Turkish ice cream

Turkey is not known for their ice cream. However, their ice cream is quite good. Very intense flavors. It usually comes in a cone with tiny scoops so you can have a small taste or a larger taste and you can get anywhere from 1-4 flavors. I know this because I have now sampled Turkish ice cream 3 times. The first time doesn't really count. It was at McDonald's. They are so serious about their ice cream here that McDonald's has a separate window just for ice cream. Beyond the vanilla soft serve, you can get it dipped in chocolate that hardens old-fashioned American style. I was so excited to see this that I had to buy one (1.25 TL or ~$0.85). A random Turkish guy on the street remarked that I looked like a 6-year old with my ice cream cone, I was so happy. My second experience with Turkish ice cream was last night after dinner. We stopped at an ice cream place. The list of flavors was all in Turkish but I recognized kahve (coffee) and lokum (Turkish Delight) so that's what I ordered. The Turkish delight tasted like Turkish delight and the coffee was a very intense coffee. It was also dipped in hardening chocolate at the top. The third time was this evening. The first ice cream place did not have coffee ice cream, so I kept walking and eventually found a place that had coffee and pistachio flavored ice cream. Again, dipped in chocolate. I enjoyed my ice cream cone immensely and it wasn't until I caught a glimpse of my image in the mirror in the hotel elevator that I noticed I had gotten chocolate on my chin.

Today being the last day in Istanbul, we decided to take it easy. We got up around 10am and Lydia went to the pool while I went to the gym. They aren't big on working out here and the gym is pretty basic - I'm looking forward to running outside again when I get back to California. After the workout, I snagged a bit of pool time. The pool here is addictive and probably the best part of this hotel.

For lunch, we went up past Ortakoy to a cafe called Assk Kahve where we met Talya, a friend of a friend from the GSB. She got us a wonderful table by the water (after all, where else would you eat?) and I discovered my favorite Turkish dish: Menemen. Menemen is like really yummy scrambled egg cooked in tomato juices and you can get it black (with black olives), white (with feta cheese), or green (with green olives). I also had Messk toast, which is multigrain toast with cheese, sundried tomatoes, oregano, and other yummy spices in it. We finished the meal with Turkish coffee while boats and segulls floated by.

After lunch, we walked to Ortakoy, where the Sunday crafts market was going on. There were lots of tables with artwork, sunglasses, fake bags, but mostly jewelry. I succeeded in finding the cheapest earrings in Istanbul for 1 YTL ($0.65) per pair. I wasn't quite as excited as when I found the 10 rupee ($0.25) in India last year, but I was pretty happy and bought 5 pair.

We invited Talya to come join us at our pool for a late afternoon dip. We basked in the glow of the late afternoon sun, enjoying the infinity pool and stunning view. We wandered over to the Ciragan Palace where they were setting up for a wedding. We must've looked kinda funny given that we were in our bathrobes. As we were walking, we noticed Turkish flags hanging everywhere. Talya told us that apparently some Turkish official had gone to Texas and seen all the Texas flags hanging everywhere and thought that it was good for national pride so came back to Turkey and made everyone hang up Turkish flags everywhere.

This evening, I went back to Ortakoy and tried an Iskender kebap. I'd read about it and really wanted to try one. As with many Turkish dishes, the Menemen and Iskender Kebap are named after the areas of Turkey where they originated. It was pretty good, but definitely heavy. I also ordered a "shepeard [sic] salad," having no idea what was in it but figuring I would take my chances. The salad consisted of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers and I hate peppers, but that's what you get when you don't speak the language and I just picked the peppers out. After dinner, I wandered over to Ortakoy and saw the Bosphorus Bridge, which spans the Bosphorus strait, connecting Europe and Asia, and changes colors at night. I passed a group of deaf people signing and thought of Caroline. Our hotel is quite well-located for meeting up with Turkish people - the tourists are all in Sultanahmet, but the Turks we've met up with all want to meet in Ortakoy or Bebek which are close to our hotel.

The crafts market was still open, so I walked through but didn't buy anything more. There were lots of stalls selling Kumpir, essentially a baked potato with lots of different toppings. The smell of waffles wafted through the air as many stalls sold waffles with a variety of enticing toppings.

My flight leaves at 4am, which is in 6 hours. I have a long layover in Frankfurt, so fingers crossed for an uneventful trip home!