Friday, July 15, 2011

Istanbul Day 4

We woke up, just like every morning, to the sound of the call to prayer. Who needs an alarm clock!! After showering and tidying up our vacation rental apartment we started out in search of an inexpensive breakfast. Not cheap, Istanbul can be tough to find a reasonably priced restaurant, especially in the tourist trap of the Sultanahmet district where we decided to vacay. Once out of our apartment, we crossed through the Hippodrome and found a quaint cafe called the Sunrise Cafe, there we gorged ourselves on Turkish coffee, (a must try!) tea, fresh fruits, veggies and baked pastries. Nothing beats a Turkish pastry slathered in honey! After we paid our server and thanked him in Turkish, we went out in search of the Archeological Museum located beside Topkapi Palace it houses over one million items on display. Everything from early Mesopotamia to the most recent Ottoman empire, some stuff was almost 4000 years old! The highlight for me was the Sarcophogus of Alexander the great. After spending 4 hours looking at countless antiquities, it was time to be a real tourist and do the city sightseeing bus tour. 20 Euros allows you to board a double decker bus and join a hop on, hop off tour which takes you to all the important sights of Istanbul. Running approximately an hour and a half (2 with traffic) we covered a lot of ground on the European side and Asian side and attempted to hop off to see Dolombache Palace. However, we were greeted by an overwhelming lineup and after waiting 30 minutes with not a step forward, we decided to abandon in search of lunch beside the Bosphorous. After a coffee and some kebaps we continued our bus tour and hopped back on. We finished our tour and went back to the Hippodrome to people watch. After people watching, we built up a taste for alcohol and went in search of some Efes beer and house wine. We spent an hour looking for the perfect place and stumbled upon it! A non descript place called the Kebapci Kardelsler, owned by the most charming gentleman who brought out meat plates, fruits, teas, beers, wine, desserts and even offered us Turksh cigarettes! We spent 2 hours filling our bellies with Turkish staples, and unfortunately, we were the only ones at his restaurant. With tonnes of competition surrounding him we convinced a group of Belgians that this place was not to be missed. After our apple tea, we thanked the man profusely and rolled ourselves home. A great end to an almost perfect day, and our last day...tomorrow we travel to Izmir.

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