Friday, July 23

Friday we headed out on foot/metro to see if we could get a look at the University of Istanbul. We ran into Tim Armstrong and he joined us for the first leg. We caught the metro at Tophane and took it into the old city to the Sultanahmet stop. We did a little tourist-with-a-map scene and decided on a direction. Soon we saw the University gate. After a few “front of gate” pics, we approached the guards expecting to be refused entry. To our delight they waved us through into the campus.

The green space inside is divided by a lovely tree-lined lane leading up to the main administrative building. The first building we looked into was a very fancy building with tables laid for dining. We were not allowed to take interior pictures, but we were invited in to get a peek and it was opulent. Ornate furniture, painted walls, beautiful ceramics. I don’t know who gets to eat here, but they are VIPs for sure.

We took a glance in the astronomy building and the astrolabe out front.

Next we encountered the Beyazıt Tower, an 85 meter tall fire tower built in 1828.

When we got to the main administrative building, we saw there was some kind of function going on. Folks were showing credentials to the guards and getting entry. We approached and asked if we were allowed inside. Yes. Turns out this was a “yield” day. They were wooing potential students. Parents and students were sitting with faculty talking about their programs. There was a speech, handouts, a slide-show on a loop. We felt right at home.

After we exited the campus, Tim headed off for his adventures and Kathy and I went looking for the Grand Bazaar. We spent a lot of time with one tile vendor in his incredibly cool (as in refrigerated) shop. Kathy found some tiles she liked, but as we had been instructed, we did not buy, but rather looked for another vendor to compare quality and price. Of course, since all prices are negotiated, it takes some time to comparison shop. We did wind up going back to buy the tiles after lunch.

Then on to the spice market. We only sort-of got lost on the way there. We passed a lot of streets with shops obviously meant for Istanbul residents. Wedding garb, cookware, baby clothes… After asking directions once or twice, we popped out in front of the main gate for the spice market. We were pretty beat by then. The only thing we bought there was some dried fruit.

Then back to the ship for a rest-up.

Thursday, July 22

On Thursday we took a bus ride up the coast and a boat ride back down.

We went as far up the Bosporus as Büyükdere and visited the Sadberk Hanım Museum.

The museum has two parts, archeological and ethnographic. Kathy thought the archeological section was fascinating; with my pathetic lack of interest in antiquities I found it only somewhat interesting. I found the ethnographic section very interesting. There was a lot of interesting ceramics, metalwork, and costumes. The museum store was nice as well. Got a few gifts there. No photography was allowed. Maybe I can scan a few pages from the museum book I bought to display?

After the museum visit (somewhat rushed), we got back aboard the buses for a short ride to our tourist boat. We headed downstream towards the Sea of Marmara. We visited both shores, looking at expensive homes, former palaces, fortifications, and a few public beaches.

After we got back to the Explorer, Kathy and I headed out to look for that “Bright Yellow” fish restaurant mentioned in the last post. Finding it less than we hoped we moved on and came to this nice family-type restaurant on the banks of the Golden Horn. The Golden Horn is a bay that splits the European side of Istanbul into two parts. It gets its name from the color when the sun sets over it.  This restaurant seemed to be run by the municipality. Part of the “park service” maybe? We were struggling with the menu when a waiter brought us a picture menu. He told us he and his father had both served with the United Nations Forces and he helped us pick out some dishes. I asked for spicy… and he said “really spicy?” I said yes and he said he would order me something that wasn’t on the menu. For Kathy he recommended the steamed fish. Kathy’s fish was very tasty, and my dish wound up being a meat stew in a ceramic dish. It was good, but not very spicy. We had desert and tea.

There were some toddlers running around the restaurant. Very cute. The other guests and the waitstaff seems very tolerant, dodging the kids with their trays and avoiding tripping over them.

We found our way down to the western end of the Galata Bridge.  There is a level of the bridge below the traffic level with restaurants lining each side. We walked on this level, passing up the generous offers from each restaurant staff (“Look what we have here! Why don’t you stop?”). Once across the bridge we caught a taxi back to the ship.

After our return from Sabachı, we had to come up with a dinner plan. We decided (aided by our Knopf mapguide for Istanbul) to walk on İstiklâl Caddesi.

We walked a short distance east along the Bosporus and caught the metro at Fındıklı (the M2 line) and headed east 1 stop to Kabataş where we bought a separate token for a ride up the funicular (F1) up to Taksim Square. We had been up here once before, looking for a particular restaurant but got hopeless lost and settled for the first place we came to. This time, we had our bearings, checked out the monument to Attaturk, and headed down İstiklâl Avenue.

İstiklâl Avenue is a very busy pedestrian avenue with lots of street vendors, shops and restaurants. We stopped in a narrow courtyard with a glass roof for something cold and foamy. We bought some cashews and pistachios and shared them around. The two old codgers at the next table thought it was very funny when I distracted Kathy and switched her ½ full glass for my now empty one. We headed out again, looking for a restaurant recommended in our Knopf guide. We found the place and it was OK. We tried the Istanbul pise (Pizza) and a local lamb dish.

The Knopf Istanbul guide is turning out to be less helpful/reliable than the other editions. One restaurant we went to was listed in the book as being painted bright yellow. Maybe 20 years ago! We were the only ones there (the guide had said we would need reservations). We decided to move along. You don’t want to eat at a fish restaurant with no other customers…

We figured we had to hang a left at some point to go south toward the Bosporus and our ship. We found a likely street and it worked out just fine.