Constantinople Dream - Part 1

This post was supposed to be here ages ago, but I had no mojo writing it. So here I am now, jotting it down in my blog entry because I miss the place so much.

I MISS ISTANBUL. No kidding.

Before I left to UK for my masters, I never thought I would step my foot to Istanbul as I thought it was not part of EU countries.  (Boleh tak? Ignorant is not a bliss this time) In fact, I thought it is part of middle-eastern countries. Gile bodoh saya ni. I always dreamt of going to Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Rome, Venice, etc and if you can see from the list, these places are mostly 'glamorous' places (if you know what I mean) and these are the typical places that will appear in any love films almost every time. 


 The typical berangans that I would have after watching the film..

1. Kena propose in front of Eiffel Tower

2. Naik gondola in Venice

3. Petik anggur at a vineyard in Italy.. oh and have scrumptious lunch there. Pastu naik kuda.

4. Sesat at the dark alley in Rome (in a small Smart car for two)

5. Eating tapas and Paella near Gaudi while learning Spanish.

Yada yada yada. Clearly Hollywood has invaded us me. Poyo. 

Anyway, Istanbul was lovely. Lovelier than all of those glamorous places I mentioned above and I'm not kidding. Went to Istanbul just few days before I departed to KL for good. It was supposed to be just the two of us (Dalia and I) but the two boys decided to come along. (Zanif and Fizan).

We made arrangements to stay with Dalia's Turkish friend, Ozge who is Dalia's coursemate's sister. She was extremely pretty, striking sharp features she has. I was speechless looking at her, apatah lagi the boys. Oh, and we met her housemates as well. Three beauties in the house yaw!  

Meet  Ozge Ozturk - she's half Cypriot- Turkish

 Ozge picked us up at the train station and we went straight to her house somewhere in Capa, dropped our luggage and started our adventure for food . It was 2 pm at that time and winter. Dark and gloomy it was, and we were damn hungry! We went to Taksim Square by taxi and Ozge brought us to this restaurant (too hungry to jot down) in the middle of Taksim Square..Oh what a feast we had.

I was too hungry to jot down the names of the food, so I just ate whatever Ozge recommended that was good. And it was GOOD. The best was the dessert (the last picture), Türk Sütlaç - Turkish Rice Pudding. Yum.

After the feast we walked a bit around Taksim and found out that Taksim Square is probably the most important square in Istanbul. It's sort of like a huge transportation hub where taxis and the main metro station are located. It's a hot spot for tourists for shopping and going to the bars or pubs, international fast food chains such as Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Burger King are also there if you've had enough of Turkish food. Taksim is also a favourite place by the locals for public events such as parades, New Year celebrations or other social gatherings. It will always be full of people any time of the day. It really reminded me of Oxford Street in London.

Our real adventure started the next day.

I loved visiting old universities, and Istanbul University is one of the oldest university, not just in Turkey, but in the world as well. Established in 1453 and this university has produced famous academicians from all around the world. The architectural buildings of Istanbul University was just mesmerizing. It's old, stout (in a good way!) and the moment I stepped into the compound of the university, oh my God, I just froze for few seconds. The whole scenery that was in front of me just knocked me off my feet. Ahaha. Masya Allah.

The tour around the University

Hours after sightseeing at the University, we were hungry of course. So Ozge brought us to this place somewhere near the Bosporus bridge called Ortakoy. The cafe only serves Kumpir which are baked potatoes (Turkish style, not the Brit style) with 100 or more types of fillings and condiments. Interesting right?

The journey to lunch!

What we had! Yum.

After we're done and our tummy had been filled with good food, we walked around a bit at Ortakoy area and we noticed that the area was more relax and calm comparing to SultanAhmet and Beyazit area. Pretty much could be that those places are mainly for tourists but Ortakoy is not so bad either. It's still a tourist area but more relax. Back in the days in the history, many 'sultans' made Ortakoy as their summer residence. They have their mansions and palaces (now transformed into luxurious hotels) overlooking the straits where they can have the best view of Bosphorus and enjoy their tea cups on their hand. According to our friend, Ozge, Ortakoy is a village that is most probably envied by other districts in Istanbul because it is near the Bosphorus bridge. Bosphorus is also known as Istanbul straits that form parts of boundary between Asia and Europe. How cool is that! Normally, they will be cruises services for you to take to see parts of Asia and Europe every half and hour, but since it was winter, cruise services were only twice a day. Such a bummer but I thought the more reasons to come back here.

Next up, after all the sightseeing and camwhoring, we decided to go back to Beyazit town (near the University) and indulged ourselves with some shopping spree. The Grand Bazaar! The four of us were very much looking forward to go to the Bazaar since the first day. Not to do that much shopping,  but just to see what they have in store. 

And these are the things that we were jakun about:

 The art and crafts. Turkish signature.

The belly dancer's costume. Bought one for myself! 

 Table runners, cushion covers yada yada. Mom would love this. From laces to silk.

 Many many types of Turkish delights! I don't fancy Turkish delights so much, but the ones that I ate here were exceptional!

 Sweet rice pudding. Many types of them. 

Not forgetting the spices. The best. Bought saffron for Mom for her beriyani rice. Mind you, saffron is expensive in many parts of the world especially Malaysia. It can be as expensive as RM 1000 for 1 kg? Depending on which type. I bought the best one for quite a cheap price in Istanbul.

For Mr. Z? KIDDING! 

Anyway, we were there at the bazaar till quite late, not that we did massive shopping, but we explore the whole of the bazaar from one end to the other. From Turkish carpets to gold! Yes, they sell big chunk of gold at the bazaar. We had dinner at the bazaar and straight for nargileh (shisha). We had our nargileh somewhere at the Sultanahmet district just across the blue mosque. There's this cafe with pretty lights and they only have nargileh and Turkish tea. The whole stretch of the place are meant just for nargileh. The apple tea was delicious. I had three cups!


What a night we had. The boys were hungry (the girls pun apa kurangnya), so Ozge invited them over for a quick bite at Capa because there are some street cafes that were still opened at that time. It's like mamak plus fast food. We had Islak (Wet burgers) and it was damnnnn. Islak only costs 2 lira, so that should be around RM 5. It's a combination of beef patty and bread dip with special red sauce that was made out of tomato paste. It was the bomb and at that time I wasn't thinking about diet or anything else. Just that!

It doesn't end there my dear friends. Right at the bottom of the street before Ozge's house, there's is one seafood restaurant that closes late at night. And in front of the restaurant, there was a bar that sells stuffed mussels. The bar serves not drinks but that. Fizan and Zanif ate lots of them. I gave up because my stomach couldn't take any food anymore, but after 15 minutes I gave it a try. Not bad. The stuffed mussels are called midye dolmasi. It is one of the most popular Mediterannean street food. The stuffings are spiced rice with raisins and we must squeeze some lemon before we eat it. I thought it was interesting. It's an acquired taste but you'll get used to it if you eat more than three.

Thirty minutes after Turkish street food indulgence, I was already on my way to lalaland. The boys went back to their hotel and probably they were also in deep slumber. What a long day but it was productive for us.

Stay tuned for part 2 where I'll be covering the historical area of Istanbul!