After the day(s) we had yesterday Gimpy and I decided to sleep in before even considering heading out into Istanbul. It was much needed rest and we both ended up sleeping until the late morning. Our Airbnb had facilities for laundry, so that was the first productive task we did.
Admira Cafe
Once clothes were in the dryer, we headed out into the city. We had scoped out a breakfast place to eat, but it looked similar to most of the traditional Turkish breakfasts we’d been eating all trip. So instead we popped into a more westernized spot where I got a mushroom pasta and Gimpy ordered a burger.
While it wasn’t the best we’ve ever had, being able to have some food that reminded us of North America was a nice change of pace.
Taksim Square
After we really had no plan or destination in mind. We’d chosen the area of Taksim for it’s vibrancy and we simply wanted to stroll. So that’s what we did! We first walked to and around Taksim Square. We found There was a cool Market setup there so Gimpy and I decided to stroll through and see what we could find.
One of the things Gimpy was looking for while in Turkey were a pair of hand made leather shoes. We had spotted a few in Selchuk but they were out of her price range. Fortunately, as we were browsing the little shops in the market, Gimpy spotted a tent selling handmade shoes. After trying a few on, and checking on the price everything looked good and she picked up a pair!
İstiklal Avenue
After Gimpy’s shoe purchase, we made our way to Istanbul’s İstiklal Avenue. This is a fairly well know pedestrian only shopping streets it runs for a good long time so we spent the better part of the afternoon wandering in and out of stores, enjoying the buskers here and there and checking out some small side streets now and then.
As evening came, our past few days started to catch up to us even though we’d slept so much. We had that craving for noodles again and had picked up some packs of instant noodles in a convenience store. Instead of just making straight up noodles. We though, “let’s be creative and do some fusion.” So on our way back to our Airbnb. We stopped by one of the many Turkish Kebab/Grilled meat vendors.
Back at our Airbnb, we made the ramen noodles, and added some corn and cabbage. We then soft boiled eggs and added the grilled chicken we’d bought! It turned out quite well if I do say so myself!
We had a quiet night in. I got to catch up on some blogging and we ended up turning in early! The next day we got up at a “decent” time since we had a few items on our agenda.
Hagia Sophia
Our first stop was back into the Istanbul’s old town to visit Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia is a really interesting sort of museum. It started out as a large Church in the Roman Empire. Later in its history, when Turkey was conquered, it was converted into a mosque and minarets were added. In more modern times, it’s been changed from a place or worship to a museum. It’s a popular tourist destination, one that our guide Ibo had recommended as the number 1 thing to see in Istanbul.
I found the whole experience very unique. I’ve been to some pretty amazing mosques before. I’ve also been to some very grand churches. And in either category, I don’t think Hagia Sophia out does either. However, what makes this attraction unique is that its a mix of both. Inside you have the elements of an ornate cathedral with the open area for worship, stain glass. And beside it, elements of a large Islamic mosque like the spiral chandeliers, areas for prayer and large Islamic Calligraphy.
So in some ways, it doesn’t look like a mosque, but it can or vice versa. Our guide had said its the only place you will see Christian and Muslim religious art in the same place and he’s right. It certainly speaks to the multiple identities this building, and in some ways the country, has had to take on over its history.
While it wasn’t the grandest mosque or church I’d visited, its certainly the most unique. And for that I really enjoyed trying to pick out the different elements of each religion as we explored it.
Chicken Wings at Palatium Cafe
On our last evening in Istanbul with our Gadventures group, our guide Ibo had taken us to Palatium Cafe for our last diner. I’d ordered fish and Gimpy ordered the wings. So for a good part of our time in Hagia Sophia, Gimpy had been telling me about these wings and we were both now craving them! We made our way to Palatium. Its much less crowded during the lunch hour, but its still a neat space with cushions and area for you to relax. We both obviously ordered the wings, and when they came out they were delish! Gimpy was right (again).
Grand Bazaar
From Palatium, we took a bit of a stroll and headed towards the Grand Bazaar. I personally wasn’t super keen for it, but since much of the research I did suggested to visit, we did! When we got there it looked “crowded”. It’s a bit of a maze inside and each path is lined with vendors upon vendors of different goods. There are sections for jewelry,leather and other items. We did walk through some avenues, but nothing in the stores really jumped out at us as good buys. Personally, I was a bit turned off by how many store keepers vie for your attention to get you into their store. I’ve also never been a fan of big crowds and so navigating some of the more narrower sections wasn’t my favorite thing to do.
While I didn’t particularly enjoy the Grand Bazaar, I do feel its worth a visit. We don’t have anything like this in North America (that I’ve found yet) and its certainly an experience to walk through it. However, I likely wouldn’t go again having seen it once.
Gozde in the Spice Bazaar
What we did have our eyes set on though was to return to the Spice Bazaar and specifically Gozde. When we visited the first time, we were pleasantly surprised by how tasty proper Turkish delight was. So it was always on our radar to return and buy some for ourselves and home.
So from the Grand Bazaar, we made our way through the streets of Istanbul until we reached the Spice Bazaar. We then found our way back to Gozde where surprisingly one of the clerks remembered us from our first visit. We spent the next hour trying (almost) all of their different offerings of Turkish delight. In the end Gimpy and I ended up buying 6 boxes of Turkish delight between the two of us. We also purchased a small bag of it as a snack during our remaining travels.
Normally Gimpy and I like to travel light when we travel. However on this trip, with these boxes of Turkish delight, we ended up having to spring for a small carry-on suitcase. It is one of those cheap ones you see in the stores, and it was affordable, but this was a first for me (buying luggage for purchases whilst travelling).
Pera Thai
With our Turkish delight and new suit case, we made our way back to our Airbnb to drop things off and to rest a little. After settling down and taking a short nap, we started searching for a good dinner spot. We weren’t really feeling Turkish food, and ended up settling on a Thai restaurant (odd choice for Turkey I know) called Pera Thai.
We set out, walking to the restaurant when at an intersection we got a glimpse of this lovely sunset overlooking part of the Istanbul skyline.
It was a beautiful surprise! We took some pictures of it and continued on our way to Pera Thai. We arrived, got seated and ordered a few items that sounded tasty. To start we got some chicken dumplings and spring rolls. For mains, Gimpy and I shared a soup noodle dish and a pad thai.
I wasn’t overly impressed with the appetizers, but I imagine that because pork isn’t a very popular item in the predominately Muslim country, they have to make due with what they have. The noodles however, were quite tasty and we enjoyed it a lot!
Back to İstiklal Avenue
After dinner, we returned to İstiklal Avenue with a loose heading towards our AirBnb. In fact, with our new found luggage space, we both had a desire to take advantage of the shopping available! I don’t normally shop, but because the prices were so good, I did pick up a few articles of clothing. After we were a bit shopped out, Gimpy and I stopped at a McDonald’s to pick up some ice cream! We meandered through a few streets back to our airBnb where we started the difficult task of packing for air travel. We’d be leaving Turkey tomorrow for Croatia. While this is the close of the Turkish chapter of our trip, we were excited for what Croatia had in store for us.
