At nearly 9pm at night Istanbul time, I should be falling over from jet lag. We napped on the last leg here and got a second wind. When we finally arrived at our apartment in Istanbul, it was nearly 5pm. Essentially for a Thursday, the day was practically over. We missed Thanksgiving! And that's a good thing. No pumpkin pie, no jello molds, no production, no football, no Black Friday rigmarole, nada. We skipped all of it. I should have thought of this years ago. The holiday isn't going away, but I can! This is how I will now make holidays disappear. By disappearing myself.
For flying out of O'Hare on the busiest travel day of the year, the international terminal was a breeze, nearly vacant. We had a fantastic fight to Amsterdam of only 7 hours. I would have been pretty upset at the guy next to me for continually leaning into my space and over the arm rest, but the poor dude was over 6' tall and he was just trying to counterbalance himself because he had to put his legs in the aisle. I wasn't going to add to his misery.
We didn't have a long enough layover in Amsterdam to be able to leave the airport, so we settled into a quaint diner for a hearty breakfast. The Dutch are so friendly! Everywhere in the airport they were delightful. I can't want for our layover on the way back so I can shop there. Tulip bulbs, slippers that look like wooden clogs, cheese, chocolate, and cute souvenirs. We also found a Dutch Kitchen we'll eat at on the way back. I would love to explore Holland and Amsterdam more, but not on this trip.
On the flight to Istanbul we finally slept a bit better, which gave us just enough energy and presence of mind to buy Metro cards, find our way into the city, meet the person to bring us to our apartment, and have dinner. 85 steps to the 5th floor of the building. No elevator. This is okay, because with the amount of eating we'll do this week, we'll need the exercise.
Our street is lined with kebab stands and restaurants. I haven't seen any tourists yet. This is exactly what we wanted, just to jump in with the locals and wing it. Some light language lessons in the plane and a bit of studying beforehand did help, and it was fun to practice on the waiters who would correct us and help us learn more words. We were just on our way out to dinner when we heard the Isha call to prayer. Beautiful.
Our dinner choice wasn't even a choice. We found a restaurant in the Rough Guide and on TripAdvisor that is at the end of our block. We knew it was one of the best. Oh boy, did it not disappoint. But here is where doing your homework comes in handy. As soon as we sat down, they brought over a massive tray full of about 20 small dishes. From there we selected 2. These were mezas, little appetizers. This doesn't mean you have to have everything on the tray. Just pick what you like. Kind of like when a restaurant shows you the dessert tray. I recognized a few things (and also a few to stay away from because although tasty, they weren't cooked, like dips), so we went with dolmeh and a fantastic bulghar blend with spices and spearmint. I basket of flat bread followed.
We then next elected to share a sultan kebab, which was meat, tomato, mushroom, and cheese rolled in bread, then cut and you dip it into yogurt that has a sweet dark nutty sauce on top. They were helpful in showing us the proper way to eat it. We also ordered kibbe, which hands-down in the best kibbe I have had in my life. When they brought it to us, the waiter placed it on our plates, cut it open down the middle, then drizzled a sauce into it. Oh dear mother of god. I could eat this every day. At the end they brought us tea and cookies, and a few goodies: a little booklet of the menu describing all the items, a little bar of olive soap, and a business card for a TripAdvisor comment. They have no worry, we always write travel reviews, which is how we also found this place!
We also learned on the plane the name for "breakfast" which is kahvalti, I believe. On the way out we saw a sign for their breakfast buffet. 20TL per person. That's $10. Our meal tonight cost us 68 TL. $34. $17 per person. Love it.
On the walk back we picked up some bottled water for the apartment (2TL for 4 or $0.50 each!) then wandered around the side streets. The doner kebab stands smelled marvelous and I WILL be eating from one of them these days. Plus hookah cafes, which sound lovely with some hot tea on a cool night. One of these days. Lots of other restaurants, I spotted a felafel cart with a large crowd, and more Arab eateries and stores. Since the place we ate at specializes in Hatay cuisine, including a few others around here, this explains the large Arab population. Hatay is a region in southeastern Turkey, which used to be part of Syria until the 1930s. Although I only learned a few Turkish words, being surrounded by Arabic means I have a backup language I can use to communicate and get food. I know more of that than Turkish. So this is a double adventure!
I'm about to take my Ambien in a few to curb the jet lag. Tomorrow we'll probably hit the ground running at the crack of dawn right after Fajr prayer so we can get into the Blue Mosque and Hagia Soohia before the tourist crowds set in. As for food... We're already planning on heading back to Akendiz Hatay Sofrasi for the Saturday breakfast buffet. Oh the food we will eat... And the pictures to take!
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