Istanbul, Turkey (What came first bird or country?)

Turkey (turns out some English bloke misnamed the bird - google it for more details) was on our list of places to see, but pretty far down the list and we were unlikely to make it there if we knocked down our places in order. However, Tiff got rave reviews from a co-worker that had just returned from Istanbul, and she also saw an episode of the Today show featuring Where in the World is Matt Lauer and he happened to be in Istanbul. Next thing you know we’re buying tickets. I must admit, I was reluctant to venture back to Eastern Europe after our Croatia experience, but I figured if that doofus Lauer can do it, then so can I.

Tiff had a business meeting in Switzerland so we met up at the Istanbul airport late on Friday night. The hotel we booked actually sent a guy to pick us up – eventhough it was after midnight which was pretty impressive. The late night desk staff was almost too friendly/helpful. It was 1am and while we did appreciate the sparkling water, we really just wanted to unpack and go to sleep but the guy went through some tour brochures and highlighted the sights on a map. Like I said, I’m sure we would have been more appreciative if it was 1pm vs 1am. Anyway, we stayed at the Sirkeci Konak hotel which is number one on Tripadvisor, and despite the prolonged check in process, I would highly recommend it for the friendly staff, moderate pricing, good restaurant, solid rooms and surprisingly nice fitness and spa facilities. However, if we had to do it over again, I might choose a different place purely due to location. The hotel is located in the “old” (old meaning 500 A.D) part of the city where most of the tourist attractions are located such as the Topkapi Palace, mosques, the Old Bazaar and the Yerebataban Cistern. We did spend one day powering through the touristy things, but we spent more time in the “new” (new meaning 1000 A.D.+) part of the city where the non (or at least less) touristy restaurants are located. We did make very good use of the lightrail system they had to take us across the river and between the two parts of the city. It was great, except that it stopped at the base of the hill on the “new” part of the city – called Beyoglu, so we had to hoof it up and down for every meal. Probably a good thing for the BMI but when it’s 80 and sunny and you’re used to London/Seattle weather it could be a bit much.

Tiff in front of the Blue Mosque (the Matt Lauer shot)



Tiff inside the Yerebataban Cistern




The Grand Bazaar


The Sultan's greeting room at the Harem of the Topkapi Palace



Me in the Harem


Eating a Turkish bagel. Tasty.


The first day we spent really just walking around getting our bearings. Hit a Starbucks (there were probably a half dozen we saw) for breakfast. Met an overly friendly (sensing a theme here?) Turkish guy who walked a few blocks with us and then pointed out the souvenir shop where he works. We quickly kept moving past the shop and kept walking across the river to Beyoglu. We stopped off at the Galata House restaurant for lunch. The food (Russian inspired) was OK, but it was a great setting because at first it was just us and the chef (who spoke very little English). After we ordered we were joined by a pretty annoying Englishman and his Russian girlfriend, but they provided some entertainment. After walking around Beyoglu we stopped into the House Café (really cool ambiance) for some cool/fruity drinks and then walked back to the hotel to get cleaned up. After being on our feet all day we decided to take advantage of our complimentary dinner at the hotel – it was actually really good. I must say that after the first day, I wasn’t loving Istanbul. It was hard to tell if the people were really friendly or if they were trying to lure you in and rob you, the men were pretty ripe and would just stare at women, the city is pretty dirty, and many of the restaurants had guys outside aggressively trying to get you in which can be pretty annoying.

Drinks at the House Cafe




Dinner at the hotel. They made me a delicious bass.


The plan the next day was to hit a couple of sights in the morning and then find a pool in the afternoon because Tiff was jonesing for some pool time. I guess that Muslims believe that standing water is dirty (they’re probably right) so there aren’t a lot of outdoor pools in Istanbul and the ones that are available are at very high end hotels that charged non-guests ~$100 / day to hang out. We hit Tokyo for lunch (Tiff was also jonesing for yakisoba after having some in Lisbon a couple weeks ago) but it clouded over in the afternoon so we powered through the rest of the sights we wanted to see, hit the hotel pool, sauna and hamam and then returned to Beyoglu for dinner at one of Istanbul’s many rooftop restaurants – 360. We wrapped up the day by sitting outside in a little alley where one of the local bars had set up a big screen for the Turkey v. Czech Republic football game. I had a couple of Efes Pilsens and Tiff tried some raki – which tasted to me like ouzo. We only stayed for the first half because Tiff had some work to do and the riot police were out so I thought it might be better if we were closer to the hotel. I was surprised at how subdued the crowd was during the first half. Some emotion when Turkey missed a good chance and also when Czech scored, but it was pretty limited. Of course Turkey came back from 0-2 by scoring the levelling and go-ahead goals in the span of 3 minutes. Update: Turkey repeated their miracle comeback by tying Croatia in the 31st minute of extra time. Actually, there was only supposed to be 1 minute of injury time and the clock read 31:04 when the ball was in the back of the net, so if anyone is reading this that really understands soccer please explain this to me in a comment. Anyway, Turkey is now in the semis of the Euro Cup and it was very cool to be there and see the energy of the city after Turkey’s victory.


Rooftop dinner at 360.


We spent the last day just soaking in the city. The sun came and went behind clouds so we never made it to the pool, but we stopped by Cremeria Milano for some of the best gelato I’ve had outside of Italy and we ventured out to the Bosphorus Villages for drinks at House Cafe and dinner at Banyan along the river. To me, this is when I really came to appreciate Istanbul and overcame my negative/culture shock initial impressions. It was really a stunning setting to be right on the Bosphorus at a well designed restaurant (the Turks must have inherited their design eye from the Italians) with the Asian continent on the other side of the bridge, the mosques dotting the skyline and the prayer chants filling the background. Not sure if we’ll have time, but we’d love to make it back Istanbul.


Typical bar snacks



Tiff at Banyan


Tiff calls this the "money shot"

Just Saying No in Lisbon

Portugal has been near the top of our list to visit for some time and it didn't disappoint. While we only made it to Lisbon and Sintra, we will definitely be back at some point to visit some smaller towns and beaches.

While yes, there are many San Francisco like elements, it reminded me more of a cross between Miami and New Orleans from an architecture perspective. While many of the buildings are abandoned they still have a ton of charm and the tiles and iron work was really beautiful. I also loved these Jacaranda trees all over the city with their beautiful purple flowers. The food was delicious and there was just enough to do to fill three days with a day trip to Sintra (could have done a day trip to the beaches but the weather was pretty so so) without exhausting ourselves.


We stayed at the Sofitel Lisbon. I am not generally a huge fan of the chain hotels, the HP employee discount was good and it ended up being a nice hotel in a great location - I would recommend it. Other highlights should you find yourself in Lisbon include a visit to the Confeitaria de Belem in Belem for 'pasteis da nata' which are little custard tarts. They sell them all over, but this place is suppose to have the best - supposedly they are cranking out up to 20K a day of these on a weekend day. We decided earn our treat buy running the 4ish miles to their location west of down town, but took the lightrail back which was easy enough.

Another must try is the gambas a bras which is a paella-like dish but rather than rice, it's made with julienned crispy potatoes with onion, egg and shrimp. We had this twice a restaurant called Ribadouro (just up the hill one block from the hotel) which was delicious. Other restaurants we tried included Luca which had a good atmosphere, but the food was so so - probably better for a drink instead of dinner. We also ate at the Royale Cafe (perfect for breakfast or a quick lunch in a cool atmosphere. We also had our first Brazilian food in Lisbon at a cute spot called Comida de Santo with great food and service.

Our day trip to Sintra was also fun. We took a train to out to this UNESCO world heritage site and a bus to two different palaces - Palacio National and probably my favorite castle in Europe thus far, Palacio de Pena. de Palacio Pena has really different architecture then most castles with gargoyles and this very cool Triton.


The only sort of creepy part of Lisbon is the drug scene. The first night we were there Greg was propositioned quite openly nearly ten times. First they would try to interest them with hash and when he declined that they would offer up cocaine. We wondered if he is just so skinny they figured he was an addict or what as we didn't really see anyone else getting quite the same level of attention. Once he said no to both offers, they left us alone so we never really felt scared, just thought it was odd.

It was another great trip and we will be back sometime in the future.