Day III- 5,4...3 degrees?

One tram ride, quite a bit of walking and a metro ride later, we are at The Otogar, which is as sprawling as it supposed to be. There are over 100 offices here, companies running buses to pretty much anywhere in Turkey, and to parts of Europe. It would be great, wouldn’t it, to buy a ticket for Prague or Greece or something from here? I suppose so, but at the moment we are clutching our jackets and making our way to the large and brightly lit office of the Metro company, where- yet again- almost no English at all leaves both of us fairly unsure as to what to do with our bags. Finally I check them in, smiling back at the man who asks and is pleased to hear “India”. That’s great buddy, but what’s happening to my bags? Nothing, it would seem. They lie right there and we are asked to move on.
Dinner is at a totally random lokantasi across from the main Otogar, and consists of bread, mixed vegetables and meatballs with lots of Oil. In fact, it is the oil fest season, we are told, and this place is not a lokantasi but an oilkantasi.
Or something.
The bus is pretty comfortable, and are served coffee and cake(!)- believe me, that is something unheard of in India. It is cold outside, and I love that. D doesn’t so much, so she stays in when we make a stop on the Asian side of Istanbul. I get off, with a dozen others who are reaching for their cigarette packs, and the biting cold hits me hard. When we return we are to learn that this day was probably the coldest of our stay- about 9-10 degrees in Istanbul.

Some fitful dozing later, we wake to realise we have stopped. The bus is not moving, but we are. Lo and behold, we are on a ferry! We had no idea this was part of the journey, so the novelty of it is interesting, as is the hot cup of cay we share above on the deck. Outside the sitting area, it is much, much colder. We somehow brave a photograph where we both look as if it is our very brains that are freezing, then D goes back inside while I, inexplicably, stay outside to click photos of water below us, rushing by in the darkness. There is a biting wind and my sweatshirt and jacket combination is woefully inadequate, but there is something about it that I am enjoying. I go back just as my digits threaten to fall off.

in: travel / turkey / istanbul / journey / turkey food / dna day3

Day III- cheers!

We stumbled along, groping with the LP map around what was unequivocally Backpacker Central.

From the Spice Bazaar we had walked to Eminonu to catch the tram, entered it on the wrong side of the tracks and had an official tell us to jump them to the other side, and finally were back in Sultanahmet. This is ‘our’ area, but we’re staying a little away from this hub of pensions, hels, hotels, travel agencies, even The Four Seasons. Yet none of this seems at all like a market or like the complete and noisy chaos it should be. Maybe that’s cause it is only about 6.30pm- most people will still be out taking in the sights, not trudging back to their rooms or bars. Yet. We eventually locate Cheers!, right next to The Backpacker Bar, and go into the former solely because it is called a big favourite with backpackers in the LP. In the event, it doesn’t really matter- it is too early for either to have any people. Cheers! has one guy who probably runs the place, and another who looks like he is 16 and straight from a German punk-heavy-metal club. Shockingly, there is death metal blaring.
Of course that changes soon enough, as we sigh into our chairs on the tiny first floor which we have all to ourselves. It must be quite a place when it is full (which it might be in a couple of hours), but we quite like this as well. At 5Euros a beer, it doesn’t seem cheap though, but the beer is big and the place is quiet. We can look out and see the boards for names we had read so many times- Sultan Hostel, Orient Hostel…
The beer is refreshing and soothing and tasty, but soon we leave to pick up our bags from the Hotel and make our way to the Otogar or Bus Terminal. We’ve decided to not take the Metro company shuttle that leaves way too early at (report 7.15) for a 9.30 bus, and taking TTP’s trusty step by step guide, we are off.

in: travel / turkey / turkey travel / istanbul / dna day3

Day III- bazaars

The Grand Bazaar is typical yet no bore. Coming from the West, I can see how this would be more eye-popping than it would be for an Asian, particularly and Indian. Think Palika Bazar In Delhi or Heera Panna in Mumbai, but more organised in some ways, much more colourful, and mostly very friendly. We wander around, relaxed and interested. Fortunately we are not looking to shop beyond the odd souvenir for ourselves and lubbed ones. We did not, somehow, take more than the odd photo- though the colours offer great subjects…


Unfortunately we can’t find a place to eat. The one- not so cheap lokantasi (where we decide we will share a dish) has little left- it is 3pm and way past lunch time. We walk out, and after buying some shot glasses (yay!) onward to Spice Bazaar. But our eyes and stomachs are aware, and at 4pm, we see this place:
and have these
They’re pretty good, filling and we are satisfied. As usual, on our walk toward the Spice Bazaar we are running a bit tight for time- so no photos are taken of the bustling street, the very small-town India feel of the roads (streets?) we walk on- with cleanliness thrown in- the number of interestingly-faced locals and kids(this is not probably the usual route to the Spice Bazaar- that’s from the Eminonu side). Eventually we reach the Egyptian Market or Spice Bazaar.
It is gorgeous. There’s nothing to it, really- but it seems to be in a cavernous few corridors with high ceilings and the subtlest of smells wafting past your nose- not assaulting it, just gently teasing it. Then we notice shop after shop of spices. There’s some other stuff, sure- the inevitable and gorgeous nazars- but mostly, there are heaps of spice- cardamom, cumin, saffron, Turkish saffron, pepper, chilli, paprika, oregano…..(check out these pics)

We see, we smell, we think that we should surely pick up something from here. We meet Dr Avijit Dutt, a Bengali in London who buys spices here all the time (?)- either orders them through people or buys them when he comes, like this time on a conference. And he is not joking- looks like he's buying enough to last a year! We, instead, look for soap- D buys a bar of olive soap. Olives? They are way more expensive than you’d think- and then eventually two kinds of chilli powder. ( we have yet to use them- but can’t wait!)

in: travel / turkey / turkey travel / istanbul / grand bazaar / spice bazaar / turkey food / dna day3