Turkish Cooking and a Wild Goose hunt

We made our way to our meeting point to meet with Olga our cooking instructor for the day.  We headed out to the Asian side of Istanbul and wandered around the market. We stopped at various stalls to learn about local things and try foods native to the area.  I especially liked the Turkish Coffee.  We've tried some pretty good coffee here, but this one was the smoothest.

We then went to Olga's home to cook.  We whipped up an assortment of traditional Turkish food.  We started by preparing mezze (starters).  We made one with green beans and one with eggplant.  I absolutely loved the green bean mezze, which is not characteristic.  But, they were so good!

We, then made the stuffed eggplant.  It was stuffed with garlic, onions, tomatoes, and a beef and lamb mixture.  That was also really tasty.  Even though I'm a big eggplant lover, I'm not usually a fan of stuffed eggplant.  But, I think this is because they are usually stuffed with rice, and I'm not a huge fan of rice.  So this was delicious.

We made bourek in triangle form! Filled with a sliced cured meat, a feta like cheese and grilled onion mixture, wrapped in Turkish filo dough (which is a little bit thicker than other filo).  Those were amazing.

For dessert we made what Olga called a sponge cake.  And spongy it was! It soaked up a ton of simple syrup.  It was served warm out of the oven with Turkish ice cream, which is made with a type of orchid root which has kind of a gummy consistency, much like the mastic we found in Greece.  Delish!

That night we did some laundry and ran into some ducklings waddling around outside our hotel.  They are adorable, but I'm not sure how much longer they're going to last without a mommy.

Turkish Ducklings from Seth Cobb on Vimeo.

Today we went on a wild goose hunt.  Yesterday, we learned from Olga's Turkish husband who used to work in tourism, that many people here would rather give you an inaccurate answer than tell you that they don't know.  We definitely encountered this today.  We asked the tourist office If there was a UPS.  He told us yes then gave us directions.  But the directions did not lead us to a UPS.  We asked around and people kept pointing us in different directions, when finally one man in a hotel checked on the UPS website, and found it's location, which was quite a walk away.  But, he told us there was a DHL down the street.  Then we had to walk in circles for quite a while asking people for directions and being sent in all sorts of directions.  Finally, after about an hour to an hour and a half we found the DHL, but they wouldn't ship half of our things.  So we went for the regular post office, and had to wait a half an hour for the place to open.  Once it was open we were sent on another hunt to buy a box, because they only had one size, small.  My goodness.  I wish people would just tell you to ask someone else if they didn't know.

We walked around for a bit and found a pide place that Olga recommended.  Pide is Turkey's version of pizza.  It's pizza, but the dough is shaped almost like a boat.  It was pretty good.

Back in Istanbul, and it's Still Not Constantinople

Okey Dokey.  We're back in Istanbul and we're really enjoying ourselves.  Istanbul is such a cool city.  After getting settled in our room, we made our way to a part of the city we hadn't explored before.  See, Turkey lays on two continents.  Part of it is in Europe, and across the Bosphorous is the Asian Continent.  So, we visited the Asian side our first night back to meet up with Emily and Neil, our buddies from Cappadocia.  

The Asian side of Istanbul was very different from the European side.  It was lively, even more friendly, and there was just a buzz in the air.  There were people performing in the street, locals hanging out on corners, and way less tourists.  It was homey.  The Asian side has character.  Something we saw right off the boat and continued to see were these  people with large metal buckets filled with mussels.  Wow, we're going to have to try that.  But, maybe in a restaurant.  We're told they are cooked with rice and raisins on the inside.  You squirt lemon on them and viola!  

Emily had cleverly made a reservation at Ciya Restaurant.  She had heard about it on Trip Advisor and heard it was delicious.  And, delicious it was! You start out by visiting the 'meze bar'.  What is this? Well, it is a self serve, pay by weight, salad bar, but not salad like Sizzler.  It's all Turkish salads.  There were choices with eggplant and parsley and those were really good, but I think the winner was this greens salad with some sort of lemony drizzle on it.  Then, you head up to an entree counter where you can choose between delicious Turkish fare with combinations like chic pea soup in a yogurt dill broth or pureed eggplant and yogurt with lamb stew on top (obviously I like yogurt).  There were so many tasty dishes to try, and we tried a lot of them.  Dessert was interesting.  Emily had heard that they had an eggplant dessert that was supposed to be awesome.  It was interesting.  It was kind of like a small candied eggplant and they accompanied it with a type of whipped cream.  I wasn't a huge fan.  There was, also, a layered dough, but it was milky, and that was traditional for Ramadan, it was interesting.  My personal favorite were these little powdered sugar topped round cookies with a fruit (perhaps fig) filing inside.  It was simple but delicious.

We then found our way down the street to have a tower of beer and nargile.  What?  Nargile is what the Turks call hooka (aka water pipe).  It was really nice to hang out with travelers.  It's, also, kinda funny that they're both 'from' Colorado.  I hope we continue to meet cool people from all over the world.  It's nice to trade stories and share differences from home.  

While we were drinking a man pushing a cart with a rabbit and a baby rabbit walked by our table, and because I had seen carts like this before and was so curious, I stopped and asked him what it was about.  Apparently it was a fortune telling rabbit.  I really wanted to hold the baby bunny, so I let the momma read my fortune.  Unfortunately, the rabbit only wrote fortunes in Turkish, so I have no idea what my fate will be.  But, the baby bunny was amazing!

The next day we were going to head to the Grand Bazaar, but apparently it's closed on Sundays, so we found our way to the Egyptian Spice Market.  In our search to find the market we found what they call their garden bazaar.  And aside from a few plant seeds and pots, there were a variety of animals and creatures.  The first we saw were the buckets of leeches.  I guess blood letting is still going strong.  Then there were tons of different types of birds.  Chickens, peacocks, ducks, parrots, finches, pidgins, and many different species within them.  Some of them we've seen before, but many were new to us.  Really interesting.  There were, also, things like bunnies, hamsters, and guinea pigs, but they were not nearly as exciting as the birds.

 

When we finally made our way into the Egyptian Spice Market it was way more touristy than we had expected, and there were way less spices as well.  There were lots of stalls selling Lokum (turkish delight) and scarves, some with ceramics, but wholly a tourist attraction, rather than where the locals buy their spices. Similarly, we were later told that the spice vendors cut their spices with cheaper things to increase their profit.  Not cool.  Oh well.  We ended up buying a kilo of turkish delight, though.  About midway through our spice market trip it started to rain.  We had been hoping that the clouds would open up, and open up they did.  The sky dumped sheets of water onto the streets of Istanbul.  We were fine walking through the light rain, but when it started pouring down buckets, we ducked into a shop to wait out the worst.  Eventually the rain subsided.

The next day we took care of some travel details, then spent a leisurely day around Istanbul.  We walked around the Ramadan market and went out to dinner at a place where locals break the fast.  That was nice.

Travelers Tip: Good bye hat, hello cap

You may have noticed this cream colored fedora arrive in our photos a few weeks ago when we first arrived in Greece. It was a reluctant purchase and not very expensive but I probably carried the hat around as much as I wore it. It doesn't block the sun all that well as the brim is not very big and you have to constantly shape it or it turns into a mess. You can't pack it in a back because it's made of paper and it will crunch and become unwearable. After carrying it all over Greece, Egypt, and Turkey i've decided I need to put the hat down. I placed it on a railing inside the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul took a photo and walked away. The hat was claimed by some lucky traveler, because it was gone by the time we got back. I've replaced the hat with a cap that's much more travel friendly and can be stuffed into a suitcase and holds it's shape even when abused. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="350"] R.I.P
July 23, 2012 - August 11th, 2012[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="350"] My new hat, hopefully it will serve me well in Africa and beyond.[/caption]

Cappadocia

We figured that we'd pop a Lunesta and sleep for the 10-11 hour trip on our night bus, and save a bunch of money in lieu of taking a plane.  That was optimistic.  The night bus was extremely uncomfortable and not well suited for sleeping.  Aside from the discomfort, there were strong odors surrounding us, threatening our nostrils.  One seat behind us was a woman with two young children, and a loud cell phone that she would allow to ring till it hit voicemail.  She'd stuff her children with sugary treats at every stop we made which resulted in the children becoming amped up then cranky, fall asleep, get woken up by the cell phone and cry, then start the cycle all over again.  Seth was able to feel some of the effects of the pill and was able to sleep a bit.  I did not sleep more than 20 minutes the entire trip.  And it was not 10 hours.  We began our journey at 6:30pm and didn't hit the final bus station until about 9am. 

Needless to say, we were absolutely exhausted.  But, we arrived at our cave hotel with 10 minutes to 'freshen up' in the communal bathroom in reception before heading out for our all day tour.  Luckily, our tour began with a hike.  Oh man.  That was rough.  And I think our mood detracted from the beauty of the area.  Sandstone formations shot up into the air to make for an interesting landscape.  The formations originated from volcanoes so the colors of the rock varied from whites, to rose, to blacks.

Our day passed us in a haze, stopping at one destination here and a panoramic viewpoint there.  The highlight for us was an elaborate underground city comprised of tunnels and rooms that even connect across different towns throughout the vast region of Anatolia.  The Christians used this underground city to hide when under attack from the Romans.  They could live underground for a couple of months at a time.  The cave system was elaborate, going down 8 floors, with ventilation systems and everything.  

We ended up making friends and going out to dinner in town at Sofra Restaurant.  Though I'm not sure of it's name, both Seth and I ordered a regional special.  Mine was with lamb and his was with chicken with peppers and tomatoes.  It went great with Efes, the Turkish beer.  We ended off the night with a game of Farkle.  Yes!  Somehow Neil won, after Farkling a million times.  Beginner's luck!

Our second day of tour was a bit better because we were well rested, but we were still dealing with our bad choices from the Istanbul market. Remember the ice cream, yogurt, and pickle combo? Our stomachs were still not 100% better.

The Open Air Museum was pretty cool.  It is a series of churches built into the stone formations.  After a few descriptions from our tour guide, we decided to explore on our own, and it turned out that we made a good choice.  The people who stayed with the group only saw like 4 churches, while Seth and I saw a ton.  

We eventually made our way to another place where we were free to explore all the cave like structures on our own.  Seth and I went clambering up to the tops of as many structures as we could.  These were like homes carved out in the middle of large rock formations.  Kind of hard to explain, so I hope the pictures do them justice.

By the evening our stomachs were finally better, so we got a recommendation from a local in town and had a really good dinner at Micro Restaurant, once again.  Seth got the Ottoman Special, and I can't remember what mine was called.  His was chicken with gravy and a garlic yogurt sauce atop a bed of shoe string french fries.  Mine was eggplant topped with a yogurt garlic sauce and lamb.  

We went back to our cave to sleep.  I mention this, because the area is known for its caves.  The history of the area is as a cave culture.  The people still build their homes into the mountain side.  The temperatures in a cave are such that they are fairly stable, making it cool in the summer, and warm in the winter.  So our hotel was a cave hotel.  Our room was pretty cool.

Since our experience on the night bus was so unpleasant, we decided to book a flight back to Istanbul.  We had already had a miserable day due to lack of sleep and we didn't want to mess up a day in Istanbul too.  Plus, we didn't want to get sick.  Since we were trying to book our flight so late the availability was pretty slim.  Only two seats left on the plane, and one of them was business class.  When we got off the plane I asked Seth how his in flight snack was. "Snack?" Seth had gotten a meal.  Which brings me to something I've been meaning to mention.  Some of you may remember a time when you received a meal for free while flying.  If it was a short flight you received a snack.  Well, they still do that outside the United States.  On every flight we've been on since we left the US we've received a meal, and they've been decent and quite interesting, and they don't charge you a cent.  They are usually representative of where we are flying in some sort of way.  For example, Turkey is big on yogurts, and my snack included a yogurt with mint.  That was pretty good.

Istanbul not Constantinople

Upon arriving in Istanbul's airport, the feeling was instantly different from that of Cairo.  Even though it's not officially a part of the European union, it felt so much more western than Egypt.  Not to say that a bit of culture shock isn't warranted once in a while, but it's always nice to 'go home'.  Mind you, Turkey is still very different from the US, but the airport seemed much more organized and official than Egypt's in that when some kind of detector beeped they checked up on it, where as in Egypt they waved you through. It was a long hot ride on the metro to get to the center of Istanbul.  At one point the tram car was so packed that more people were unable to enter.  It turned out that we had, once again, arrived during the breaking of the fast.  When we arrived to Sultanahmet (the old city of Istanbul around the Blue Mosque) there were hoards of people scattered atop picnic tables and blankets breaking their fast.  It was lively.  There were stages set up, ready for music, and there was a semi permanent craft fair set up along one side.

We asked around to find our hostel for the night.  Although it was in a pretty neat little area, just below the Blue Mosque, we were pretty happy we only reserved one night. See, what we've been doing is booking one night in a place that is cheap and seems good enough.  Then, we either like it and stay, or we find a better place the next day.  This was not going to be a place we stayed in.  The floors were quite dirty, the shower was awkward and kinda flooded the bathroom, you couldn't put toilet paper in the toilet, there was a smell of sewage constantly emanating from the bathroom, and to top it off, it was really difficult to close the door.

Whatever.  We rinsed off and headed out to 'break our fast'.  First, we found kebab.  Every place does it a little differently.  They all have the shaved meat, but the toppings and receptacle vary.  Here it was placed in a baguette like bread with tomatoes, a little lettuce, and pickles.  It was alright.  I liked the crunch of the pickles.

Then we made our way to the stalls. We hit up the little food and crafts fair, and there were many local treats for us to try.  We began with some artisan ice cream.  I noticed that it had a different consistency.  It turned out that it was made from goat milk.  I tried the vanilla and pistachio, while Seth ordered vanilla and caramel.  I think I liked the vanilla the most, which is uncharacteristic for me.

Next, we found a traditional yogurt stand with interesting toppings.  It was not a sweet, thin yogurt like in the US.  This was a hearty savory treat topped with a honey and blackberry reduction.  Man that was so good!

Finally, we happened upon some girls with an odd colored drink with what looked like cabbage in the cup.  We found the stall and came to find that it was a cup of pickles with a beet red pickle juice that you were to drink if you liked.  I liked.  The pickled cabbage was so crunchy and good.  And the pickle juice was a salty treat as well.

I'm not sure if  you've been keeping track.  Goat milk ice cream, cow milk yogurt, then a cup of pickles with pickle juice.  I think we made cottage cheese in our bellies.  Though they were all really good one at a time, they were not an ideal combination in our stomachs.  Oops!

The next day was really hot.  Standing in line for the Hagia Sophia was not that long, but felt like a torturous hell to me.  I think Seth thought it was funny how miserable I was feeling.  I was sweating buckets.  Once in the Hagia Sophia I cooled down a bit.  It is such an impressive mosque.

http://vimeo.com/47404751

We then went to the underground Cisterns.  The Basilica Cistern is the largest of several hundred under the city of Istanbul.  It was built in the 6th century under the Byzantine rule of Justinian.  They were filled with water and fish and were used to sustain the walled city for months, if not years, while under siege.  The Cisterns were forgotten to the world for hundreds of  years, until 1546 a scholar in Istanbul researching antiquities came across some locals who were able to miraculously lower a bucket into their basement floors and come up with water, and sometimes fish.  The cisterns were found and eventually restored in the late 1950's and were finally opened to the public in 1987.  This place has an eerie calm and quiet.  The lighting is perfect and there are fat fish in the water below the platform.  At the back of the cistern are two columns with interesting bases.  One base is a Medusa head upside down, and the other is of her head on its side.  There are legends as to why she is in the cistern and in such positions, but historians have only guessed.  But, they believe they were placed in that manner intentionally.

That evening we made our way to our night bus to Cappadocia.