A need for a last-minute vacation, lead Heather and I to plan a trip to Turkey while our good friend, Esra, would be there. We flew through Paris and had 7 hours to take the RER to Notre Dame and have a picnic on the Seine with my relatives.
We arrived in Istanbul on May 30th.
We stayed in Sultanahmet, the historic part of town, at the Hotel Nomade. This little hotel was fantastic. The staff was so kind and attentive and the breakfasts on the terrace with views of the city were divine.
We toured all of the historic sites. Heather, Esra, and
We then went to Hagia Sophia to admire the mosaics and the way Christians and Muslims used the same building as a place of worship.
We met Osge and Golam and
the famous cat, Glee, who was petted by Obama and has been a star ever since.
We also went to a lovely neighborhood called Ortakoy, right on the water with stores and cafes to try some Turkish Coffee at House Cafe.
Omer and Esra took us out to dinner and introduced us to Raki, the Turkish shot. You should always have your Raki with feta and melon. It tastes like liquid licorice. We also dined at Hamdi, where we tried all kinds of Turkish specialities while enjoying a view of the city.
We also put our vegetarianism on the side and tried Kofte, turkish meatballs at one of the most famous restaurants to get them, Tarihi Selim Usta Sultanahmet Koftecisi.
We also did some shopping and serious bargaining at the Grand Bazaar, a huge covered market where they sell everything from gold to turkish carpets.
We took one afternoon to have high tea at the Ciragan Palace (now a hotel) and pretend we were royalty.
Then we hopped a flight to Cappadocia, the eastern central plains region of Turkey. Where we stayed in a cave hotel called Elkep Evi in Urgup, carved right out of the rocks, overlooking the town.
We spent several days in the area, checking out restaurants, hiking
and touring the ancient cave homes, horseback riding, visiting a carpet
making factory and a pottery factory (where I tried my hand a
We headed back to Istanbul for our last few days. We stayed in Beyoglu, right near Istiklal Caddesi, a pedestrian shopping and dining area, at a wonderful hotel called 5 Oda (which means 5 rooms). We found baklava at the fabulous and famous Karakoy Gulluoglu baklava store, went to the Spice Market to buy tons of turkish delight and other goodies, rode a ferry along the Bosphorous, walked up to Galata Tower and down to Taksim square, had wine at a posh club called 360, and partied and danced all night on Nevesade street. It was a wonderful vacation!
(Added to list: 11/22/05)
