Days 20-22 Istanbul
As always, we celebrated our arrival in a new city with a beer. The Palatium was next door to the hostel and it had bean bag chairs, so it made sense for us to go there. I was fairly full from all the bread I had been eating the day before and that morning. I could only fit in a lentil soup.
We trusted trip advisor and went to the Meat House for dinner. The first of many kebaps was had that night. Our spicy lamb kebaps were satisfactory, but what we are looking for are exceptional kebaps, not satisfactory.
Our second day was pretty packed with sights and our lunch had to be quick. A point and choose store caught our attention. As long as you're not afraid to try new food, these places are an easy option. You don't need to butcher names of dishes. Just point at the food you find the most appetizing in the window and it'll end up on your plate. I had more lamb kebap with fries.
Back in Warsaw, we met Rhys from Australia who had been to Istanbul recently. He warned us of the cheap donars on the street. He said cheap street meat could be pigeon and not regular beef, chicken or lamb. I was actually on a mission to find some street meat. Even if it was slightly questionable, I wanted to make it part of the experience. After breaking past the Spice Bazaar, we took some lefts and rights before stumbling across a small square that had exactly what I was looking for. 2tl for a chicken donar. That's $1. I ate it, I felt fine after, and I'd do it again.
We were staying in the main tourist area, Sultanahmet, and wanted to get in some local night life. Our answer was Taksim. Taksim is where people go for a good meal, then go finish their nights at clubs and bars. Beer isn't always served in Turkish restaurants and we had to face that reality when searching for a place for dinner. We finally found a cafe that would meet our food and drinks requirement. It actually served american food. It's theme was NY and less Turkish, but we didn't mind the break from kebaps. Soup and sandwich was what I needed at the moment and not more greasy meat.
This night ended with beers at a bar with live Turkish folk music. I couldn't understand a word being sung, but it sounded wonderful to my ears. The day would have been considered an absolute success except for our bed bugs scare at 3am in the morning. When we returned to the hostel, a guest was leaving because of his bed bug bites all over his body. Anthony had red marks, but wasn't sure if they were from bed bugs. Either way, the hostel had them and we had to check in to a hotel at 4am for our last two nights. I tell this story to cover the free breakfast that came with the stay. It wasn't big denny's still breakfast, but it was better than the free or paid ones provided by the hostels. I woke up for 8:30am the next two days just to get the breakfast. Only to fall asleep right after before having to leave for the day.
On the second day, we were at the Bosphorus pier and saw many restaurants selling 6tl fish sandwiches. I made Anthony go there with me for lunch. It seemed another locally loved item. I felt more sketch eating this over the 2tl donar. The type of fish isn't specified and they always have a dozen filets on the grill. Although that meamt it took 1 minute for ys to get our sandwiches from the time he took our order, that just meant our pieces had been grilled long before we arrived. Fish sandwiches were consumed and never will be meet again.
Turkish tea is very popular and is inexpensive. Most places will sell it for as low as 1tl and some will give it out as part of the meal. I had one on our 2 hour cruise along the Bosphorus.
Our last meal in Istanbul was recommended by two gals back at the hostel. They had been there three times since arriving. It was a few tram stops away from Sultanahmet, but it was worth it and we understood why the gals kept returning. We were clearly away from the tourist area and that explained why we had not seen a restaurant like this before and also why the bill came out cheaper than expected. We ordered kebaps, but the place also provides toppings, seasoning and condiments for free. Turkish tea as well! With pops, it came to $10 each. We were full in to the next day.
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