istanbul, turkey

Istanbul, also known as Constantinople, is located at the very northwest corner of Turkey. The Bosphorus river flows through Istanbul, separating the Asian side from the European side. It is the only metropolis city that is on two continents. The blends of Asian and European culture are very apparent along with Middle Eastern influence, so the city is a huge melting pot of culture, diversity, and fun. My favorite part, of course, is the food. A few of my favorite dishes here are lentil soup, kofte, kebabs, gyros, apple tea, fresh mint tea, salep winter time [hot yogurt drink], ayran [cold yogurt drink], garlic yogurt, and Turkish coffee! 

Here is a video of a dish called testi kebap. It's lamb or other meats cooked in a clay pot with tomatoes, onions, and potatoes. Quite delicious and very filling!! Oh, and the waiter calls me Lady Rambo when he found out that I am Vietnamese. Apparently, the only correlation to Vietnam he could think of is Rambo. I happily played along and by the end of the night, that was my adopted name.

 

Raki is not my friend. I'm pretty open minded about food and drink. I like a lot of different flavors and if the locals love it, I'll try it...most of the time I love it. Here,  I can definitely say that raki is vile. Guess which glass is mine and which is Kat's.

Mint tea in Turkey is just all kinds of happiness. Apple tea as well. I'll have to take a pic of it later. It comes in a tea glass like Turkish tea. Mint here is crushed and just boiled with hot water. Simple, subtle, perfect.

New shades! We are eating at Dervish, one of the most famous places to eat right in front of Sultanamet. They serve gyros to go, but we sat in to enjoy the view, and try another lentil soup!

ayran

lentil soup

kofte with fries

garlic yogurt

We got roped into looking at some carpets. The random guy at Blue Mosque offered to give us a free tour if we looked at some of his carpet selections. We managed to not fall into temptation and buy the three thousand dollar majestic rug...but not without lying to them that we had husbands that would kill us if we bought it.

The red one is my favorite and the blue one is Kat's

Taksim Square is where a lot of demonstrations and bomb threats take place. It's a metropolis hub, and much more busy than Sultanamet area where we are staying. However, with the recent scare, we decided to only take a tram and metro to have dinner at Taksim and then go back to our cute area! Taksim is very chaotic and busy, but the restaurants and street food are aplenty. We tried to look for Gani Gani, a restaurant with sit on the floor cross-legged style dinners, but to no avail. It's a locals joint and there are no street names [or any that i could find], so we ended up finding a really cute place that serves kebabs and mixed meat with the best yogurt sauce, then walked the whole length of Taksim promenade. I found a Gloria Jeans Coffee so i bought a $5 cafe [blehhhh on the price], and walked the rest of the way back to the metro and tram.

Salep winter time is hot salep, or hot yogurt drink. They add cinnamon to it, and i just love love it. Kat thinks it's too sweet but I always finish mine and want more! Below is the best salad we've had in Turkey yet. A gigantic medley of cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, hummus, yogurt, and chili sauce. So healthy and delicious.

a lovely evening here...

Our waiters were ALL cute and we had the best time at this restaurant. Spent double what we planned, but well worth it for the entertainment. These two guitarists are fantastic. The guy on the right looks like Nicolas Cage, and his buddy can sing a mean Cat Stevens. Here they are, doing Wild World. Happiness.

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