Bier Kofte Lutfen

One Meatball Please
June 6th - 13th

1979. The year of my birth.

2009. The year I turn 30.

Two milestones, if you will, for me. And since my current (mostly) Indian adventure is taking place during the year I bid my 20's goodbye, my close friend Libby and I had planned for quite some time to celebrate in style (she, too, will welcome her 30th year this August).

Thus, we decided to embark on an Excellent European Adventure of sorts. Initially planning to hit five countries, we narrowed our scope to just two: Turkey and Greece.

Our expedition launched in Istanbul, Turkey, where my friend Abdullah from my Indiana University days lives. A gracious host, Abdullah took us in and for four days showed us his city.

He resides on the Asia side of Istanbul, so we bounced around from Asia to Europe and back again more than a few times via ferry (and you could consume tea on the ferry, so it was all the better). It was once again so nice to feel like a visitor somewhere rather than simply a tourist, and the first day, after a delightful nap on his couch, we saw octopus, ate sardines, walked through the Taksim tourist area of the city, ate kofte (meatballs!) and picked up Libby at midnight from the airport.

Apo and I at about 2 a.m. trying to get a bus, a taxi, anything. Bright eyed all the way!

Having reunited with Lib in Istanbul of all places, we hit up many of the major must-sees the next day, going first to Topkapi Palace to see a centuries old Harem, the Spoonmaker's Diamond, an impressive throne room, and people reading the Koran for 24 hours straight inside, non-stop.

Me at my hang out.

We next headed to the Aya Sofia church that I believe used to be a mosque. From the photo you can get a small understanding of its beauty.

From Aya Sofia we went directly across the square to the Sultanahmat AKA the Blue Mosque which also was breathtaking, with hundreds of people filing in and out, we spent some time sitting outside listening to the Call to Prayer.

The Blue Mosque

Having sufficiently hit up major tourists spots for much of the day, we spent the rest engaging in my favorite past times, eating and drinking! We tried some baklava (delicious), Turkish delights (very sweet), and Turkish coffee (you read your fortune out of the cup after you drink it) and even were privy to witnessing a Barack Obama made out of baklava as well; not the run of the mill thing you might expect in Turkey.

Obama Baklava

We rounded out the evening at a pub in Taksim, an area teeming with bars, restaurants and tons of gorgeous Turkish people. We tried some Raki, a traditional Turkish alcohol that tastes like black licorice (not my favorite thing), and were treated to the live music stylings of a duo of a guitar player and flutist, which alone seeing the flaunting male flutist is enough to garner up my desire to visit Istanbul again.

Cheers to Turkey!

Before boarding the bus back to Asia, we spied a restaurant named Pink Kofte (AKA Pink Meatball). We did not get to eat there on this trip, but this, too, builds my desire to return to Istanbul. It also sparked my desire to learn the useful Turkish phrase, Bier Kofte Lutfen (One Meatball Please).

At our favorite restaurant that we did not peruse.

Abdullah is a professor at Marimar University, and the next day we went to see his campus and met people in his department (some of whom I think were bewildered that I quit my job to go on this adventure, but they also mentioned I could apply to their PhD program). We then headed to the famous Grand Bazaar, one of the largest Bazaars in the world where you can find everything from Turkish lamps to tacky t-shirts. I loved it.

Awesome lamps.

After a coffee and spotting of a Turkish television star who Abdullah knew (we totally got his pic with him, oh yes), we walked a bit and I finally lived my dream of eating sweet corn from a street vendor (does not compare to Iowa sweet corn, however). A short stop at a travel agent lined up our journey for the next few days to central and western Turkey, and then we continued our theme of eating by loading up on more Kofte and also Turkish bread from some street vendors. We hit up the Spice Bazaar, too, where Libby bought many spices and I bought some Love Potion; I will keep you all updated on the odds of how that is working out.

My new secret weapon.

We continued our marathon-tour day by buying a large block of white cheddar cheese which we proceeded to eat off of for the next few days. This is no joke; I have been in cheese withdrawal and it was super tasty, plus the guy cutting the cheese was smoking a cig as he sliced it. Classy. We then headed to the Rustem Pasa, or tiled mosque, for a quick view inside.

Pseudo-burkas at the Tiled Mosque

We then hopped over to the water's edge and took a mini-cruise on the Bosphorous in the evening. Taking in the city from the water while sipping fresh-squeezed orange juice and gnawing on a block of cheese was a true delight.

After the cruise I fought my fatigue and we journeyed over to Galata Tower to see the sunset on Istanbul. Galata Tower was built in during the Byzantine era under Emperor Justinianus. It's 61 meters high from ground and 140 meters from sea level and was captured by The Turks in 1453. As you can see we enjoyed taking in the history.

Holla for TURKEY!

You are my setting sun, Istanbul.

That night continued with good food and drinks as we ate ice cream you had to cut with a knife and fork and also hit up a small bar on the seventh floor of a building that played music from around the world--walking into the sounds of Amanda Palmer from the Dresden Dolls I knew we had hit upon a gem.

After our action-packed tourist day, the next morning I went for a jog (training for a half marathon while traveling is not highly recommended, I must add) and then we sorted out our travel details for Greece while Abdullah treated us to a traditional Turkish breakfast of Borek, a tasty flaky pastry. We finally moved out in the early afternoon and after running to catch the ferry and narrowly evading falling flat on our faces on the ferry due to an unexpected boat lurch, we headed to a small restaurant near the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque to have the Water Pipe (AKA Hookah). Smoking the apple hookah and drinking Turkish coffee while listening to the call to with two good friends--I could get used to this.

We said goodbye to Abdullah after a delightful dinner and knew we would miss him as we boarded our night bus to head to Cappadocia in central Turkey. Having not seen him for nearly six years it was great to reconnect and we saw more in Istanbul then we could have mustered on our own.

If you got through all of this, you can tell we packed in a ton of stuff in just a few days. Istanbul is a city with a lot of charm and is tourist friendly (though I am very grateful we had Abdullah to guide us). I highly recommend a visit!

Top Ten Things I loved about Istanbul:
1. Kofte
2. Bread
2. Tea in the glass tea cups
3. Ice Cream
4. Corn from the street vendors
5. Lights in Taksim
6. Flutist
7. People fishing all over the place
8. Hookah
9. Call to prayer
10. Turkish coffee

Yes, I realize seven of the ten things are food/drink related. :)

My favorite lights on a street in Taksim.