istanbul, turkey – days two & three

While I could fill you in on exactly what we did at each hour on each day (because I did such a good job documenting) I will save you the time.  Here are a few highlights:

Breakfasts, of course.  I’ve been recreating in my own kitchen, but it’s not the same.

The Grand Bazaar was crowded and overwhelming, and everywhere you turn a salesman wants to “ask you a question” or “show you something very quickly”.  An experience, but I preferred the much smaller Arasta Bazaar just behind the Blue Mosque.

Grand Bazaar – spices and turkish delight for days.

We took the light rail out to the Byzantine City Walls of Constantinople, where there wasn’t much to look at.  Joe was obsessed with walking along it, under it, over it and near it.  Me on the other hand, I just wanted to get off of it.  Thank you, G, for instilling in me a deep, deep fear of heights.

Walking on the City Wall

The Hagia Sofia & Mosaic Museum were both incredible and very complimentary of each other.  I strongly recommend purchasing the three-day museum pass for the savings in money and time, and a little nudge to see a bit more.  The Hagia Sofia is a basilica turned mosque; most of the mosaics had been covered by medallions with words of the Quran.  The building is crazy big and crazy old, and it’s a trip to see the arches bending under the pressure of it all.  Scaffolding covers a good portion of the inside and has for some 20 years because they keep running out of money for restoration.  The medallions adorning the walls and ceilings are beautiful… but of course my favorite part was the mosaic fresco on the ceiling when you enter.  Did they miss this one when they were covering all the faces?

Hagia Sofia (yes, I know, I need a new camera)

Joe the tourist in front of the Hagia Sofia

The Mosaic Museum is small and contains all mosaics pulled from Palace grounds.  It is literally a collection of the sidewalks royalty walked on thousands of years ago.  Very fancy.

Mosaic Museum – look closely and you can see thousands of tiny tiles.

We did eventually make it to a typical Turkish cafeteria a la Rick Steves.  Had no idea how to order, so we definitely wound up with three entrees, but it was delicious and an experience I wouldn’t want to miss.

Chef at a typical Turkish Cafeteria

Turkish Delight in the cafeteria

As I put these posts together I realize just how much we explored and experienced the city.  Between Joe’s hunger for history and my need to stop at every Turkish towel store in town, I am so happy to say that we saw quite a bit.  It’s taking awhile to pull it all together, but I’ll work on posting the rest of the trip in the next few weeks.  It’s telling that we are still in Istanbul, which were just the first four days of a two week adventure.  Stay tuned!

 

 

 

weekend update: cassava

This post is much delayed, but I have a good excuse: in the best way possible, it’s been nonstop with the house.  So many little projects filling up all those 15-45 minute chunks of time I find during the week, and in this case weekend.  And I promise to share those with you.

For now, my weekend update… from a week ago – I was in the Bay for all of 36 hours, so I stayed in the Outer Sunset with Andyman and Anne on Thursday, and with the pops on Friday night.  The kids wanted to do a fun dinner on Thursday, so Andy and Anne took me to Cassava, a small, cozy and cute little spot in the Outer Richmond I now highly recommend, to anybody and certainly those who are gluten/wheat-free. No promises to the GF, because all I am looking to eliminate is wheat, but ordering was cinch and I wasn’t very limited.

 

i think i learned this weekend that these are hydrangeas…copycat decor in the house coming on the next post.

istanbul, turkey – day one

Taking inspiration from a friend, I decided that on this trip I’d journal as much as possible.  I did it in my phone, which was far more successful than the oh so cute little leather book I brought to France last summer.  Makes sense.  Even without service I seemed to always have it on me.  This could get boring, but I want to remember it all, so here goes…day one.

Woke up bright and early to the call to prayer.  As I mentioned here, we were just up the road from the Blue Mosque, which meant as soon as the sun poked out, I was awake.  I was able to will myself back to sleep, a positive because starting the day at 4:45 with jet lag is never a good idea.   Breakfasts in Turkey are ridiculous.  I mean amazing. I mean the best.  For 12 mornings in a row I would help myself to all the fresh fruit & veggies, cheese, dried fruit, olives, yogurt, preserves, walnuts, muesli, hard & soft boiled or scrambled eggs, turkish coffee and so much more.   Morning number one may have been the best of all – regardless of what I ate, the experience of seeing that spread for the first time was something.

breakfast in Istanbul

are allergies contagious?

I’m serious.  I think I picked one up while we were in Turkey.

Better put, I think I picked one up from Joe sometime in the last year or so, and it manifested while we were in Turkey.  I am self-diagnosing myself allergic to wheat.

Without going into too much detail, I can honestly say that I’ve been testing this theory since we returned (Saturday afternoon) and I’m “winning” the tests.  All signs point to allergic.  

turkey – the blue mosque

Four nights and five(ish) days we were in Istanbul, and throughout that time not once did the blue mosque become any less magnificent to me.  My favorite place to view it was the rooftop deck of our hotel; my second favorite – just sitting on a bench in the Disneyland-esque landscaped park that sits between it and the Hagia Sofia.

In all her glory at night. What you can’t see are the the birds circling the building at all hours. Picture perfect.

Fun fact – the blue mosque gets its name from the gorgeous tiles that fill the inside domes.  One more – it’s the only mosque (in Turkey at least) with six minarets (the towers around the circumfrence).

So this one isn’t all blue, but you can see the patterns we found everywhere. Let me know if you find a place that sells these for kitchen backsplash…

If you’re not picking up on it yet, this building, both inside and out was absolutely one of the highlights of my trip.  Having it as the backdrop to so many wonderful moments was a treat, so if you are going to Turkey anytime soon, don’t miss it.  Or better yet, make sure your hotel is in Sultanahmet and looks out on it.

Our every evening in Istanbul. Highly recommend Hotel Sari Konak. The breakfast! We will get to the post I dedicate entirely to breakfast in Turkey.