, but I don't do well in crowds and had already been on the palace grounds for 2 1/2 hours (a large chunk of time when you only have 2 days to explore!) so I moved on.
I had read and heard about a "covered bazaar" and followed the street signs (up hills, down hills, up hills) in that direction, stopping for two things: lunch(!) and a picture of this man:
I love the idea of a bunny telling my fortune, but the bunnies looked like they had it in for me and I was in too good a mood to ruin my day with a bad fortune!
The bazaar was crazy packed with people and, as it is covered, was more like a mall than my hometown Khan-el-Khili (and much more expensive!) so I shopped a bit elsewhere on my way back to the hotel to clean up for dinner, for which I had special treat planned for myself.
As I don't often get fresh, delicious seafood here in Cairo, I had gone early in the morning to the fishmarket on the Sea of Marmara so that I could photograph the men taking in the fresh catch of the day. I got there a bit too late to see them unloading the boats, but was very impressed by the beautiful Octopus, Scorpion fish, Sardines, and many many other yummy looking fishes. As I walked around taking pictures, I
noticed that the back of the fish market hosted seaside dining. I knew that would be the place for the freshest, most delicious selections of the days catch, so that evening I returned, wallet at the ready (as it was not cheap!). I enjoyed deep fried mussles with a garlic cream dipping sauce, fillet of swordfish, grilled, with fresh greens...and for dessert? a beautiful plate of fresh fruit!I concluded the night with a beautiful sunset walk along the promenade where people sold nuts, popcorn, and candy. A group of funny old men invited me to join their barbecue (which I politely declined), loads of men and young boys fished along the walkway, and lovers sat on the rocks holding hands gazing at the sea. A few enterprising souls had set up balloons, cans, and bottles on the rocks with a bebe gun on the walkway charging people to shoot at the balloons, much like the boardwalk back home.
The next day I explored "New City" starting with a view of the whole city from the top of Galata tower, which was beautiful. From there I wound my way around and down to the ferry docks and jumped on the next ferry that was leaving - with no idea where it was going.
and, kids, that's how I first step foot in Asia.
See, Istanbul is a divided city, half in Europe and half in Asia. By hopping on the ferry, I had landed myself on the Asian side (and there was a decidedly different feel to the buildings - particularly the architecture of the mosques and foliage). I only wandered around briefly, then got back on the ferry, this time bound for another port altogether, back in the tourist area. On the boat a kindly old woman tried to fix me up with her son, who was there visiting with one of his sons. Really nice guy who's lived in Minneapolis the last 13 years. It was fun chatting to them about life in Istanbul vs the states. The grandfather of the man tried to get me to join them for a walk (I think, he didn't speak any English, but was very smiley and friendly and probably in his 80's - he wore a cap and brown overcoat; looking just like the old man from "Under the Tuscan Sun" that leaves flowers at the shrine each day), but I declined as I was getting VERY hungry.
I walked across a bridge, explored a bit more, took pics at ANOTHER fish market, took a ride on the 2nd oldest metro in the world (i.e. avoided climbing another hill) and wandered around until I found:
THE KABAB PLACE.
I was the only tourist, I got 3x as much food as I had anywhere else on my trip, it was DELICIOUS and it was only about $10. The menu choices were: Beef, Chicken, or Chicken Livers and then they just brought loads and loads of plates of veggies out and all these skewers of beef!
I know, I know, with me, it's always all about the food...
Finally I concluded my trip with shopping. Tons of shopping. I have many many pictures involving shopping, and many souvenirs to show for my shopping. Usually I bartered, sometimes with better results than others (it always depends on my mood, this whole bartering thing). Most of all though, I leave you with this: one of my favorite things from the whole trip was drinking tea out of the tiny tulip-shaped tea glasses that Istanbul is known for. I bought some with tiny gold stars on them for myself, and some for xmas presents to bring home. But this was one of the first pictures I took on the trip because as I enjoyed a coffee next to the shop being run by a guy who just moved back to Istanbul after 7 years in Wisconsin (I couldn't make this stuff up and neither could they - you can always tell when they are making up the "Oh, I lived in..." - this guy had the whole cowboy thing going on and was missing the quiet and remoteness of Wisconsin something bad).
so right, anyway, I leave you with tea...
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