Category: Travel

"You're going to Istanbul again? Why?" Was the response many of my friends and acquaintances when I told them we were headed back to Istanbul. Even though we'd always spoke about returning to Laos or Peru, we'd never gotten around to pulling the trigger. And here we were headed back to Istanbul, and yes, even Greece, though this time it was the island of Rhodes, a place I'd been wanting to visit.

So why Istanbul? We really loved visiting last year, the history, the people, the vibrancy, but perhaps not as much the food…….strange. We compared many of the dishes we ate during our trip with what we enjoy at Sultan and though there would be singular dishes that surpassed those at our favorite Turkish restaurant, both of us were quite impressed at how the food at Sultan stood up. Soon after our trip I took stock of how much effort I really put into researching restaurants in Istanbul. It turns out that even though I had a list, the trip was overwhelmingly about sites and history….we'd often be too tired or lazy to go and search out places and ended up spending all of our time in Sultanahmet, Sirkeci, and Eminonu. Easy enough to do, I suppose since there's so much to see and do. But plane fares seemed reasonable and the Missus wanted to fly out of San Diego instead of making the rather long trip, bus from the house, train to Union Station, then bus to LAX, then the reverse or some facsimile on the way back….which was even worse. So there we were, back in Istanbul.

We arrived around midnight so by the time we made it to our hotel, we were booked into the Hotel Djem again, it was time to crash.

The hotel has gotten even better over the last year, good wi-fi, even conditioner…….during the first leg of our trip we stayed in the new "annex" location, a very large room. The front desk staff had changed over, but they were a nice bunch.

The first place the Missus wanted to see after breakfast was the Blue Mosque yet again.

Known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, it is an imposing, yet beautiful, fully functional mosque. Our hotel sat right behind it.

I had wondered where the wash area outside the mosque was. It is important that certain parts of the body be washed before formal prayers, but had never noticed it before. It is discreetly located right next to the stairs.

Our next stop……well I did mention wanting to revists Hagia Sofia. Which is what we did. The lines weren't as long as on our previous visit and we had the drill down….get your ticket and head straight for the interior getting there before the tours and ohter tourists. Heading upstairs you can really understand how grand the place is.

I was fascinated by this marble door on our previous visit…….I didn't know what the significance of it was. Well, it's called, what else, the "Marble Door" and participants of synods used the door to enter and exit meetings.

The amazing thing about Hagia Sofia is, that no matter how many hundreds of people are in the place at once…….it never seems totally filled.

As we left Hagia Sofia, I was on a mission……..we needed to get out of the area and to some of the more well known eateries. "Lokantas" are eateries where working stiffs traditionally got their fill of good home style cooking. Many of the items are in steam tables and you pick what you want. Before you go where I think you're going….this ain't Panda Express, as lokantasi have become a key player in bringing the cuisine of Turkey to the forefront. Here's a great article from The Guardian. One place that I saw constantly mentioned over the last year on food forums and blogs like Istanbul Eats is Ciya Sofrasi, having been called a "culinary shrine" and even "the best restaurant in Turkey", among others. Ciya is located on the Asian side of the Bosphorus….so this time we were actually using the ferry, not taking a tour. The fare is cheap….2 TRY, about $1.10 gets you across the Bosphorus.

Beyond just the metro and tram to and from the airport, we'd find out just how good the transit system was in Istanbul on this trip. Taking the ferry is a snap. you just find the station for whichever area you're going to, put your 2 Lira in the entrance gate and wait in line…….also, folks in Turkey, in spite of a rather serious looking demeanor, are generally very helpful and nice.

Here's what the Asian side looks like from the ferry.

About 40 minutes or so later……you're getting off in Kadikoy.

It looks like a middle class residential-business area. The part of Kadikoy where Ciya Sofrasi is located contains a ton of restaurants, vegetable, and seafood stands.

We arrived at Ciya a bit before they opened.

So we decided to walk around to kill time. We found a shop that sold coffee and inquired about a place that actually made a good cup of proper Turkish coffee. We were directed a couple of door down.

Turkish coffee takes a while to make. And it was kind of funny trying to tell the shop owner exactly what we wanted since he spoke no English.

A quick word about drinking Turkish coffee. If you ever get a cup, let it sit for a minute or more, the coffee is very fine and unfiltered, you get a mouthful of finely ground coffee if you don't let the coffee settle to the bottom of the cup.

Walking back to the coffee seller the Missus bought a packet of sahlep……She's been wanting to get some.

We arrived back at Ciya and the place was just opening. The owner and chef of Ciya Sofrasi, Musa Dağdeviren is quite a celebrity both in and outside of Turkey, having been a presenter at the Culinary Institute of America and featured in articles such as this one in New Yorker Magazine. Musa is renowned for gathering recipes from all corners of Anatolia, some which have almost disappeared and placing them back on the table.

I had read that there are over a thousand different dishes offered at Ciya over the course of the year, though Ciya is most famous for the vegetarian dishes of the region of Gaziantep.

Upon entering the Missus was drawn to the table of cold dishes…..which the person behind the counter explained to us is simple terms was…."salad bar". Though I've never seen a salad bar quite like this. Here you could get a variety of whatever you wanted and it was priced on weight.

There's a section of other various soups, stews, and cooked dishes. Here you could choose what you want.

You could also order various kebab and meat items from the menu….but really, with all of this to pick from?

Here's the items the Missus selected from the cold table.

The dolmas…stuffed items were quite good, but it was the various salads that were really outstanding. The pickled thin branches and leaves up top I believe are pickled caper leaves….which were wonderfully flavored.

The Missus also picked a simple red lentil soup, something we've had many times….just for comparison purposes.

The Missus just loved this. I'm not a big fan of lentil soup, but I had a taste……this was lighter than other versions, not as buttery, with the wonderful palate cleansing flavor of mint coming through. I actually enjoyed it.

The stuffed artichoke, not as much……

It was a bit dry for me…..also on the bland side.

We'd had a not so great experience with kuru patlican (dried eggplant) before. However, in this dish, combined with great savory flavors, it was outstanding. The texture was slight crunch and the flavor of the eggplant came through.

The one meat dish, a simple lamb stew paled in comparison….under seasoned, the meat very tough.

The dried eggplant dish would have been my favorite, if not for dessert….yes, that's right, dessert. I really don't have a sweet tooth, which is often a saving grace considering what I eat….but this, something I believe is called "teleme", just seemed made for me.

What the person behind the dessert station told the Missus was that this was dried figs and milk. It had a the wonderful flavor of figs (I do love fig newtons) along with what seemed like condensed milk. Sweet, but not a sugar sweet if you know what I mean. This was by far my favorite dish of the meal. Which was capped off with some tea……not Turkish tea though. When it arrived at the table it had a very familiar scent…..this was oregano tea! It really smelt like dry oregano…..we weren't sure at first, but it was pretty darn good!

Our meal came out to about 40 TRY, approximately $22 US. We were later told that Ciya was considered to be quite expensive with regards to Lokantasi…..but to us, it seemed like a bargain.

After lunch we headed back to the ferry station….but then the Missus stopped at the Dolmus station. No it's not stuffed grape leaves or peppers. Dolmus (literally "stuffed") are what they call the minibuses that run specific routes around Istanbul. On the flight to Istanbul, the really nice woman seated next to us struck up a conversation. She was born and raised in Istanbul and lived both in the US and Istanbul part time. She recommended that we visit an area called Bağdat to see what modern, everyday, albeit upper middle class Istanbul was like. So there we were, in a dolmus, having paid a simple 3 TRY each on our way to Bağdat Caddesi. Driver didn't speak any English, but others on the dolmus did and explained where we needed to stop.

The streets in the area were wide by Istanbul standards….I really didn't take any photos because it really looked like just about any large western city. Eventually we got tired and waved down a dolmus. This guy didn't speak English either, but understood "ferry" and dropped us off. We made it back to our hotel just in time for a nice nap……..dreaming about what we'd have for dinner!

Thanks for reading!

After a pretty mellow time in Antalya we arrived back in Istanbul, ready for the final leg of our trip. By now, we had the drill down pat. Catch the light rail from the airport, get off at the Zetinburnu stop….

Then catch the tram and get off at the Sultanahmet stop. There were times when the tram was packed….like sardines, but since we don't have much luggage; two backpacks, we did fine.

One thing we picked up on right away was to get your tokens when you have a chance, planning ahead one or two trips….this way you aren't at the mercy of crowds in front of the token dispensers while your tram arrives…then leaves without you. This will also prevent what happened to me once…we needed to catch the tram to the airport. While I was walking to the token machine I noticed our tram coming. I quickly inserted my coins into the dispenser hoping none would be rejected. Grabbed our tokens and ran full blast to the boarding station. I hadn't run so fast in years,; make that decades. The Missus was laughing so hard She almost fell over….luckily we made the tram.

We walked to the Hotel Djem, checked in, and decided to just walk the few blocks to Sultan Kosesi. The Missus wanted sahlep again and it was nice to run into our favorite Server.

The Missus combination vegetarian plate was much better than what I ordered…..

which was an Adana Kebab.

We were up and on the move fairly quickly.

The Missus wanted to check out the Blue Mosque and since it is a functioning Mosque, it would be best for us to visit between prayer times. We really didn't want to intrude……

We'd walked the courtyard early one morning, but had never gone inside.

Sultanahmet Mosque, was built by its namesake between 1609 and 1616. Sultan Ahmet's goal was to build a mosque greater than the Hagia Sofia right across the way. It's quite beautiful, especially the exterior at night. It's called the Blue Mosque because of all the blue tilework.

As we exited the Blue Mosque, I noticed a very tall fellow wearing a yellow cap. You can see him to the right in this photo.

It was Kareem Abdul Jabbar….I mean, you really can't miss him at over seven feet tall and surrounded by several bodyguards. I turned to the Missus and said, "I think the Lakers are out of the playoffs (this was last year)." She asked me, "how do you know." He wouldn't be here if they were still in it.

Anyway, a photo of the Blue Mosque.

The area right to the west of the Blue Mosque and Sultanahmet Park is the Hippodrome, yes, that kind of Hippodrome. Built when the city was still known as Byzantium, when Constatine the Great moved the capital to "Nova Roma" (New Rome), which became known as Constantinople heenlarged the seating area to hold over 100,000 people! Undergoing major renovation when we visited, it really didn't look that impressive. A large walkway, with several obelisks. The one to the right is what remians of the Serpent Column which was brought to Constantinople from Delphi. It was once the figure of three serpents intertwined supporting a golden basin.

Notice that the obelisk appears to be buried a bit? The original level of the Hippodrome is actually about 8 feet below the current pedestrian walkway, where the base of this obelisk is located.

The one to the right is called the Obelisk of Theodosius. Theodosius the Great brought this back from Egypt in 390A.D. It is carved from pink granite and is actually from the Temple of Karnak in Egypt and dates back to 1490 B.C. It was cut into three sections, the top section was mounted on a marble pedestal, just where it is now. It look good considering it's over 3500 years old!

This is called the German Fountain and was built and presented to Abdul Hamit II in 1901 to commemorate Kaiser Wilhelm's visit in 1898.

We explored the streets of Sultanahmet a bit more……..

And though the days were beginning to get longer, we decided to grab dinner, then head back to the hotel. Metin, from the Hotel Djem recommended a restaurant called Mozaik to us. Funny thing, we stayed right around the corner from the place on our first night in Istanbul.

Though the prices reflected the area….being high traffic tourist oreinted, the food was pretty good.

The Izagara Mantar Salatasi, a mixed green salad topped with grilled mushrooms was probably the weakest dish, bland, and nothing special.

The Missus enjoyed Her Patlican Musakka, tangy tomatoes, sweet roasted peppers, She told it was pretty good.

I really enjoyed my Cizz Bizz Kofte, cute name, huh? It actually means something like sizzling meatball.

I'm not quite sure about the sizzling part, but these were very well seasoned and melt in your mouth moist and tender. The simple stemed vegetables were an afterthought just to take up space on the plate.

The combination of lamb and beef was done well……it had just enough of that lamb flavor to keep you interested.

Turkey is a Muslim country, thus you won't find alcohol in every shop on every corner. Because our days seemed to be flying by, it really didn't look like we'd be able to visit a meyhane. So I decided to try some Turkish Raki, not to be confused with Cretan Raki, this was veyr much like Ouzo. In fact, when you added ice to the drink it turned milky white just like ouzo. I'm not a big fan of anise drinks, but I had to try at least one, right?

The drink set me up for a wonderful night. Right after the last call to prayer I was out. To wake up the next morning ready to go. We took our usual morning walk, then headed off to the Hagia Sofia….only to find a line already at 8am! I'll honestly say, that the Hagia Sofia doesn't really lok as dramatically impressive as the Blue Mosque from the outside.

But this structure was once considered the "Greatest Church in all of Christendom". So something fantastic must be in store. Right in front of us in line were four young people from Spain. One of the young ladies was obviously a dog lover and this one caught her attention. She called him "El Guapo" – the handsome one!

She actually went looking for something to give Mr Handsome to eat and came back with some simit, sesame bread and starting feeding him.

Unfortunately, there's just so much sesame bread a dog could eat! To which she apologized, "lo siento el guapo, nada de carne"……El Guapo seemed to understand an was just happy to be the subject of her affection.

Here's a hint if you're visiting the Hagia Sofia and have time the day before. Buy tickets for the next day the previous evening. There's another line for folks who already have tickets. Anyway, we made it in fairly quickly, before it really got clogged up.

And upon entering I could understand the words of Justinian who supposedly said upon viewing the rebuilt Hagia Sofia for the first time, "Glory to God that I have been judged worthy of such a work." It's just one of those places where photos do not do the subject justice.

Unlike the Blue Mosque, whose interior is somewhat marred by the large pillars used to brace its large domed ceiling, the gracefully beautiful Hagia Sofia is supported by ribs made of hollow bricks made in Rhodes from a special clay.

The Islamic caliphs remind you that in 1453 Sultan Mehmed II, laid seige and conquered the "Center of Christianity". Hagia Sofia became a mosque.

In Islam, images of humans are not allowed, thus all the beautiful mosiacs in the former church were covered in plaster.

In 1935, Turkey's "George Washington", the founder and first President of Turkey, Ataturk, declared Hagia Sofia a museum. And the mosiacs have been or are being restored….to see the light of day once again.

As it is, I've spent a good amount of time on the Hagia Sofia. I cuold probably spend a couple of thousand more words on it, but I'll spare you. I'll just say, that of all the places I've been, there's only one other place I want to revisit……Machu Picchu.

 Light and shadows do add a great deal of atmosphere here as well. You'll be within the shadows of a hallway or stairway. perhaps under one of the beautiful stained glass windows, only to walk into the bright yellows of one of the galleries.

Ok, enough, I'll spare you. Just one more interesting thing. There's a column within the Hagia Sofia, called the "weeping column". It was supposedly brought from the Temple of Artemis.

We were told that water sometimes drips out of the column, thus it "weeps". There are supposedly miracles associated with this column. The Missus was told to stick Her thumb into the hole then spin completely around and if Her thumb comes out wet a miracle will happen.

Her thumb did come out moist, but I'm still here! So no miracle on this day! he-he-he…. also, the fact that a pagan column was being used in a Christian church just sounded a bit weird to me. But who am I to say?

Thanks for reading!