On Friday the men had to go and pray Jummah so we had a late start. We ended up being taken up to Beykoz, which is about an hour and half away from central Istanbul, on the banks of the Bosphorus but high up in the mountains. From there you can see the meeting of the 2 seas, the Aegean and the Marmaris (I think). However, we were a little waylaid along the way by a stop for lunch at a beautiful fish restaurant by the sea. It was a Belediyet place, which basically means it is approved by the council/mayor and you can guarantee the halal environment- no alcohol, guaranteed halal meat, good atmosphere etc. All I will say here are 2 words, “Yay” and Yum”.
We visited Hazrat Yuşa’s tomb and took in the views, which once again were of course stunning!
On the way up the mountain we saw lots of individual stalls selling vegetables, huge pumpkins, different types of turnips, nuts and more. I love the colour and smell of fruit and veg here. It smells real. Do you know what I mean? Fresh food doesn’t smell like that in the UK. Too much processing I think!
In the evening we went out to dinner with my Khala’s old friends from Manchester. Ismail and Fatma Safa Ustun. Fatma had studied English with my Aunt back in the days when my Aunt was still lecturing/teaching. They are lovely people- warm, generous and friendly. Once again we went to a Belediyet place called Fatih Paşa and ate more than we had space for in our stomachs.These Turks seem obsessed with feeding us! Do they not know we have too many pounds on us already? J
Saturday 27th November 2010
The plan was to go to Topkapi Palace, however, the Bosphorus betrayed us. High winds and a choppy sea, make not for a ferry crossing for we! OK, that didn’t work but you get the point...
Ali Amca, Murat’s father insisted that we always go everywhere in the car because my Aunt was not up to too much walking. What he forgets is that she has had both knees replaced since he last saw her and the walk would probably be good for her! Plus, she wanted to take the ferry and it is so much quicker, avoiding all the traffic. Basically, this meant that if we did not take the Bridge or the Car Ferry, we did not go across to the European side!
Anyway, so we ended up going to Şile instead. This is towards KaraDeniz (Black Sea) and this really excited my khala. When we got there, I understood why. There were beautiful views and it was a very nice, cute Black Sea town with cobbled streets and little cafes. We went down to the
harbour, watched the sun set, took another hundred photos and bought fresh fish from the quayside.
One of the fishermen showed me what he said was a Dog fish he had caught. It was really long and I thought..... dead. It had a slash near the gills from where it had been caught
and he was keeping it in a water tub separate from the rest of the fish stock. But, when he picked it up to show me and for me to take a photo- well.... it was still sucking away at the air, trying to get a quick breath. Thankfully he didn’t try and make me hold it. I sucked in my squeal because as many of you may know.... fish freak me out! Not if I am eating them but when they are alive and well and all slippery and moving. I just don’t know what it is about them!
Sunday 28th November 2010
Once again we hit the tourist route. This time it was the Domebahçe palace and Taxim Square. Again the plan had been to do Topkapi as well but as usual we ran out of time.... too busy enjoying ourselves to the full I assume! J
At this point I have to take moment to explain how bad the traffic in Istanbul can be, traffic jams in London don’t compare to the heavy traffic on the roads of Istanbul. Seriously, they need to get some cars off the road or introduce a congestion charge or SOMETHING!
So, in anticipation of this we actually left the house early. Our first stop was Dolmabahce Saray, which is the modern acquivalent of the Topkapi Palace, it was built towards the end of the Ottoman Empire in their move to modernise and so is very European in its design. It reminded me very much of the Louis XIV style. I wrote an article about my impressions for www.muslimsinengland.com so make sure you check it out, but basically although beautiful and impressive I thought the opulence was rather disgusting. If there ever was a reason why empires fall<>
So, we spent so long in the palace and it was so big that by the end my khala was rather tired so instead of going to Topkapi, again, we decided instead to pray at the Dolmabahce masjid and then visit Taxim Square- the hub of central Istanbul. Once again, talk about traffic! Taxis everywhere, so many people and nowhere to park. J
Murat ended up dropping us off before heading away to find parking. We wandered around Taxim square, took in the Ataturk monument there and then headed off down the main shopping street. It was so packed it was unbelievable- much more than Oxford Street- and just as I hate Oxford Street, I hated the crowds here. How do they shop amongst this? To me it is just annoying!
There were all the usual suspects amongst the shops and more plus street sellers selling kids toys to Simit (a local favourite, really it’s just a kind of bread). There was a match on as well, Galatasaray versus Besiktas which meant it was extra busy and there was the same crazy football chanting and general macho behaviour that you get from football fans anywhere else.
We stopped for lunch- because they always have to feed us even when we aren’t hungry! J- and had kumplirs (I think) which are just jacket potatoes rly but filled with all sorts of fillings, Turkish style. Ours had, beetroot, coleslaw, some couscous stuff, gherkin stuff and I don’t know what else, with mayo. Everything has too much salt because that is another Turkish obsession, adding salt to everything including the mayonnaise. So the food already comes with extra salt in it for us and then the Turks have to salt it some more- blood pressure anyone?
We also then stopped for icecream-, where we to had this strange waiter that seemed annoyed with us from the moment we came in. I mean it was an icecream place so it couldn’t be because we only came in for dessert and didn’t order enough.... that’s what the place was for. Weirdo!
After dark, we headed over to the apartment of an old friend of my Aunt’s. Masha’Alalh they live in a beautiful neighbourhood in the top floor (what I suppose is penthouse) apartment. They have 2 floors and beautiful views from their balconies. Ahhh.... I think I could definitely move to Istanbul, despite the traffic! Here, we once again ate- dinner this time but still more food!- and were treated to more dessert. The love for sweet was most definitely waning by this point. Enough already! J
Overall having a generally amazing time!
No comments:
Post a Comment