Istanbul Cafe Day

Our last day in Istanbul was a cafe day, hopping from tea cup to coffee cup to tea cup, sitting under shady umbrellas and people watching. We mixed some Turkish bazaars in between.

We made our way by ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul to catch our night train to Ankara and on to Cappadocia. We had a few hours to use up and went in search of dinner. The last three days of Istanbul have finally driven home the lesson of looking both ways before crossing the street. Cars, buses, taxis, any moving vehicle has the right to mow down a pedestrian. We gear ourselves up to cross the street and ask each other "Okay, are you ready?!"

We made our way through Istanbul traffic to a fantastic street market with all kinds of fish and animal parts, vegetables and berries. It felt like we were finally in Turkey. No one could understand us, it was hand gestures only from there on out, and there were very few tourists around. I was heavily meat-ed out and more than happy to enjoy Turkish lentil soup that I only by sheer luck managed to get the waiter to understand what I wanted.

The best find of the evening was by far the corn snack cart we passed on the way back to the train station, though. Corn. Fresh, wholesome corn. Off the cob. The corn guy threw in a little butter, a little Parmesan cheese, did a little corn dance, piled it into a cup, handed me a little spoon. I paid him 2 Turkish Lira, and off we went. It was the best snack ever. Another snack cart we kept seeing was cucumbers. No joke. The man peels it right in front of you, hands it over, and you munch away. We also saw watermelon, bread, roasted chestnuts, and tea carts. Why haven't these snacks caught on in the States? We could do it at movie theaters. I, for one, would happily eat a cup of corn instead of deep fried processed chicken tenders. But maybe I'm in the minority on that one.

Turkey: The Night of 'I Never's

Istanbul, I am in love with you tonight. We flew from Duesseldorf to Istanbul today and had arranged for a hotel car to pick us up. This was a stroke of sheer intelligence on our part, as it was utterly and wonderfully practical to come out of the baggage claim and see a man holding a sign with my name on it.

As we wound our way along the coast of the Sea of Marmara and the driver maneuvered through traffic chaos, we silently absorbed the sights flying by. And my wonder got stronger with each mile. I have never, ever seen so many people outside, simply enjoying the weather and each other's company. Hundreds and hundreds of little clusters of people lounging, laughing, playing were everywhere to be seen along the boardwalk. And somewhere within each little group of people was a billow of smoke from their barbecue grill. And, oh heavenly day, it wafted into our car and smelled
amazing.

We found a restaurant where we could sit outside and relax away the rest of the evening watching people walk by. I was worried the food would be sub-par in such a touristed area, but oh I was wrong. Yummy lamb and Turkish spices and hummus and rice pudding. I shared with the cats. Because, not even Greece's stray cat population can match that of what we've seen in Istanbul tonight. I have to remind myself not to pet them. Ring worm and rabies could put a damper on the vacation. But I tossed them random bits of food to see what they would eat. Everything.

I can't wait to explore tomorrow and go in all of the outrageously colorful shops.