Istanbul: Our arrival and Cennet Gozleme

I recently mentioned how we made it to Istanbul to a friend.... early in the morning we walked a couple of blocks and caught the bus, transferred to the trolley in Old Town, caught the Surfliner to Union Station in LA. At Union Station we caught the Flyaway Bus to LAX and caught the new (since March) non-stop flight to Istanbul. Twelve hours and change later we landed in Istanbul and followed the signs to the Metro, where one of the locals taught me how to use the token machine. Travelling on the metro, buses, and tram is really cheap in Istanbul. The fare across the board is 1.75 TRY (Turkish Lira - about 1.15 US). Counting stops we got off at the Zeytinburnu stop somewhat disoriented. Another really nice gentleman ("nice" is basically how we found everyone to be in Turkey), pointed to the right Tram when I asked Sulthanmet. I bought two more tokens and in a couple of minutes we caught the tram headed toward Kabatas. The tram ride took about 45 minutes; we got off at Sultanahmet Park snd stood and stared......

A few meters away stood the Blue Mosque.

 

A crowd of people milled around us, shoe shine boys trying to get our attention, "Konnichiwa", "Ni Hao", "Annyeonghaseyo", "where you from?" It all felt so alive, so vibrant, the tulips in bloom.

 

Most folks associate tulips with Holland. From what I was told, tulips were brought to Turkey from the Steppes and were cultivated in Turkey from as far back as 1,000 AD. It was Flemish Botanist Carolus Clusius who introduced the tulip to Europe in the late 16th century.

The Missus and I searched for our hotel. We could find the street on our map; but to paraphrase that little sentence on your rearview mirror: "streets appear much larger than they are." Another really nice gentleman saw us wandering around, and using his cell phone actually called the hotel and got us instructions.  The street was actually a tiny alley. We walked down the cobblestone street and checked in. The gentleman manning the desk suggested that we walk up to the terrace and take a look around. I walked up the stairs, stumbling on that last uneven stair and took my first real look at Istanbul..... and the Hagia Sofia......

 

That's when we first heard it; beautiful and haunting, the call to prayer which occurs five times a day. We could hear a phrase, then what sounded like a prolonged echo; it was the call to prayer from another Mosque close by. It seemed that they took turns, singing a line, then giving the other Muezzin a chance. You can get a taste of it here. During our time in Turkey, I awoke to it in the morning, and set off to sleep to it late in the evening. There are still evenings when I almost expect to hear it.....

After freshening up, we headed off to explore Divan Yolu Caddesi, the main drag in the Old Town. There seemed to be a Baklava and Kebab shop on every corner. Everything seemed very touristy, as were the prices.

 

Much like my previous statement, things seemed quite close. It was faster to walk down to the Grand Bazaar then to catch the now packed as sardines Tram. After walking and exploring a bit, we were getting a bit hungry, but where to eat.

The Missus saw a woman rolling and making  a crepe like item.......

 

Called Gozleme. We decided that this would be the place. We entered the restaurant and was seated. After we were seated we noticed something that we should have noticed earlier. The woman was making gozleme fresh alright. She was also stacking them in a pile, then reheating them when an order was placed. Hmmmm

We ordered a late of mezes, which was pretty low on flavor.

 

The lavas that came with it was really tough, almost hard, and not very good. It reminded me of a really bad tortilla.

The Missus ordered a spinach gozleme, the amount of oil on it was a bit alarming, but the filling had a nice spinach flavor.

 

I ordered the mixed meat gozleme. The filling was sparse, but with a nice gamey flavor.

 

But it was just really hard and brittle, not very good eats.

For me the nest thing was the Ayran, which was a standards issue grocery store brand. Later on the trip I'd have Ayran, a mixture of strained yogurt, water, and salt, that was pretty darn good.

The prices were pretty high for this type of meal; 25 TRY. In the end, much like our first meal in Beijing, I wrote this off to being in a new place and a bit tired.

 

One thing was for sure...... Istanbul sure was beautiful......

 

The Blue Mosque at dusk.....

 

Comments

[kat]

great start despite the food, can't wait to hear/see more.

[Nate]

40 years ago when I was studying architecture I knew the structure as Santa Sophia.

[Kirk]

Thanks Kat!

Hi Nate - If I recall, that's what it is still called in Latin.

[Jason]

Awesome, can't wait to hear more. I love comparing your impressions of a place to my own.

[ed (from Yuma)]

As always, I like traveling with you to places I will probably never go. A couple of side notes:

When tulips were introduced into Holland, they led to one of the first speculative bubbles on record. People were trading in things like tulip futures etc until the bubble burst, impoverishing those who bought late.

Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) is based on the biblical book of Proverbs (See 3:13-17 and chapters 8 and 9). Interestingly, Holy Wisdom is female. Allegedly, Justinian named the church Hagia Sophia to honor his wife Theodora (who by some people's accounts actually was running things). For a sixth century scandalous look at the couple read Procopius "Secret History." I was shocked!! Now back to eating.

[Lynnea]

So far, your pictures make me think that all of turkey was just stunningly beautiful. I'm excited to see more of them and read about all the good things you ate(minus the first meal =)).

[Kirk]

Hi Jason - I'm glad you enjoy these posts!

Hi Ed - There's just so much history.....

Hi Lynnea - Much of Turkey and Crete is very beautiful!

[thatssoron]

Lucky you! this are awesome pictures... must have been an awesome trip too

[Kirk]

Hi Ron - This was one trip that we didn't want to end.

[Rosa]

Istanbul was once Constantinople...
Definitely on my list of cities to visit....

When we were in Casablanca, we heard the call to prayer and the Medina emptied in no time. It was quite an experience.

[Kirk]

Hi Rosa - Yes, that's true, and Hagia Sofia was once considered the greatest cathedral in the entire world.