A side of Turkish Delight!
Loud staccato quacking of a Turkish Daffy Duck cartoon on the reception TV was the last thing I heard as my head hit the pillow. It had been a very long day, Lezignan-Marseille-Istanbul and just after midnight when we got to the hotel. We, Ferg my son and myself, had decided on a mad trip to Turkey whilst Erin was catching up with Family in the UK. Once we had arrived the plan was to get up early and start exploring the waking city. 5.10AM and the Imam for the Blue Mosque right next door ensured that the alarm was redundant. The sonorous call to prayer was so loud I could have sworn he was in our room.
This was my third trip to Turkey and I have always found Istanbul on the divide between Europe and Asia particularly interesting. The mix of first world and third world is as evident today as in my last trip over 25 years ago.
Food and people are the touch stones of travel for me rather than sites. So we set off early to find “borek” Turkish breakfast food and of course coffee! We wandered down through the Sultanahmet, past Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, around the Grand Bazaar (which was still closed) and across the Galata Bridge with hundreds of fisherman trying there early morning luck at catching sprats. We were up too early for most places to be open but eventually we found a bakery in Karakoy where we unleashed our breakfast desire for pastries.
Spinach and cheese, minced meat and potato Kol Böreği ("Arm Börek") were first up. These light filo pastries were delicious and filling. Paired with a non-traditional Turkish coffee…we were sated and ready to go.
One thing I had been particularly looking forward to in Istanbul was the mackerel sandwiches that used to be sold under the Galata bridge. Fishing boats lined up and moored together - fishing gear piled at the stern, where you would get freshly caught mackerel, grilled over charcoal, then slammed onto a large piece of Turkish bread with a few squirts of olive oil and salt if you were lucky. It was hard to beat. Now-a-days the boats are more lavish and decorated. The grill is a gas burner and the owners are the churn and burn kinda fellows who have an army of touts grabbing in ordinary folk off the street to sit at tiny cramped tables. The whole experience is hectic, hot, and fast. The moment your last mouthful touches your lips someone is already sitting at your table. For less than $9 its not a terrible deal, but I really missed the char-grilled bread and mackerel of yesteryear.
Quizz question: Which is the largest city? London, Paris, Istanbul? At over twice the size of London Istanbul is big! The Golden Horn and the Bosporus all triangulate to this point where the Black sea the Mediterranean, Asia and Europe collide. Being based in the Sultanahmet, the most touristy part of Istanbul wasn’t a great idea. But it provided the opportunity for a lot of people watching. If the population of Istanbul is 18m then there seems like there’s at least another 1 million tourists there at any one time. It was quite weird that at 630am there was almost no-one around the the main areas of the old town but from 10.30am through to 10.30pm the place was packed.
Ferg and I ventured further a field looking for more authentic Turkish experiences. We took the ferry and found an amazing area called Kadikoy full of sea food restaurants on the Asian side. We meet locals and learned the drinking etiquette associated with Raki…the Turkish fire water (or Lions milk as its known). Fresh sardines …again, as they were in season was on the menu.
Our evenings passed very quickly. Having been to a “Belly dancing” nightclub years before I decided Ferg didnt need time with the Russian mafia who ran places like this. So we opted for Instanbulese jazz and blues bars.
Without getting too off topic we found a couple of dive bars across on the Asian side where we partied with locals until well after all the public transport options had finished.
It wouldnt be right to not mention the Grand Bazaar and adjacent Egyptian Spice market. Hyper touristy and probably the place in Turkey where your guaranteed to pay over the odds for anything you want to buy. I was fascinated by the Turkish custom for buying sweets. Man they eat alot of sweet treats. The amount of vendors in and outside the Bazaar was incredible. Its hard to comprehend how 10 stores in a row with 4-6 staff each can sell out of several hundred kilos of sweets each per day! And that’s before you get to the bazaar!
There was also a huge array of meats and cheeses. The cheeses fundamentally more subtle than the French cheeses we’ve been eating and the meats often more subtly spiced. Salt is used widely but its not given the same vaulted pedestal as in other countries - perhaps because through the modernization of the Turkish state, mass produced salt was seen as less archaic or primitive.
Bilice Kepab was another highlight. We wanted to try something a little more traditional and ventured out to an area near Taksim Square. Whilst flashier bars dominated the high street on the side roads and alleys there were all kinds of wonderful establishments. We fancied a mezze platter and Bilice Kepab is famous for its mezze and the quality of it’s meat. Bilice refers to a traditional stone oven cooked lamb common in Eastern and South Eastern Turkey. Given the size of the portions I chickened out and Ferg had to go it alone. The table next door got 8 skewers of chicken for a single portion and a massive round plate of sides which overhung the small tables we were sitting at.
So he two had second thoughts. We settled on a slow cooked lamb adana. The restaurant straddles two sides of the street. So service is sometimes interrupted by a taxi or scooter trying to squish by…sometimes both which means re-arranging the table! Our waiter was a mustachioed elderly chap. Clad in a white smock and red fez he cut quite the figure.
We eshued the hotel breakfast again on our last morning for a another crack at borek. A hidden gem of a place, not far from where we were staying was - Rumeli run by an by an elderly and lovely Macedonian Turkish couple since 1960. It felt like going into someone’s home and we were treated royally and with charm. Tasty fluffy filo, filled with spinach and feta are a perfect way to start the day. And it was a great way to wrap up our Turkish adventure.
