EUROPE, ASIA, AND FRIENDS
- Hannah McDonald
- Jul 18, 2014
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 10, 2022
We saw so much today in the city that I am not sure I can even remember everything we did. We started our day off to some eggs that we cooked here in the apartment, and then a little later the Keppler family arrived. It was great to see them. We spent a little time catching up up and then headed into town. We walked down through all of the little shops on the streets to the Ortakoy Mosque. We couldn’t go in because it was prayer time. There were people packed in all around the mosque. It was truly amazing. We went down to the harbor and looked out over the water and then got on to the bus. It was nice to know someone who had done it so many times before.
We got onto the ferry that would take us over to the Asia side of Turkey. It was a really pretty ride seeing the water, the city, and the bridge that connected Asia and Europe. Once we arrived at the Karakoy Pier we walked to where we would have lunch. On the way we saw a Starbucks and Cold Stone on the same corner. The lunch was very good. We had an assortment of Turkish foods. At the end of our meal the waiter brought us Oregno Tea which was an adventure.
After Çiya we walked down a street which had fish markets, fruit and vegetable stands and many Turkish Delight shops. We got an assortment of Turkish Delights to try. They were interesting, very chewy and sugary. They weren’t as good as I was expecting, but if you got one of the better flavors it would be good.
After that we got on another ferry and headed to the Golden Horn. There we went into the Yeni Mosque. Before we went in we had to cover our hair and put on long skirts. Inside we got to see part of a prayer session. The detail inside the mosque was incredible. It was covered in beautiful tiny tiles that created the patterns.
After the prayer session we went to the Spice Bazaar. It was very crowded. There were a bunch of different little shops with a lot of different things. We bought some Turkish towels. These are towels that are made out of Bamboo and cotton. They are very soft! We also got some dates, figs, and apricots to try. The dates were so good that they made our dates at home seem stale. The figs and apricots were also very good. After wandering around for a while we took a ferry back to the Europe side of Turkey.
We had dinner and ice cream in Ortakoy. The restaurant we had dinner at had a very nice view. We went up to eat on the rooftop, and from there you had a view of the city, the water, and the bridge connecting Europe and Asia. It was beautiful. We had Asian noodles with vegetables and chicken and some calamari. The noodles were amazing and the calamari disgusting. Sierra, one of the Kepplers, informed us that usually the calamari is much better. We also went to a place for ice cream. It was much different than ice cream in the US. It was more sticky and the flavors more vibrant. For example, we got mint chocolate ice cream and the mint was very strong, almost overpowering. After the sun had set we said goodnight to the Kepplers and then headed back to our apartment for the night.
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