We set out today to experience some of the other side of Istanbul focusing more on the culture rather than the attractions. This is technically the only place where we can travel to another continent without having to use a passport. To get there, we’ll need to figure out tram/subway transfers and how to use Istanbul’s ferry system.
At breakfast we talked with one of the hotel staff quite a bit, learning about what we may want to see off the beaten path and hearing his suggestions about where else we should spend time in Turkey. After hearing his recommendations, we may spend much more time along the southern Mediterranean/Aegean coast - he called it “heaven”. There are very few other guests here so we really got some extra attention from the staff. After breakfast at the hotel, we walked down to the waterfront to find the subway that runs under the Bosphorus Straight. The boarding platform was way down (three escalators) to get below the water.
We exited the other side in the neighborhood called Üsküdar and walked the nearby streets a bit to find a place for coffee and soak in the atmosphere (we also spoiled ourselves with a decadent brownie dish).
Across the street we watched people at the barber getting haircuts/shaves, and since Don was getting a bit scruffy, he decided to give it a try...it only cost $3.
We walked into an open air market where the locals shop for clothing, housewares. vegetables, etc. and bought some grapes.
Next we walked to the ferry terminal to find a route that would go up the Asian coast to a couple of the other neighborhoods.
Along the way we discover McDonald’s secret delivery strategy that we believe they intend to unleash on the U.S. once they’ve perfected it here.
We were confused by the ferrys, since it wasn’t clear which of the boats went where and there were many, many piers where they docked. After a little contemplation (and a snack called a Boregi, we picked the pier that seemed like our best bet and boarded a ferry that we thought would take us to the right neighborhood (and back if we’re lucky).
The first stop was a neighborhood called Beylerbeyi where there is a former palace.
Next the ferry stopped at Çengelköy, where we got off to find a place on the water to have lunch. Our route looked like this (green is tram/subway and red is ferry).
We walked the streets near the dock then had a small lunch of Menemen which was delicious!
We tried to find another route to go back but couldn‘t find any clear alternative so just retraced our steps. Our summary of the Asian side is that they speak very little English as compared to the tourist areas, and they aren’t aggressive about getting you to come into the stores there.
We walked back toward the hotel and stopped for another snack - a sosisli sandviç (hot dog). We’ll try not to judge the entire country’s hot dog abilities on this one...it wasn’t great - but it had pickle slices in it! Tammy took one bite and decided not to eat the rest.
After our now-traditional afternoon recharge at the hotel, we ventured back out to get lentil soup near the waterfront at a place we’d had lunch at earlier - it was good enough to go back for and the price was great - $0.73/bowl with enough bread for five people.
We caught the tram again and decided to ride it all the way to the end and back to see more of Istanbul’s neighborhoods. On the way past the Hagia Sophia, the square was crowded with police and protesters over the recent decree to convert the current museum back into a working Mosque - it was an alarming amount of police force. The round trip on the subway was a bit over an hour and was after dark when we got back near the hotel, so we called it a night.
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