...following on from here
Things in and on Bread
Before we hit Istanbul we'd read something that said don't just fall into the doner, pide, durum trap. We fell into the trap but when the trap tastes so damn good why wouldn't you want to fall into it? Our three in and on bread highlights were:
Pide
We had a pide at Şimşek Pide, it was OK.
We had a pide at Hocapaşa Pidecisi, we thought that it couldn't get any better.
We had a pide at Mavi Halic, it did get better and it was crazy good.
Fish Sandwiches
Down by the banks of the Golden Horn there are a few different places where you can acquire one of Istanbul's famed fish sandwiches. Under the Galata bridge, next to the bridge from floating vendors, stalls alongside the bridge. The best fish sandwich requires a little bit more effort.
After crossing the bridge to the Beyoglu side you head west, through the fish market, and arrive at a cluster of about six or seven street vendors pumping out some seriously delicious fare. A piece of oily mackerel in a soft bun with some grilled veggies, salad, a lick of pomegranate molasses and a decent helping of chili. Sometimes less really is more.
Kokoreç at Kral Kokoreç
This one's for you Mum. The intestines of a lamb get cleaned thoroughly, are soaked in milk for a while and then get cleaned again. The intestines are then wrapped around a mixture of more intestines, lungs and sweetbreads, speared onto a spit and then roast away ready for willing customers like us.
The resulting meat package is full of lamby goodness but it's the texture that gets you and has me salivating for a kokoreç right now. In bread, on bread, on a plate. Anyway will do!
Crawling with Cats
Istanbul is crawling with cats. No really, if you walk ten metres and don't see another cat it's because you missed it not because it's not there. Needless to say, this means hours of us making smooching noises and going psswssswssw in feeble attempts to make new pals. We made a few.
A very special mention goes to the Aya Sofya cat. Yes, a cross-eyed cat that calls the Aya Sofia home.
A very unspecial (not a word but let's roll with it) mention goes to the American who walked past and went, "it's like they've never seen a cat before. Sometimes people are so dumb". No buddy, you're dumb. This is the famous Aya Sofya cat (see its blog here) and you're just another D-bag swanning around Istanbul in a singlet with your hat backwards.
Pickles, Pickles, Pickles
There are few things, me not included, that make Nicola as happy as pickles. Her one main regret on this trip was not buying a single giant pickle in a can in Germany. Yes, you can get that.
Salgam (fermented black carrot juice), pickles in a cup in pickle juice (yes, also a thing), pickled chillies by the container load at every eatery, piles of pickles with pide. Pickles are everywhere and Nix was, and still is, in heaven.
Parklife
A big part of our time in Istanbul was finding a park to take it easy in for an hour or so before setting off again for the arvo. Moda Park over in Kadikoy was so peaceful that I squeezed in a little power nap before waking up for my afternoon tea. Naww.
Çay
Tea so strong that it coats your teeth and is a legitimate substitute to coffee. I wasn't sold at first thinking that strong black tea is just strong black tea. We're now a week in to a tea addiction that will have spiralled out of control once we leave Turkey in a months time. Thankfully there are çay stalls or men with portable çay urns just about everywhere that you look to feed the addiction. Look, even a bank blocking your card is fun with çay!
The best and cheapest so far was at 4am from a guy on the side of the road as we boarded a bus to the airport.
A big shout out to Big B, Little C and Mike and Kate (check out their time in the 'Bul here) for giving us way too much to try and squeeze in to what felt like four very short days.
