Yesterday, we awoke to pouring rain, and it would remain that way most of the day.
We’d anticipated this, however, and decided to head straight for the Kapalıçarşı, better known as the Grand Bazaar. It’s one of the largest covered markets in the world, with more than 58 streets, over 1200 shops, and anywhere between 250,000 and 400,000 daily visitors.
It should come as no surprise, then, that we managed to spend the entire day at this one market. Busy doesn’t even begin to describe it. It was like Koninginnedag in the Jordaan, but with a roof overhead.
By the end of the day, my head was spinning and my legs were coming off. I couldn’t begin to estimate how far we must have walked, but I still feel as if we saw only a small part of it.
What an amazing place. We bought very little — next to nothing, actually — but it was still a lot of fun to see. It was very reminiscent of the souqs of Dubai and Muscat, only much bigger.
The weather was much better today: glorious sunshine.
We started off at the subterranean Basilica Cistern, which was cool (literally) and then caught a tram across the Galata Bridge, which spans the Golden Horn, and continued all the way down to the end of the line at Kabataş.
From there, we took the funicular railway to Taksim Square for a look at a very different part of the city, in the district of Beyoğlu.
We walked down the very wide and incredibly busy İstiklal Caddesi (Independence Avenue).
Dinner was delicious, consisting mostly of mezes (basically Turkish tapas), at the bustling meyhane, Krependeki İmroz, in the incredibly busy alley of Nevizade Sokak. The terrific food was washed down by some potent rakı.
For dessert, we headed back around the corner to İstiklal Caddesi and went to İnci Pastanesi. What we were led to believe were profiteroles turned out to bear only a superficial resemblance to the French dessert. Nevertheless, if you could put the taste mismatch out of your head, the Turkish equivalent was also very tasty, although very different.
I picked up a few CDs today, which I’m looking forward to ripping and listening to on the Sonos when we get home. CDs are very cheap here, generally just YTL 10 – 12, which is around €5 for a brand new, full length album. At that price, I can afford to take a few risks, because I’ve never heard of any of the artists, so I have no idea what anything I see will sound like.
We’ve been here for four full days now and there’s not even the slightest hint of running out of things to do. The city is huge (one of the world’s largest) and you’d need at least a year here to get to know it intimately. Unfortunately for us, we have just a couple more days in which to cram it all in, but I’m sure they’ll be memorable days, whatever we do.
After the hum of Istanbul, Amsterdam is likely to feel like the most sober city on Earth. People here are so different to those in northern Europe.
As we’re walking around Istanbul, for example, a man or a woman will invariably stop us every couple of minutes or so to kiss or hug Eloïse or Lucas. They’re such a hit with their pale complexion and red hair; especially Lucas, of course, because he’s still a baby.
Sometimes, we don’t even notice that this is happening. We’ll have stopped to look at something, then we turn around and find Eloïse or Lucas enveloped in someone’s arms, being showered with kisses and cuddles, and not infrequently being plied with chocolate and sweets.
Turkish people are so friendly and warm. A few days here really highlight what we’re all missing back home, where we’re so much more distant and unapproachable than the people here. As warm and friendly as they seem to me, how cold and strange we must seem to them.