We got off to a slow start as we needed the sleep. Before long the hostel owner arrived and we paid - €3 less than we needed to (15TL) which is basically a meal! So that's good.
We meandered our way to the Topkapi Palace, holding hands, and on the way a man in a shop called out to us, "Honeymoon couple or normal?" We laughed so much as we took note of this, I almost ran into a pole.
We got to the palace about 11.30am and it was teeming with people. Through security into the free area, we slowly made our way to the next courtyard entrance, past the plethora of tour groups. We weren't sure if our museum passes would work, but we were going to give them a try! Security first, and then passed the card to a lady who scanned me in. And voila! We were inside.
The palace is made up of 4 courtyards - the first is publically accessible but the other 3 and the Harem you have to pay for. We started around anti-clockwise.
First, the kitchens. No photos in here, but this area was filled with artefacts describing how the Sultan and his noble people feasted and ate on a daily basis. Amazing spoons made of mother of pearl or tortoise shell, everything embossed with jewels or paintings. Enormous pots, ornate jugs for sherbet (what is sherbet? I'll answer this later), and much more were on display as well as descriptions of the kind of foods prepared. I got really hungry here.
Next up we went into the following courtyard which had some smaller buildings in the middle and the one side closed off to the public. Through to the final courtyard and there was a lovely view across the Bosphorus - well, if it wasn't such a foggy day it might have been! Still it was lovely and we laughed at all the big groups trying to get selfies and group shots here - even when seeing the other side was difficult. A lap around this final courtyard showed there were were some beautiful buildings on the other side. A pagoda for the sultan to relax in and smoke shisha, the Circumcision room (yep), and a few others. All with incredible tiling on the walls and golden painting, and many times plush sofa cushions and ornate ceilings. Fit for a king.
Back into courtyard 3 again along the other side this time we saw a massive queue and wondered if this was the Harem section. No, it was the religious relics area and while it sounded reasonably interesting, the queue did not interest us so we continued on.
Back to the second courtyard and we went inside the Imperial Council rooms, again filled with beautiful wall and ceiling decorations. Next to here was the Harem section. I was pretty sure I had read on the website that the museum pass didn't work for this section as you had to pay extra anyway. I went up and asked, and he waved me through. Sweet! Saved another 25TL.
I was especially fascinated by the Harem because of the segregation of the sexes. It doesn't make sense to me. All of the women of the court lived in here, and were attended to either by women or eunuchs. The area was quite beautiful, but felt a bit like a prison.
We were super hungry by this stage so we popped out of the Harem and into the first public courtyard again. Taking a seat on the grass, we ate our cheese and sweet snacks while people watching. As we had the museum pass, we figured we might as well try another museum so we left for the Istanbul Archaeological Museums. It was ok - glad we didn't pay to get in! There were a few great cats in here, namely a big ginger tom with giant testicles which he displayed towards us just as I was about to take a photo. Big. Balls.
One thing we really wanted to try in Turkey was shisha and that morning I had googled the best places to do just that. I came up with one called Çorlulu Ali Paşa Medresesi that was near the Grand Bazaar that was both local and tourist friendly. That was our next stop, but on the way we grabbed ourselves a corn-on-the-cob for me - which turned out to be disappointingly awful and I threw it away - and a bag of popcorn for Dan which was great. Totally got hit on while ordering my corn on the cob by some teenage child.
We walked with our food until we hit a tram stop, and then caught that to the Grand Bazaar. Çorlulu Ali Paşa Medresesi had an unassuming front entrance and we couldn't find it at first. As soon as we entered we were pounced upon by a few men wanting to seat us, and I'm not sure if there were more shisha places in there than just Çorlulu Ali Paşa Medresesi. We were sat at the entrance in the corner which was a great spot - we could watch everything that was going on around us from the point. Next to us was a local lady puffing away on her hookah.
We ordered an apple flavoured shisha and a couple of Turkish teas, and settled in with our pipe. At first we didn't really know what we were doing or whether we had to shuffle the coals occasionally, but soon we got the hang of it and managed some impressive smoke clouds.
Suddenly.... BANG!!!!
The woman next to us jumped a mile high, as did Dan and I. Some thing had gone CRASH onto our pipe and I panicked that we were supposed to have done something and it had exploded. Actually - a chunk of ceiling had randomly fallen down and landed on our pipe and shattered into our tea. Looking up, we could see the roof was crumbling!
They offered to move us but we liked it there, so we just laughed and said we would stay. I was feeling a bit light headed so it all made me giggle. Unfortunately the roof had landed in our teas so they replaced them for us.
Once we were sure no more roof would fall down, we settled back in. Soon a man came walking around with what looked like pastry donuts and I asked what they were. Sweet and honey was about all that we could figure out, so we bought some because they were cheap. I expected them to be warm but they were tasty and filled the hunger gap nicely.
We had a short chat with the man serving us; he was very friendly. We ordered some apple teas once we had finished our Turkish teas - these ones were less sweet and more tart that those we had had before - very tasty! Soon the shisha was hurting our throats so we figured it must be getting to the end. In total, for 4 teas and 1 hookah it came to 33Tl, about €6.50. We rounded it up to 35 and bid our farewells.
As we were next to the Grand Bazaar we popped in there to make our walk back to our accommodation. It was a lot less busy than the last time we had been in there and we meandered through, still a little lightheaded. We went back to our hostel so we could research where to have dinner and on the way Dan said "Oh! I'd like to try the kebaps in the clay pot." I liked this because usually I'm the one pushing food, so this gave me something to work with.
The clay pot kebaps are called "testi kebaps" (yep I made a few jokes) and turns out a place I had seen previously on a food list served them - and was literally 3 minutes walk from our accommodation. We pulled ourselves together and wandered to the Old Ottoman Cafe and Restaurant..
We were ushered inside and told to sit wherever we pleased - except the table we chose. He put us by the window and quickly brought us some menus. All the waiters here were very friendly! We had looked at the menu on the outside - it wasn't a cheap eat by Turkish standards but we figured we could splash out - a testi pot for two was 110TL.
Opening the menu, I spotted Ottoman sherbet and knew that was what I had to have after reading about it so much that morning in the palace. Dan tried his first Turkish beer. We ordered the testi pot for two and our waiter didn't like this, he said "get the testi pot for 1, and try our Ottoman special. Two different dishes, much better!" He didn't know what the special was but it all came to roughly the same price so we went with his recommendation. So glad we did!
Soon enough some bread and spicy olives were brought to the table, and our drinks. The waiter made a show about pouring the Ottoman sherbet which was a deep red colour. He mentioned it was cherry flavour and passed it to me. Cheersing, we tried our drinks. Oh my the sherbet was delicious! It wasn't fizzy, more like juice, and had a bit of cherryness to it but it was also very sweet with a lot of masala/cinnamon flavours. It was amazing and I'm so glad I tried it!
Soon it was time for our meals to arrive. The Ottoman special was some kind of meat with loads of cheese and mushrooms served on a tile - amazing. And then the testi kebap. I could see something flaming on the distance and the pot was wheeled close to our table. Our waiter saw I had my camera out and so he made a real pomp and circumstance with his sword. I had no idea what was going to happen and this certainly surprised me! He took the pot out of the flames and started tapping it. And tapping and tapping it. The pressure built up so much that eventually, POP! The bottom exploded off the clay pot and landed in the flames. I wasn't expecting that! He poured the contents into a bowl for us and we were set.
Both were utterly delicious but I think I liked his recommendation slightly more - so I'm glad glad we went with that! At the end of the meal they brought us some complimentary dessert - the sugar nutty thing we had had in Selçuk but served with icecream and chocolate. The meal was completed with some Turkish tea.
All in all an excellent meal, it came to €30 which is quite expensive for Turkey! But it was 3 courses and drinks. When I got up to leave another waiter grabbed my coat and helped me into it.
And here the night ends - we had intended to check out the waterfront at night but we went back to our accom and collapsed. We have an early start the next morning so time for bed!
Til next time
xx
We meandered our way to the Topkapi Palace, holding hands, and on the way a man in a shop called out to us, "Honeymoon couple or normal?" We laughed so much as we took note of this, I almost ran into a pole.
We got to the palace about 11.30am and it was teeming with people. Through security into the free area, we slowly made our way to the next courtyard entrance, past the plethora of tour groups. We weren't sure if our museum passes would work, but we were going to give them a try! Security first, and then passed the card to a lady who scanned me in. And voila! We were inside.
The palace is made up of 4 courtyards - the first is publically accessible but the other 3 and the Harem you have to pay for. We started around anti-clockwise.
First, the kitchens. No photos in here, but this area was filled with artefacts describing how the Sultan and his noble people feasted and ate on a daily basis. Amazing spoons made of mother of pearl or tortoise shell, everything embossed with jewels or paintings. Enormous pots, ornate jugs for sherbet (what is sherbet? I'll answer this later), and much more were on display as well as descriptions of the kind of foods prepared. I got really hungry here.
Next up we went into the following courtyard which had some smaller buildings in the middle and the one side closed off to the public. Through to the final courtyard and there was a lovely view across the Bosphorus - well, if it wasn't such a foggy day it might have been! Still it was lovely and we laughed at all the big groups trying to get selfies and group shots here - even when seeing the other side was difficult. A lap around this final courtyard showed there were were some beautiful buildings on the other side. A pagoda for the sultan to relax in and smoke shisha, the Circumcision room (yep), and a few others. All with incredible tiling on the walls and golden painting, and many times plush sofa cushions and ornate ceilings. Fit for a king.
Back into courtyard 3 again along the other side this time we saw a massive queue and wondered if this was the Harem section. No, it was the religious relics area and while it sounded reasonably interesting, the queue did not interest us so we continued on.
Back to the second courtyard and we went inside the Imperial Council rooms, again filled with beautiful wall and ceiling decorations. Next to here was the Harem section. I was pretty sure I had read on the website that the museum pass didn't work for this section as you had to pay extra anyway. I went up and asked, and he waved me through. Sweet! Saved another 25TL.
I was especially fascinated by the Harem because of the segregation of the sexes. It doesn't make sense to me. All of the women of the court lived in here, and were attended to either by women or eunuchs. The area was quite beautiful, but felt a bit like a prison.
 |
| Part of the Harem quarters, this is where the Sultan would sit with his harem around him |
We were super hungry by this stage so we popped out of the Harem and into the first public courtyard again. Taking a seat on the grass, we ate our cheese and sweet snacks while people watching. As we had the museum pass, we figured we might as well try another museum so we left for the Istanbul Archaeological Museums. It was ok - glad we didn't pay to get in! There were a few great cats in here, namely a big ginger tom with giant testicles which he displayed towards us just as I was about to take a photo. Big. Balls.
One thing we really wanted to try in Turkey was shisha and that morning I had googled the best places to do just that. I came up with one called Çorlulu Ali Paşa Medresesi that was near the Grand Bazaar that was both local and tourist friendly. That was our next stop, but on the way we grabbed ourselves a corn-on-the-cob for me - which turned out to be disappointingly awful and I threw it away - and a bag of popcorn for Dan which was great. Totally got hit on while ordering my corn on the cob by some teenage child.
We walked with our food until we hit a tram stop, and then caught that to the Grand Bazaar. Çorlulu Ali Paşa Medresesi had an unassuming front entrance and we couldn't find it at first. As soon as we entered we were pounced upon by a few men wanting to seat us, and I'm not sure if there were more shisha places in there than just Çorlulu Ali Paşa Medresesi. We were sat at the entrance in the corner which was a great spot - we could watch everything that was going on around us from the point. Next to us was a local lady puffing away on her hookah.
We ordered an apple flavoured shisha and a couple of Turkish teas, and settled in with our pipe. At first we didn't really know what we were doing or whether we had to shuffle the coals occasionally, but soon we got the hang of it and managed some impressive smoke clouds.
Suddenly.... BANG!!!!
The woman next to us jumped a mile high, as did Dan and I. Some thing had gone CRASH onto our pipe and I panicked that we were supposed to have done something and it had exploded. Actually - a chunk of ceiling had randomly fallen down and landed on our pipe and shattered into our tea. Looking up, we could see the roof was crumbling!
They offered to move us but we liked it there, so we just laughed and said we would stay. I was feeling a bit light headed so it all made me giggle. Unfortunately the roof had landed in our teas so they replaced them for us.
Once we were sure no more roof would fall down, we settled back in. Soon a man came walking around with what looked like pastry donuts and I asked what they were. Sweet and honey was about all that we could figure out, so we bought some because they were cheap. I expected them to be warm but they were tasty and filled the hunger gap nicely.
We had a short chat with the man serving us; he was very friendly. We ordered some apple teas once we had finished our Turkish teas - these ones were less sweet and more tart that those we had had before - very tasty! Soon the shisha was hurting our throats so we figured it must be getting to the end. In total, for 4 teas and 1 hookah it came to 33Tl, about €6.50. We rounded it up to 35 and bid our farewells.
As we were next to the Grand Bazaar we popped in there to make our walk back to our accommodation. It was a lot less busy than the last time we had been in there and we meandered through, still a little lightheaded. We went back to our hostel so we could research where to have dinner and on the way Dan said "Oh! I'd like to try the kebaps in the clay pot." I liked this because usually I'm the one pushing food, so this gave me something to work with.
The clay pot kebaps are called "testi kebaps" (yep I made a few jokes) and turns out a place I had seen previously on a food list served them - and was literally 3 minutes walk from our accommodation. We pulled ourselves together and wandered to the Old Ottoman Cafe and Restaurant..
We were ushered inside and told to sit wherever we pleased - except the table we chose. He put us by the window and quickly brought us some menus. All the waiters here were very friendly! We had looked at the menu on the outside - it wasn't a cheap eat by Turkish standards but we figured we could splash out - a testi pot for two was 110TL.
Opening the menu, I spotted Ottoman sherbet and knew that was what I had to have after reading about it so much that morning in the palace. Dan tried his first Turkish beer. We ordered the testi pot for two and our waiter didn't like this, he said "get the testi pot for 1, and try our Ottoman special. Two different dishes, much better!" He didn't know what the special was but it all came to roughly the same price so we went with his recommendation. So glad we did!
Soon enough some bread and spicy olives were brought to the table, and our drinks. The waiter made a show about pouring the Ottoman sherbet which was a deep red colour. He mentioned it was cherry flavour and passed it to me. Cheersing, we tried our drinks. Oh my the sherbet was delicious! It wasn't fizzy, more like juice, and had a bit of cherryness to it but it was also very sweet with a lot of masala/cinnamon flavours. It was amazing and I'm so glad I tried it!
Soon it was time for our meals to arrive. The Ottoman special was some kind of meat with loads of cheese and mushrooms served on a tile - amazing. And then the testi kebap. I could see something flaming on the distance and the pot was wheeled close to our table. Our waiter saw I had my camera out and so he made a real pomp and circumstance with his sword. I had no idea what was going to happen and this certainly surprised me! He took the pot out of the flames and started tapping it. And tapping and tapping it. The pressure built up so much that eventually, POP! The bottom exploded off the clay pot and landed in the flames. I wasn't expecting that! He poured the contents into a bowl for us and we were set.
Both were utterly delicious but I think I liked his recommendation slightly more - so I'm glad glad we went with that! At the end of the meal they brought us some complimentary dessert - the sugar nutty thing we had had in Selçuk but served with icecream and chocolate. The meal was completed with some Turkish tea.
All in all an excellent meal, it came to €30 which is quite expensive for Turkey! But it was 3 courses and drinks. When I got up to leave another waiter grabbed my coat and helped me into it.
And here the night ends - we had intended to check out the waterfront at night but we went back to our accom and collapsed. We have an early start the next morning so time for bed!
Til next time
xx
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