Day 24 – Istanbul and Beyoglu district

Beyoglu, Istanbul

Wednesday, 9 October 2013

Slept in this morning so decided to forgo touring the old city in favour of local attractions in the Beyoglu district. So there was time to put on a load of washing and have a leisurely breakfast – yoghurt with honey and fresh banana, and fresh bread with butter, feta cheese and sliced tomato, all washed down with white tea.

And time for exploring leisurely. Firstly a walk down French street with its mix of late nineteenth century buildings, cafés, art galleries and boutique shops down to the harbour.

Then onto the Istanbul Modern which is the equivalent of our Museum of Contemporary Art. 

No photos were allowed unfortunately as there was an interesting exhibit with books hung on wires juxtaposed against the education library with its book shelves. The building itself makes a statement because it’s constructed of waste material gathered in the Mamara Sea. The museum cafe is well reviewed in Lonely Planet and Trip Adviser as it’s a destination in itself where you can eat and have views of the Bosporus and the old city. However, a huge cruise ship was the view today so we only had black tea and a piece of baclava with ice cream (cost 31 Turkish lira).

Next stop on our list was the best baclava shop in Istanbul – Karakoy Gulluoglu established in 1802. It’s located on the harbour across the road from the cruise ship terminal. Basically you take a tray and go the various counters where you order individual pieces of baclava, borek, and drinks such tea or coffee, yoghurt drink or ice creams and then pay at a central cashier. It was a bit intimating at the counters because you had quite dominant locals ordering boxes of particular varieties and tourists queuing at other counters so it was hard to get the attention of those serving. But both good value and delicious. We had a couple of pieces of baclava, a piece of meat borek and two teas for 12 Turkish lira.

We then headed upwards to the Galata Tower 

where we had 360 views of Istanbul. Another tea and a piece of rice pudding at one of the tower’s cafes for 22 Turkish lira but the view was free!

Walking down Istiklal Caddesi we discovered the European Passage which is a series of interconnecting arcades – some with antiques, others with jewellery and others with fresh produce and fish. 

We had dinner at one of the associated fish cafés – stuffed mussels, mixed salad, grilled sardines, basket of bread and 500ml steins of Efes tap beer.

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