Istanbul

Moist Baklava, fresh salted pistachios by the bucket loads, vine-ripened figs and of course, what the locals go crazy for – rose water lokum (Turkish delight). Istanbul is indeed a food lover’s city of dreams.

After arriving into Istanbul and spending the better part of an hour in the police office with no word on what the problem was, only to be mysteriously handed back my passport and my ‘free’ visa in my Maltese passport and a carelessly drawn out ‘Enjoy Turkey!’ from the bored police officer, we made our way to our new home for the next 5 nights in the hip area of Beyoğlu. We didn’t have many expectations of Istanbul and this being my second visit to this wonderful city, we just went with the flow, each day exploring the huge metropolis that we’d stumbled into.

We started with a visit to the Istanbul Modern gallery, which we were told by a local was free on Thursdays, only to discover that, yes, it was free… If you were a Turkish citizen! After coughing up the dough, we ventured inside. For someone who doesn’t get too impressed with museums and galleries, I would have to say this small private museum of contemporary art did empress! Upon exiting the gallery we stumbled upon a cute little sheesha café, where we continued to pop in for regular visits during our stay. Our favourite waiter spoke no English, but still managed to teach us how to play, and slightly master, the rules of backgammon, one of the world’s oldest noted board games. We grew a liking to this strategic game and yes, we left Turkey with a board!

Istanbul was very special for us and the whole experience was very magical. This old Ottoman empire presented us with so many amazing surprises. We had an incredible feeling of being immersed into a Persian land of Aladdin upon exiting the tram in the district of Sultanahmet and being faced with the picturesque amazing marvel of the Blue Mosque, only to turn around and stand opposite the more ancient rival, Aya Sofia.

Needless to say, we ate our way through the many appetizing mezze choices in the almost identical stream of restaurants. We also checked into a day of pampering in the 1000 year old hammam and scrubbed away many years of dirt and grime, leaving feeling like a new man! We spent hours in the Spice Bazaar smelling and being tempted by the array of spices, exotic teas and tasty sweets on offer.

Finally, to top it all off, we spent the last day discovering a maze of vintage antique shops to perfectly end our short time in this city that was once Constantinople. Turkey I hope we will be back again one day soon!