Turkey, 2011

Friday and Saturday, March 18-9

2011-03-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

Eve and I took a week off to visit our daughter, Juliet, and her husband, Cem. They live in a charming neighborhood known as Cihangir.

We began the trip at midnight, Friday. I had just finished entering in the grades at 10 PM, went home, packed, and we got on the highway at midnight, arriving in LA at 3 AM. We flew to NYC, arriving at about 2 PM, then departed for Istanbul at 5:45 PM. The flight from NYC to Istanbul lasted 9 hours

We arrived at around 9 AM and met Cem right away. The taxi took about 45 minutes. We drove along the Marmor, a small sea that connects the Aegean with the Bosporus. We drove over a bridge into the section that has the Galata Tower and the Hagia Sophia. They live at the top of the hill in a very spacious apartment that would rend for $7000 per month or more in Manhattan.

Juliet wasn't there because she works from 8:30 AM to 8 PM. She had hoped to get off early to meet us, but she ended up coming home at around 7 PM. Eve and I freshened up and I took a long nap as I had not slept well on the plane.

We set out on a nice walk through the neighborhood.

Eve and Cem stand on the corner, waiting for me to move my left foot forward, then my right.

We walked along narrow streets and passed many food vendors.

In this picture taken in a store that specializes in pickles, I am consuming a mixture of pickles: beets, cabbage, cucumbers, and red carrots. I ate all the pickled vegetables, then drank the pickle juice. Very probiotic!

This is a common street food, Döner Chicken. In Greece, it's called Gyro, in Lebanon, Chawarma. Meat is impaled the lenght of a vertical skewer, then roasted slowly and rotated. Fat is placed at the top and melts, dribbling down the outside.
to the big shopping district, Istiklal, a large street dedicated to walking and to a tramway line. On the way, we stopped in a store devoted to pickles. We each enjoyed a glass full of pickle juice in addition to some sort of pickled vegetable. I chose pickled beets, pickled cabbage.

A large ex-pat community provides the market for European bakeries such as this one. Interesting cake--fluid.

One passes establishments such as this devoted to the gathering of men who play backgammon and card games while sipping tea.

A neighborhood mosque and minaret.

Fish display. Note the turbot in the upper right. Highly prized for its delicate, white flesh, the white side of this fish sports raised pink scabs--perhaps barnacles? The Black Sea fishing business catches turbot using gillnets.

Eggs kept secure using hay. A hundred years ago, the average American housewife kept her eggs in drawers, shielded from breaking by hay. When you opened the drawer, you saw just such a sight.

Birds for sale.

A cute little quail in a cute little cage. Long ago, in Texas, I used to raise quail and make 12 egg omelets in my restaurant.

We reached Istiklal Street, which has been completely converted to foot traffic. A tramway line runs down the middle.

Cem bought me a bag of roast chestnuts. Wonderfully smoky and faintly sweet!

A little farther, we passed this Kokorec vender. Kokorec comes in two versions. This one is made of chopped lamb intestines (preferably suckling lamb) cooked on a griddle with chopped tomatoes and herbs, then served in a pita.

The other version of Kokorec has sweetbreads or other offal speared, then wrapped with lamb intestines and then grilled over coals. This is sliced.

Midye dolmassi or stuffed mussels: a mild tasting but flavorful way to serve them. You stand there, drizzling each with lemon juice until satiated, then pay according to number consumed.

To counteract the kokorec aroma, perhaps you'd like a splash of perfume?

In the window of a large bakery are these pistachio birds nests. Soaked of course in syrup and both crunchy and moist.

Or, perhaps you'd prefer hazelnut birds' nests.

Or, almond birds' nests.

Or, pistachio baklava.

Borek: a stuffed bread made by stretching dough thin, then rolling various fillings in it and turning the spiraled bread around on itself. This was a pastry popular throughout the Ottoman empire. Its many variants include: bourekas (Israel), bourekis (Greece), byurek (Bulgaria), burek (Assyrian), boereg (Armenia), burek (Arab), byrek (Albania) and others...

We passed this musician...

Burma Kadayif: a shredded wheat coating (yufka) with pistachios in the center. Soaked in syrup. The shredded wheat, called kanafeh, is made by drizzling a thin flour-water batter onto a turning hot plate, gathered into skeins, then fried slowly in butter.

Gozieme. Small balls of dough are rolled out using a dowel and lots of flour. The thin circle of dough is filled, usually with feta and spinach, then folded over and cooked on a griddle containing coals.

A stack of Burma Kadayf in the window of a store.

Different versions of pudding, one version of which is Sakizh Muhallebi, which is thickend with mastica, a resin harvested from the bark of the shrub, Masticha (Pistacia lentiscus). It was used as chewing gum by children during Roman times, as well as a breath freshener during Ottoman times.

Linnea arrived in the late evening.

Sunday, March 20

2011-03-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

We started the day popping down to a local restaurant to eat breakfast. It was like so many establishments: 4-5 tables, one waiter. Cozy. We were flanked by English-speakers. At one table sat three generations. They looked Dutch but as soon as they opened their mouths, I knew they were not. Probably from New Zealand. Behind us sat an elderly couple discussing the multiple meltdowns of the Japanese reactors.

We enjoyed a typical Turkish breakfast. In the lower left are two typical breakfast rolls--faintly sweet, egg wash glazed and garnished with black sesame seeds. In the upper left are rectangular dishes of: strawberry jelly, cheese crumbles, and plum ejlly. The cheese is sharp and pungent. The plum jelly has a wonderful fragrance. Very plummy. In the upper right is butter in a pool of honey, a fruit salad of apple and banana cubes with persimmon seeds, and a dish of fabulous olives. In the lower right are triangles of feta plus sliced cheese and in the middle are: sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, and herbs, of which dill is very important.

More breakfast items: a dish of sliced sausages resembling hot dogs, sautéed potatoes, and hard-boiled eggs.

After breakfast, we walked through a mini-antiques district. That is, the district is small, not the antiques.

Attractively painted antique seller.

Another antique store.

Young cat on an antique column.

We stopped at a music store to check out the Duduk/ These are like short oboes made solely of wood, preferably plum

Tom tries the Duduk (holding it quite incorrectly.)

Along the same street, I took this picture of a fruit juice maker/vender. They take great pride in how they display cut fruit, taking advantage of its colorfulness.

Restaurant Row. At the top, it says "Happy New Year"

Galata Tower. Built by the Emperor Anastasius in 507 of wood and called "Lighthouse Tower". Rebuilt by the Genoese in 1348 of stone and rechristened as "Christ Tower" and became part of their fortifications. Then after Sultan Mehmet chased out the Christians, it eventually was named after the local province of Galata. Interestingly, the Genoese and Venetians controlled trade with the Arabs, and that's how Europe got its sugar and spices. When the Ottomans pushed them back, they sought other venues to the Indies. Columbus, a Genoese, led the charge to establish European-controlled routes to the Indies and coincidentally colonizing Africa, South America and North America. The rest, as they say, is history.

We passed one of the state-run brothels. The pastries displayed here, called Tolumbo, are also called Kerhore Tatlisi and are eaten immediately after spending time with a prostitute.

We walked across the Galata Bridge. This is a view looking back to the Galata Tower. All along the top deck of the bridge are fishermen catching a variety of silvery fish.

Grilled fish served in a split bread and eaten either on the first level eateries of the bridge or in the park at the foot of the bridge.

The marvelous sandwich is complemented by a glass of pickles. In the background is the New Mosque or Yeni Camii, built in 1665.

And for dessert, how about freshly made donuts? Very similar to the Greek loukoumathes.

We walked toward the New Mosque, built in the early 17th century on land confiscated by the Sultan from the local Jewish merchants, who had developed substantial commercial power in this district, threatening to the Muslim majority.

Before we came to the New Mosque, we visited the Egyptian Bazaar, built on the site where Ottoman Jews had consolidated much of their commercial power. This was razed and replaced with an "Egyptian Bazaar".

Throughout the Egyptian Bazaar one finds stands selling Lokum. Dubbed "Turkish Delight" by an enterprising Briton centuries ago, it became marketed throughout Europe under that sobriquet. Lokum is a confectionery based on the gelatinization of starch in the presence of sugar to form a paste containing flavors, colors, and nuts.

Store selling lights. Sorely tempted to replace that piece of crapola in our vestibule!

Spices and teas. This is what powered the European move across the Atlantic and the post-Renaissance colonization of much of the world. It was to obtain just these things at the source rather than trading with the Arabs, who until then controlled distribution of tea, spices, and sugar.

In the courtyard of the New Mosque, a view of one of the two minarets.

Vault inside the New Mosque. Islam forbids pictures of animal or plant life. That's why the phenomenal development of the "Arabesque" or geometric shape. The entire field of geometry, trigonometry and algebra were developed by the Arabs, first in Bagdad and later in Grenada and other parts of Andalusian Spain. When you look at these mathematical designs, you are looking at the early history of mathematics which, after all, is itself an Arab word

Long before mozzarella, the Turks were making Tel Peyneri, also a string type cheese (Pasta Filata en Italiano) The Turks call cheese "Peynir", very similar to the Persian "Paneer", the word used to denote cheese in most Indian restaurants. The cheese man is separating the cheesy strings. They tasted very much like Provolone, which is a slightly aged form of Mozzarella. The Turks make a great variety of cheeses.

Beyaz Peynir. The typical Turkish breakfast cheese. Slabs are served with sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, and a mixture of fresh herbs.

Ayran. Cem bought me a glass of Ayran, which is yogurt mixed with water and salt. They shoot the mixture through a tube, which causes a very stable foam to form on top, and this is scooped onto the beverage. The result is really a marvelous beverage, and I drank it down quite happily, knowing that the lactobacilli are very good for proper gut function.

Cay (pronounced chai). Turkish tea. The Turks have the highest per-capita consumption of tea in the world. They also grow over 6% of the world's tea--along their coast with the Black Sea. They brew it differently than anyone else, soaking it first in cold water, then slowly raising the temperature by adding boiling water. It is commonly served in a tulip-shaped glass because it represents culture, peace, and the arts. The tulip is native to Turkey and was developed by the Turks long before the Dutch started to cultivate it. The word, Tulip, is Turkish. It means "turban".

We finished the day by watching a performance of the Whirling Dervishes.

Monday, March 21st

2011-03-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

We started the day by taking a cab to visit the Blue Mosque, started in 1609 and finished in 1617. At the time it was built, it was the second mosque to sport six minarets. It derives its name from the blue tiles adorning the interior, many of which have faded or changed color because the Sultan set the price and the tile producers cheapened the glaze because the price could not change. This mosque was built on the site of the palace of the Byzantine emperors. It also sits partly atop the old hippodrome where the Byzantines used to gamble on horses (no longer permitted under Islamic law).

Exterior view. Not that blue because the name was assigned to tiles in the interior.

One of six minarets. It was a tradition for sultans to build mosques from the proceeds of a great military victory. This particular Sultan, Achmed I, had signed a peace treaty and therefore hand no profits to show. So, he dipped into the treasury, which was a deeply unpopular move among the ulema or Muslim scholars.

Blue tiles for which the mosque earned its name.

Graceful arches that contribute to making this building one of the world's greatest monuments.

More blue tiles.

Just plain wonderful to behold.

We visited the very famous Grand Bazaar. Juliet was looking for a purse.

Not much interested in "stuff", I took this picture of a Kebab grill. I was particularly interested in the grillmeister, who worked marvelously efficiently, with the smoothest of movements. True art.

We sat for tea at the end of the bizarre, I mean bazaar, experience. Linnea enjoys Turkish tea.

That evening, we enjoyed Turkish custards (Kazandivi which means bottom of the pot and is browned with caramelization) and Sakiz muhallevi, which is flavored and thickened with mastic. We also enjoyed this fabulous dessert, which is called Noah's custard, probably because the multiple fruits represent the multiple animals on the ark.

Tuesday, March 22

2011-03-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

We started the day with a breakfast of Menemen, a delicious soupy scrambled egg concoction.

Juliet eats her Menemen. She puts lots of chili on top. She must be a bit more Turkish than we thought!

As we walked up the street, we passed this Manti store. Manti arebaby raviolis. In this case, they contained a ground beef mixture.

We visited the Hagia Sophia, which means 'Saint Wisdom." Built in 535 by the Emperor Justinian, this building has survived three earthquakes, one of which destroyed the main dome. It is an example of the Byzantine architecture, where a dome is central and flanked by lesser domes, a structure that was copied by Ottoman architects building mosques.

In the 13th century, Constantinople was attacked during the Fourth Crusade and many of the artifacts were destroyed because the Latin side of the church was opposed to iconographic rtepresentation. In 1453, when Sultan Mehmet II finally entered Constantinople, the Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque.

Outside entrance with arches that were added to hold up the structure during the Ottoman Period.

Minaret added in 15th century as part of the Christian-Muslim conversion.

Dome. Most of the mosaics are Byzantine in origin. As long as they did not represent life, which is un-Islamic, they were kept. The capitals on many of the columns were Justinian in origin and have a leafy design. These were kept despite their un-Islamic character.

Another picture of the interior showing the very impressive verticality of the space and the reliance on the arch to create lateral space as well.

We left the church and crossed the street to visit the cistern built during Justinian times. This is a large, underground artificial cavern with flat marble floor, hundreds of 7-meter columns. Very Harry Potter-esque. The water is only about 1 foot deep and it is populated by hundreds of fish and coins, but no inferi.

In the evening, we went out to a restaurant specializing in Turkish tapas--little dishes of all sorts of wonderful foods. These included a marvelously creamy yogurt and eggplant dish, a stack of freshly salted anchovies (outrageously good), a yogurt, spinach and garlic dish, grilled liver, and so much more.

Wednesday, March 23

2011-03-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

We started the day by taking a taxi up the Bosporus to a village North of Istanbul--on the outskirts. We had an excellent traditional "village breakfast", complete with at least 4 different cheeses, including the wonderful string cheese (tel peynir). Eve had this fabulous fig jam--fall-down excellent. I enjoyed dipping small blops of clotted cream in honey, as well as eating all three women's black olive stashes, including my own.

It was really cold and windy. When we sat at the table, the waiter popped a shovelful of blazing coals in a small round brazier located under the table. Instantly our lower extremities warmed, and we kept our hands gratefully on our laps where they stayed toasty.

It was fun watching the boats go by as well as admiring the enormous mansions on the Asian side of the strait.

The Asian side

Juliet and Cem

We then walked back toward Istanbul along the Bosporus. This is a view back toward the bridge.

Right outside the restaurant, a man was unloading Black Sea turbot.

Just south of the restaurant is the Rumeli castle. This was built by Sultan Mehmet II as part of a string of castles developed to house troops and to strangle Constantinople during his campaign to chase out the Genoese and to Islamify the city--before its fall in 1453.

This cannon or one like it was used to sink a Genoese boat. The crew were all iimpaled on pikes to die slowly and to serve as a warning against any further attempts to save Constantinople.

We admired this small, local mosque situated right on the water.

A dog of no apparent denomination lay in our way, photosynthesizing.

Part of the extensive boating community. We walked into a Starbucks that Juliet said was the best in the world. It was truly gorgeous--we didn't drink coffee because we are Pete's folks and prefer a superior cuppa. But the view was remarkable, and I fantasized being one of the wealthy boat owners who whiles away his life of privilege and ease in spots as beautiful as this. I suppose Monte Carlo is even nicer but not by much.

We passed this row of houses that used to be directly on the water but the city decided to build this road and ruin the real estate values.

There are lots of jellyfish--often a sign that the predators have been greatly diminished in population by the ultimate predator, H. sapiens.

Gecekondu or overnight landed houses. Poor people from the country come into the city and grab a piece of land overnight, constructing a house on it. You can recognize them by their homemade appearance and incongruity with the neighborhood.

Ataturk's Schooner. Rented to Turkish businessman, Sadıkoğlu, for 49 years, and then rented for $30,000 to $40,000 daily, it became a house of prostitution for Ukrainian and Russian prostitutes and for local and foreign businessmen. The government cancelled the agreement and now it's sitting unused docked at this park.

Manti. We ate lunch in the touristy Ortakoi district in a restaurant devoted to manti. Known as Mantievi: Manti is the specialty (ravioli) and ev means house and the i ending turns it into a possessive. So "House of Turkish Ravioli". Manti are on my top 10 of Turkish dishes as good as any Italian ravioli. They are served with yogurt and tomato sauce. Unfortunately, I cannot enjoy more than one piece because of verdammte wheat allergies.

We had drinks overlooking the Bosporus at the restaurant 5.Kat (meaning Fifth Floor)

We finished the day with a home-cooked meal. Cem and I walked up to Istiklal and bought a small Black Sea Turbot ($100--a sign of environmental collapse). The fishmonger cut it with a hemispherical knife, very practical and sharp with no pointy end. He saved the liver, which I cooked in a broth; exquisitely delicate flavor and texture. I made a broth with onion, leek, garlic, tomato, celery root, white wine, poached the fish, then thickened the stock with a rouille made of mashed potato with lemon juice, garlic, egg yolk, and olive oil. A form of Bouillabaisse sans the saffron, orange, and Pernod.

Thursday, March 24

2011-03-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

Today, Eve and I walked up toward Takim Square to find a place for breakfast. Cem told us about this fast-food joint near the square called Bambi's. We had the usual tea and a passing menemen.

Bambi's

We then walked back to Juliet and Cems apartment and picked up the rest of the crowd. We walked up to Istiklal and then down in the direction of the Tunel.

I had to take a picture of this "My dear liver", "Mein lieber Leber", "Mon cher foie" (double entendre: both dear and expensive, which of course it is after a night on the town. Or even "dearly departed liver."

We sat around sipping Turkish coffee while the kids ate their breakfast.

View of the Golden Horn from the top of the Galata tower. The walls are about 12 feet thick. There is an elevator to the restaurant and then somewhat of a climb to get to the top. The view is spectacular.

We proceeded to walk down in the direction of the Galata Bridge. On the way, I took this picture looking back at the tower and we then proceeded to a musical instrument store, where I purchased a duduk for a friend.

We walked across the Galata Bridge and took a taxi from there to the Hagia Sophia--on the side facing the Topkapi Palace.

Entrance to the Topkapi Palace. This is where the Sultan and his family stayed until 1853, when the state administrative site moved to the Dolmabahce Palace on the Bosporus.

The Imperial Council building. The Sultan sat behind a barrier and listened to the discussions of his advisors. He then met with representatives and OK'd or opposed their decisions.

Another view of the Imperial Council building.

We ate lunch at the museum cafeteria. The food was very mediocre, extremely overpriced, but the view was spectacular.

The sultan's throne.

We toured the prophet's relics room. These included small containers of the Prophet Mohammed's hair, Abraham's staff, etc. Other rooms contained jewelry, including a 170-carat diamond and some very impressive jewelry with enormous emeralds and garnets set in gold and/or silver.

This pavilion was built to commemorate the Baghdad Campaign in 1638. There is a stove in the center given to the Sultan by Louix XIV.

The circumcision room was built in the 17th century for the circumcision of the crown princes.

Afterward, we took a taxi to the dock, where we boarded a boat to go up the Bosporus toward the Black Sea. We basically repeated the walk of several days previous, this time in reverse.

The Galata side of the Bosporus is lined by docks, abandoned buildings, the Dolmabahce Palace, and docking areas for small boats.

Cem's senior prom was held in this building.

We crossed the Bosporus and came back toward town.

We came back to town. This view of the Asian side (Anatolia) shows some of the very large mansions. The large yellow mansion one-third of the way in from the left edge is where Juliet works, serving as a nanny/teacher to the children of a wealthy family.

After the boat trip, we took the tunel up to Istaklal. The tunel is the second oldest subway in the world, second only to London's. We ate dinner in an expensive restaurant located high above the town.

Friday, March 25

2011-03-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today was a day of rest. We got up late and walked downtown to eat at a popular breakfast spot, Zambo's, which is an enormously popular deli specializing in Turkish breakfast. It was crammed with people. We stood at the counter and ordered a great variety of cheeses, meats, fritters, olives, and vegetable salads.

That evening, we ate in a restaurant specializing in the tapas style of meal that is so common among Turkish restaurants.

We ate a dish of wonderful, fresh anchovies.

On the left is a fava bean paste. Fava beans are one of two beans not native to South America. They were popular among poor people for thousands of years. Now they are very chic (no pun intended.)

Fantastically smooth mackerel. Delicate in flavor. Couldn't get enough of it.

Everyone else was full, but Cem and I scarfed down this plate of grilled fish. In Turkey, fish is eaten the day it is caught, so it never has the funky flavors you sometimes find here with previously filleted fish of highly questionable provenance.

Saturday, March 26

2011-03-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today we started by taking the boat to "Asia", that is the side of Istanbul that lies on the opposite bank of the Bosporus. On the way down the hill, we saw this old, wooden house.

A little later, we came across this playground, located about 75 feet above the water, still high enough to afford a nice view across the Bosporus. You can see the Hagia Sophia in the background as well as the tower of the Imperial Compound.

We took the boat up the Bosporus to the Asian side (past the Golden Horn), about a 15 minute ride. We walked into the commercial district, composed mostly of double-story buildings, giving it a sort of suburban feel. In the background of this picture is an Armenian church.

Inside the Armenian church--the part we were allowed to enter.

Small but charming stained glass window.

In the window of a shop devoted strictly to the sale of honey.

Through the window of a local bakery.

We ate a late lunch at Chiya, made famous by the New Yorker magazine. We sat near a reporterish guy wearing a National Geographic backpack. The owner of Chiya travels throughout Turkey, finding the local food and then preparing it in his establishment.

Fava bean "meat" covered with yogurt sauce.

Chicken stew.

More stews. The one on the left is made with very small okra. You can see some of these dishes by visiting the restaurant's web site.

A stew based on yogurt but full of many crunchy things, including nuts.

Two excellent beverages: sumac (red) which is tart and fragrant, and kiwi (green) which is minty and fruity.

We had oregano tea to go with dessert.

And the dessert! Wow! So innovative: candied tomato, stuffed candied eggplant, candied young walnuts, candied olives, pistachio stuffed cookie in marshmallow creme.

After Chiya (Ciya), we rode the boat back as the sun began to set. Here's a picture of the New Mosque right before we docked.

And that's pretty much the end of the notable events of our trip. The flights back were effortless and driving from LAX to SLO at 9:30 PM, then getting up at 5:45 to do a lab that started at 8:00 AM wasn't so hard after all.