Turkey: Istanbul

Brian and I spent 2 weeks in Turkey in June (yes, I am way behind in posting!), and we had a blast.  This will be a 2 part blog... Part 1 is all about Istanbul, and Part 2 will be about everywhere else we went in Turkey.

Istanbul is an eclectic, vibrant city that is full of life.  We ate our way across the city, visiting beautiful mosques and historical buildings along the way.  We used some of the many forms of public transportation to get around (including ferry, taxi, bus, subway, and tram!), but mostly, we walked everywhere. 

Taking the ferry across the Bosphorus into Istanbul

The famous Grand Bazaar, an enormous covered shopping center with over 3,000 shops

The Grand Bazaar, a huge maze of shopping!  You can buy everything here!  Bring your haggling skills.

The smaller Egyptian Spice Market... so fragrant!

The food in Istanbul was incredible.  We took a culinary walking tour which was fantastic!  So much good food!  The guide, Senem, also gave us a book of delicious places to eat in Istanbul, and dog-eared her favorites (If you're going there, borrow this book from us!  You won't be disappointed!).

Senem, our Turkish guide.  She was so sweet and knowledgeable!  She was explaining to us about this dish called tavuk göğsü, which in English means chicken breast pudding.  It tasted exactly like what you would think chicken breast pudding would taste like.

A little meze (appetizers) of cheese, zatar, bread, and tomatoes

Senem showed us how to tell our fortunes with the sludge at the bottom of the Turkish coffee cup.  Actually she used an app on her iPhone.  Oh, technology.

Kokoreç--lamb intestines wrapped around sweetbreads and grilled over charcoal.

The kokoreç gets sliced, chopped, seasoned, and put into a piece of hot, crusty French bread.

This was the only thing that completely grossed me out.  This is a tiny fish called a horse mackerel.  It is fried, gets a quick squeeze of lemon, and is eaten whole.  It was so fishy tasting, and I couldn't get over eating the head and eyes. 

Brian really liked the horse mackerel though!  He ate all of his and mine as well.

Ayran is one of the national drinks of Turkey.  It is a frothy, slightly salty, cold yogurt drink.  We surprised Senem by being the first Americans on her tour to actually like it.  It helped that the yogurt we eat in Saudi tastes like this.

We also stopped by a pickle place, where Brian sampled some pickle juice and veggies.  As I do not like pickled things, I roamed around and took pictures instead.  I think all of these things in this picture probably taste disgusting, but it made a pretty photograph!

We finished up our tour with a bowl of lentil soup and warm, buttery bread.  So tasty!

When we weren't on our eating tour, we did our normal thing of looking for restaurants with a ton of people and eating there.

Brian ordering a döner kebab among the Turkish men.

I tried a small cup of freshly pressed pomegranate juice.  Pretty good!

The cherries in Turkey were so cheap and so delicious.  We would buy a bag and eat them while walking around the city. 

Dried fruit was a big thing here too.  I really loved these dried figs.  Gonna have to try this with the figs from our tree back in Baton Rouge!

This was my favorite thing I ate in Turkey!  It is a dish called kaymak--clotted cream made from the milk of water buffaloes, covered in honey, and eaten on fresh baked bread for breakfast.  This was the only place in Istanbul that we went to twice!

The historical parts of old Istanbul were absolutely fascinating.  First stop (and the #1 thing on my list) was the Hagia Sophia.  Once an Eastern Orthodox Church, it became a mosque when the Turks took over Constantinople, and now has been converted into a museum.  

The Hagia Sophia is surrounded by a giant park that was constantly filled with people hanging out and picnicking.

The inside had amazing domes and mosaic artwork from 1500 years ago.

I loved the juxtaposition of Christian art with the names of the Islamic caliphs.

The minbar (the place where the imam stands to lead the prayers)

Mosaic art!

More mosaic art!

The Wishing Column.  It is said if you put your thumb in the hole and rotate it all the way around clockwise then your wish will come true!

The Hagia Sophia, overlooking the Bosphorus Strait

Sultan Ahmed Mosque, colloquially known as the Blue Mosque

The Blue Mosque is an active mosque, so appropriate dress was required

It is called the Blue Mosque because of all the tones of blue in the tiles covering the inside of the building

Topkapi Palace, where the Ottoman sultans lived from the 15th-19th centuries, also had some beautiful tilework and intricate details.

Amazing architecture and tiles!

Inside the Suleymaniye Mosque, the largest mosque in Istanbul

In front of the Suleymaniye Mosque (holding our bag of cherries we bought for the long walk there)

The Basilica Cistern was really interesting!  It was built to provide water to the people of Istanbul in the 6th century.  Though I would have liked more info on it... the audio guide was a disappointment but the place itself was neat.

The Medusa head column in the back corner of the cistern (one of two!).  Nobody knows why they are there.

Istanbul was amazing!  Stay tuned for pictures from the rest of our Turkey adventure!