I ♡ ISTANBUL
It had been near three years since my last visit to Istanbul, so I was super excited to be going for two weeks at the beginning of this new year! Istanbul is one of my favourite cities in the world! It is the perfect combination of old and new - East meets West. The history of this enchanting city spans over thousands and thousands of years, in fact there are findings which date back to the 3rd millennium BC by the Golden Horn.
My first week was spent with my family, catching up with my aunt and uncle, looking after my little cousins and helping my grandmother with the cooking. I love spending time with my family and especially playing with my little cousins. They are just so cute!!! On my second week in Istanbul, I went around sight seeing and mainly just looking for places with good wholesome food :P
For those of you who haven't been to Istanbul or are going soon, I have compiled a list of places for you of my favourite places to eat and visit in the first part of this blog! Be sure to check out these places when you go!
"The same taste and address since 1970"
Upon arrival, the valet outside the restaurant rush towards you, open the car doors and greet you in a very friendly manner. Leaving the car to them, we are greeted at the door of the restaurant by a very friendly host who calls down the lift for us and sends us to the terrace.
The first thing you notice is the beautiful view. The restaurant overlooks the Golden Horn, Galata Tower and the New Mosque. The atmosphere is buzzing with traditional Turkish music,waiters going about serving people and the customers all looked like they were all having a good time. The food was so good, like extremely good. The waiters were all attentive and helpful. I really recommend this place as you can enjoy a good hearty meal with a beautiful view :)
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| My family and I enjoying our meal and view at Hamdi Restaurant |
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| Baby Tomato Plate |
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| Mixed Cold Meze: Garlic Olive, Pickles, Mixed Salad, Spicy Lentil Puree |
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Mixed Cold Meze: Goats Cheese & Butter, Yogurt, Mixed Salad, Aubergine Puree.
 
Fistik Lahmacun (Turkish Style Pizza) Hot Pide
Main Dish: Mixed Kebab
Seasonal Fresh Fruit
Dessert - Künefe: is a cheese pastry soaked in sweet sugar-based syrup, typical of the regions belonging to the former Ottoman Empire
Dessert - Katmer: Is made out from sheets of phyllo dough wrapped around clotted cram and studded with chopped local pistachios.
Mırra is a very bitter Coffee that has been brewed with cardamom for over 60 hours
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Locating this place may prove difficult for someone who hasn't been to Istanbul before, so I do recommend taking a taxi there if you aren't too sure of the area.
This is a historical place that is famous for a beverage called 'Boza', it is very authentic to Turkish culture and extremely difficult to locate anywhere else in Turkey. Boza is a fermented bulgur refreshment with addition of water and sugar that is sprinkled lightly with cinnamon that is eaten with a spoon. The tradition to eating boza is to have it together with roasted chickpeas.
The street was buzzing with customers either eagerly waiting to get there hands on some Boza or enjoying their boza with their friends and family. I say in the street because the shop itself had no room left to sit or stand! You have to understand that as weird as this beverage sounds, it is very popular due to its distinctive taste. Vefa Bozacisi has been around since 1876!!
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| Readying Boza for the masses of customers!! |
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A Waiter at Vefa Bozacisi serving customers on the streets and to peoples cars.
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| Turkey's Founding Father; Atatürk's Glass (source www.turkishclass.com) |
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ORTAKOY
Ortaköy is one of Istanbul's most loved neighborhoods located on the European shore of the Bosphorus. Situated in one of the most popular districts of Istanbul; Beşiktaş it is home to some of the cities favourite sites.
One thing I love about Ortaköy is how lively it always is. From the jacket potato street vendors trying to lure you in to buying, to artsy cafes and shisha cafes filled with the laughter of university students, to the man selling seeds to feed the pigeons (a very famous thing in this area) to the old couple sitting on a bench on the bank facing the Bosphorus with Turkish tea in their hands, to the people boarding and leaving the boat tours that take you down the Bosphorus to view some of the most beautiful Kosk's (wooden mansions). It is somewhere I think anyone who goes to Istanbul should definitely visit.
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Kumpir (The best jacket potato you'll ever have) - You can choose from a variety of fillings
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| View of the Bosphorus Bridge while on the boat tour |
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| Nothing quite beats Turkish Tea and Simit while enjoying a beautiful tour of the Bosphorus |
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A Köşk on the Bosphorus
The forts of Istanbul |
A small little video I put together of the views from the boat tour on the Bosphorus. Music by Can Atilla - Bogazici Ruyalari
This was my first time coming here but because we was going to the Anish Kapoor exhibition at Sakip Sabanci Museum in the evening we thought it would be a good place to stop for an early dinner as it was literally down the road from the museum. This place is actually more known for its desserts; especially milk based desserts. The restaurant has a beautiful view of the Bosphorus and I found that the service was fast and the waiters very attentive. It has a few franchises in other parts of Istanbul also.
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| Interior from Emirgan Sutis - Akvaryum - Source : www.sutis.com.tr |
From the menu I ordered 'Lokum Et' which is grilled slice cut filet-mignon. It came with half a backed potato and a spinach side. I have to be really honest in saying that it was one of the tastiest meals I have had in a long long time!
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| All gone - was soooooo good! YUM IN MY TUM! |
As mentioned before this place is more known for it's desserts, so after the exhibition we came back here to give the desserts a try! There was a wide selection of milk based desserts, syrup based desserts and cakes! I chose 'Kazandibi' which is my one of my favourite Turkish desserts. Now trying to explain what Kazandibi is, is going to be tricky as it will sound a little weird but it is really really delicious! There is a famous Turkish dessert called 'Tavuk Göğsü' which translates to chicken breast. This is a milk based pudding with fine shredded bits of chicken meat! Now believe it or not, you can't really taste the chicken, it just provides a really nice texture to the pudding. Kazandibi is the counterpart to that dessert. This dessert is actually the 'chicken breast' pudding that has stuck to the bottom of the pan when cooking. The caramelized outer layer gives the otherwise milky and sweet pudding the an earthy flavour. Obviously the only thing that goes with this dessert is a cup of Turkish tea.
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| Turkish tea and Kazandibi |
This may be on the expensive side of things to do in Istanbul but I couldn't recommend it highly enough! If you want the slightest touch of luxury to your holiday I would definitely say that this place would tick all the boxes! It has the most utterly breathtaking views, beautiful interior (and exterior), extremely good service and a variety of delicious foods and desserts.
Çırağan Palace is a former Ottoman palace that is now a five star hotel of the Kempinski hotel chains. I don't think the pictures I took of the views could do it justice as I had to use my phone because the cameras battery died :( so the first two pictures are off the website!
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| Image Source: http://ipamag.com/ciragan.htm |
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| Image Source: http://www.kempinski.com/ |
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| My beautiful Auntie, Cousin and Me :) |
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| Admiring the view |
If this is your first time in going here I would definitely say go for the Afternoon Tea, which is held at the Gazebo lounge! When we arrived, the sun was just setting and with seats right by the windows it was beyond beautiful! You have a wide selection of cakes and pastry's as well as an exotic choice of teas. From the
menu I chose to have the 'Fleur de Geisha' tea (Geisha Flower tea) because it had cherry blossom in it! I am quite a tea enthusiast and had always wanted to try cherry blossom tea! To eat I ordered the 'Gazebo's Coconut Cream' which was so light and fluffy! It wasn't extremely sweet and overpowering and complimented the tea brilliantly!
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| Afternoon Tea |
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| Dark Chocolate Tart with 70% cocoa - A must have for all chocolate lovers! |
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| Bosphorale, the Kempinski Dessert of the Year 2013 |
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| Gazebo's Coconut Cream |
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| Fleur de Geisha: An enchanting flowery Japanese green tea flavoured with cherry blossom in the pure Japanese tradition |
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| Tea Anyone? |
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| With Love X♥ |
ISTANBUL NAVAL MUSEUM
There are many museums and monuments in Istanbul worth visiting, but one that I feel gets overlooked is the Istanbul Naval Museum located in Besiktas. It is Istanbul's largest museum and was established in 1897 and I feel one of Istanbul's rare gems. The museum holds a grand collection of military artifacts belonging to the Ottoman Navy.
The building itself has been recently renovated and is spacious, so you don't experience that dull clammy feeling of some museums. It has a magnificent display of the royal barges, deep sea diving equipment and various naval weapons which remind you of an era that was not too long ago when naval warfare was more in the forefront of daily life. There is a collection of uniforms, portraits and figure heads of important historical figures, paintings by Aivasovsky, escutcheons and monograms and the list goes on!
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