Simit -Turkish bagel

Simit - Turkish bagel and a glass of tea is probably the cheapest fast food you can get in Turkey. It is possible to find simit ( circular crisp bread with sesame seeds) almost everywhere. I always prefer to eat simit and drink tea in the mornings while enjoying the view of the Bosphorus..

Blogu Türkçe takip edenler için fotoğraflar yeterli sanırım..Simit + Çay + Boğaziçi.....

photo on the left/ soldaki resim: www.refikaninmutfagi.com

İstanbul that I miss

Hello from İstanbul.... Here are couple images from the istanbul that I miss...We have one more week here than we are flying to Morocco, where I am sure I will be posting many colorful photos..

İstanbul'dan merhaba...İşte özlediğim İstanbul'dan bir kaç fotoğraf..Bir hafta daha buralardayız daha sonra size pek çok renkli fotoğraf  yayınlayacağıma emin olduğum Fas'a doğru uçacağız...

LOVE Fish..

I love my new life at the Mediterranean, but I certainly miss certain things about life in İstanbul. One of them is particularly the fishes of İstanbul, especially this season.
Of course we have plenty of fish at Datca but the taste of fish caught from Marmara Sea or Black Sea are far superior than the fish caught from Mediterranean. I think their eating habits as well as the temprature of the sea are some of the reasons for that.
So while in İstanbul I am stuffing my self with lots of fish. Nowadays, BBQed fish and some salad are the easiest and the healtiest fast food you can find in İstanbul..
Next week we are returning to Datca....Cant wait..

İstanbul

We have been in İstanbul for about a week. Our days are filled with packing, packing and more packing. In two weeks time we are moving most of our stuff to Datca. Soon the house in İstanbul will become our secondary one. Among all the packing frenzy, we found some time this weekend to relax at the Black Sea coast of İstanbul. It was a gray, cold and windy day. Then my mom called from Datca, she said she just came out of the sea and it was divine. Well, that's the difference between Mediterranean and Black Sea..I am glad that soon we will be on the warm side of the country..

Old and New İstanbul (2) - Historical tram in İstiklal Avenue

İstiklal Avenue on the European side of İstanbul is probably one of the most well known pedestrian street in İstanbul. It is full of old Ottoman buildings and an old tram runs back and fort all day..Lovely place to spend a day. So here are two tram photos from the unpublished National Geographic archives,I mentioned on my last post.

Photos are dated 1928 and taken by Maynard Owen Williams

Trams started to operate in İstanbul at 1871 and the one on İstiklal Avenue became active at 1883. Until 1914 all the trams were pulled by horses. Later they were all electrified..

and today..

Old & New İstanbul (1) / Eminonu Galata Bridge

Last month National Geographic magazine celebrated its 10th year in Turkey with a beautiful exhibition, with the photos taken in Turkey but have not been published before..They also gave a small album of these photos with the April issue. As I am always crazy about old photographs, it was such a big treat for me..

Now I will try to show you some places of İstanbul with the help of these photos..
Photo of Yeni Cami from the Galata bridge. Taken by Maynard Owen Williams in 1928

another one from 1925 by Branson de Cou /Ewing Galloway

and today...

Galata Bridge is the bridge that spans the Golden Horn and the very fist bridge constructed at this place  in 1894. The one in NG photo was the 4th bridge built in 1912. The current and the 5th one opened in 1994.

The Ottoman imperial mosque behind is called the New Mosque, but it was finished in 1665!!!

Championship Night..

We heard on the TV that the Fenerbahce football team has entered the Baghdat Street, so we ran to the street and we started to wait.....

our little one wearing the team's jersey was quiet patient and the team was coming with a bus and they only have to cover about 6 km to reach where we were waiting but nobody was on the horizon and we kept waiting...

 Finally about 3 hours later they came and along with thousand fans we cheered and Hera barked..

There are 3 big football clubs in İstanbul and champion of this year Fenerbahce considered as the football club of Asian side of the city.

Baghdat is the main street in an upper-scale residential area of Asian side of İstanbul . The one-way avenue with old plane trees is full of shopping malls, department stores, fashion garment stores, restaurants of international and local cuisine, pubs and cafés etc. Its an excellent place for walk and window shopping..

Cold Days..

Finally the much expected snow came to İstanbul, but unfortunately its not a totally white one. It is melting immediately and leaving us with muddy streets..Even Hera is not very happy with these weathers. She prefers her blankets to everything else..

 However it looks like the spring is in the horizon..All the beautiful spring flowers started to appear at flower stalls..

PS: Blogger ban here continues so I still cant see you as well as me!!

Missing Colors..

Hello from rainy, gray and cold İstanbul.. Not much is going on here.. We are mostly staying at home and writing... Hubby is busy with his novel and I have been commissioned to write some travel stories to a magazine and a new internet site...I am writing about my travels in Central Asia and Tibet...

We are also planning our up coming travels. At the end of March we are flying to England to spent some time with hubby's twin and his family and then later in June we are going to Crimea..So much to plan and anticipate..

As the title of my post says, I miss warm colors and sun shine in these dark winter days.
Hubby bought the antique mirror and the bowl for our last anniversary... A photo from the last summer..

Two lovers..

We have saved this special exhibition for Valentines Day, and yesterday we, two lovers went to visit another two lovers visiting İstanbul. Frida and Diego are in İstanbul with their amazing paintings..

Although theirs was a shaky relationship, I always admire the intense affaction and the artistic creativity of both. I think that I have never seen another female painter than Frida who described her love  to a man so strongly, so emotionally and so painfully..

I admired the great murals of Diego Rivera during my visit to Mexico, but I do not remember seeing paintings from him. So couple Diego paintings from the exhibition were such a different treat.

Wishing you a year filled with love....

Soutwest Wind

 Southwest wind which is called lodos in Turkish is always a big deal in the life of İstanbul. Well, first of all it delays  all the sea traffic, brings warm weathers but most importantly it has been blamed for insomnia and headache..So whenever you complain about a sleepless night or a slight headache during the windy days, everybody immediadely becomes a doctor and tell you that its because of the wind...

These amazing photograps are taken by a chilhood friend of mine, Şebnem Pilgir Aykol. She is a very talented architect and a photographer. She photographed the southwest wind in one of our favorite walking places near the Marmara Sea.
Şebnem dear, thank you very much for allowing me to post these photos on Turquoise Diaries and please visit the much neglected photo blog of Şebnem here..

Back to İstanbul

Leaving sunshine, sea, open air and tranquility was very hard but finally we came back to İstanbul. Cold, traffic, snowy/rainy weather welcomed us. We are all a bit depressed including our little fury one. I will be back with more cheerful and colorful posts very very soon...

Rainy Days

 Since rain and cold weather hit İstanbul, not much going on here.Weather is gray and life goes on mostly at home with lots of books and movies and couple quick trips to shopping malls for necessities..I was waiting these kind of days to start writing my novel, but it looks like my muses doesnt like rainy days either..In the meantime, hubby started to write a book out of nowhere and so far he is doing great..

Also we are in the process of packing again to go to our beach house. We are planning to welcome the new year there..
Sorry for this rather uninteresting post but even the light is too bad that it does not inspire me to take photos. I promise to dig into my archives to bring you more sunny and bright photos and stories soon..

Taste of History

When the weather forecasts had promised excellent weather for the past week, we tried to organize couple activities outside and some short trips to enjoy the last bits of sunny autumn before winter.

One day we passed to the European side of the city and had a wonderful lunch right beside the Galata tower. Call it a taste of history...

This famous sign of İstanbul, first built in 507 by the Byzantium Emperor Anastasius as a lighthouse. Later Geneose rebuilt this wood structure by using stone.. Ottomans used it as a dungeon and fire tower and now Turks are using it as a cafe and a restaurant..Enduring ages in many shapes...

Hope you are having sunny weathers, too...

Life goes on...

While a live bomb was trying to take the lives of many in Taksim Square yesterday morning, I was doing my daily shopping in the local food market. The news were a shock at first then a relief that no body was killed except the bomb himself.

When you live in this part of the world, you are somehow getting used to the horrific events like that. Maybe its a curse that we should have to live on, but whatever happens life goes on which I strongly feel is the antidote of this curse.

Fish season started in İstanbul. Although we spent a huge part of the year at the Mediterranean coast, I always miss the winter season in İstanbul . The fish caught from the Marmara Sea are always taste much much better than the ones from the Mediterranean. So I bought some Sarıkanat, a medium sized bluefish from my fisherman for dinner.

Then I stopped at the next stall to pick up some greens for a big salad along side the grilled fish. They have to be fresh and thats where I find them..

Then I bought 4 pieces of  yufka which is a very thin sheet of dough to make pastry, filled with spinach and cheese for breakfast. These yufkas are really a big life saver at the kitchen and dearly missed by my Turkish friends who live abroad because of their practicality.

Then I stopped at the next store to buy some cheese and sausage. Its always good to taste before you buy...

Then at night when we were having dinner we were grateful that life was going on despite all the setbacks...and this was a small tour in the shops and stalls of my neighbourhood..

Boats of İstanbul

For this season I choose a photo of a Bhosporus boat as the header of my blog...Why??? Because I love them and I also think that they are one of the greatest symbols of İstanbul.

If you are lucky and could grap a seat by the window or outside if the weather is good, it's the best place to dream and relax while the silhouettes of a beautiful city flows in front of you. Every day they carry millions of people from port to port as well as from Asia to Europe or vice versa. Its definitely the most convenient way from one continent to another.

When I was a young banker the early morning boat from Uskudar to Eminonu was my mode of transportation to work. A glass of hot tea and a bagel was my breakfast while the boat was slowly moving in the dark blue waters of Bhosporus.It was the most refreshing way to start a new day and it still is...Dont forget to jump one of them if you ever come to this part of the world.