pigeons at the new mosque |
With only two days in Istanbul before departing to
Capadoccia I was determined to find some place to eat that was excellent and not
a tourist trap…while still not too far from our hotel as we decided to have a
walkabout on our second day. With our bus departing at 6:30pm and luggage safely stowed in Pasifik Travel, we set
off.
The plan: a morning in the Grand Bazaar, afternoon walking and eating.
I am so making these lamps when I get home. |
Let me begin with the Grand Bazaar. With limited funds, we
didn’t end up spending too much time there. Just enough for me to spend what
little money I did have on a pair of handmade boots and a purse. Boots that are
covered with embroidered flowers in bright colors that I now get to carry
around in my backpack for the next 5 weeks. But I love them! I am sure you’ll
see them on my feet in future posts. Money spent, we began working our way
north towards the Galata Bridge
towards Beyoglun, a shopping district across the Bosphoros from Sultanahmet. If
this is all Turkish to you, have a look at a map of Istanbul
and you’ll see what I am talking about.
shoes galore... |
Highlights of our big walking day include: cats, cats, and dogs!
Mosques, pigeons, and very old buildings. Turkish delicacies such as fresh
juice and delectable sweets, and finally, delicious vegetable dishes, seasoned
with dill, lemon, olive oil and garlic.
not such a bad place to be a stray |
One thing I love about Istanbul
are the juice stands that are on nearly every corner. Orange ,
grapefruit and pomegranate seem to be the main fruits available. (I think we
are lucky to be here during pomegranate season, so am considering this to be a
perk of the off season traveler). For 2.5 Turkish Lira (TL), which is less than
$1.50, we enjoyed a delicious cup of fresh pressed pomegranate juice. The juice
pressers that they use are the juicers from America ’s
past: the old mechanical orange juicers with a hand lever. I happen to have my
grandmother’s at home, and am looking forward to trying it on pomegranates. I
love pomegranates, and they are packed with antioxidants and other goodies, but
are such a pain to get into. But this made it look easy. The juice-man simply
cut off the top of the fruit, placed it on the juicer and pressed down. Try it
at home and let me know how it works.
Let’s continue with our walking and eating. We have
discovered a blog called Istanbul Eats, in which I read about a restaurant in
the neighborhood of Beyoglun called Merih. According to this “serious eater’s
guide to the city”, Merih is a meyhane (mey-hay-neh), similar to a Greek
taverna. According the Istanbul Eats writers this restaurant is tucked into a “culinary
no-go zone” yet the restaurant offers “no fuss, top notch dishes” packed with
“gustatory punch”. At night, the meyhanes are places for music, booze and small
dishes, or mezes. This place got such a great review that we decided to make it
that afternoon’s destination. It took us a while to find it, and by the time we
arrived our appetites were ready to be satisfied. Listening to the blog was a
good move. I also loved the décor: established in 1972, with wood panel walls,
we were surrounded by Turkish men tucking into their lunches on all sides. My
only complaint: no hot veggie dishes. Many vegetable dishes in Turkey
are served at room temperature, as was the case at Merih. But each thing we got
was wonderful. The spinach (ispanak) dish, with olive oil, lemon and yogurt is
turning out to be a favorite of mine for sure. We also enjoyed artichoke
(enginar), white beans with veggies, and fried zuchinni croquettes (kabak tava)
which I will most certainly find the recipe for and then render Gluten-Free
once I get home. If you are in Istanbul Ryan, myself, and the experts give
Merih a thumbs up. Address: Kamer Hatun Cad. No: 5/A Telephone: +90-212-245-4325
my turkish tea: pronounced chai |
our box of sweets |
All in all, it was a delicious and lovely day wandering the
streets of Istanbul .
Shortly after, we found ourselves on the bus to Anatolia ,
equipped with in-drive entertainment, refreshments and a front seat view to a
country wide snowstorm. But that’s another post. See you in Capadoccia!
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