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Published: November 27th 2006
Kumkapi Fish Market
No wonder the skanky cats like hanging around here !!After a nine and a half hour flight, we arrived at Attaturk International Airport. A large, clean, modern facility. We proceeded through immigration smoothly in under 10 minutes. Luggage carts were easily accessible for 1 YTL, or you could hire porters for 3 YTL per bag.
Our driver from the hotel was waiting for us and we were enroute to the hotel less than 30 minutes after deplaning. I believe this is a new record for us in international flight travel.
We got our morning aerobic exercise on the drive, realizing that in Istanbul, red lights and pedestrians are merely a suggestion for slowing down or stopping.
Our hotel the Best Western President is a lovely 4 star hotel with a café, English style pub, Turkish grill restaurant, and business facilities, including free internet access. The room is quite comfortable with 2 twin beds, a small sitting area, vanity and nice size bathroom. The tub even has a shower curtain for those that are splash challenged when showering.
The hotel is centrally located for the tram to Emininou and Taksim. It is in walking distance to the sights in Sultanhamet. The actual neighborhood where the hotel is located is called Beyazit and the Grand Bazaar is just up the street.
We spent the afternoon strolling the area and had our first introduction to the call to prayer blaring from the loud speaker atop the minaret of the mosque in Beyazit Square. We learned that Friday noon is the time when most Muslims will pray together in the mosque. Both the interior mosque and outer courtyard were filled with worshipers.
We noticed lots of TV crews and police in the square and thought it might be in preparation for one of the scheduled demonstrations this weekend, over the Pope’s visit to Istanbul on Tuesday. We later found out, that all large demonstrations are held on the outskirts of the city limits, so our fears of getting caught up in a traffic jam from it, were thankfully unfounded.
We paid a quick visit to the Grand Bazaar and I was disappointed that the shop keeps were mere amateurs in the haggling department, compared to those I found in Egypt. I’m told the further south and east we go, the more aggressive they will become. I welcome the challenge as sport.
We spent the afternoon at a lovely fish restaurant called Beyaz in the Kumkapi area. This was about a 10 minute walk down a steep hill towards the Bosphorous. It was a beautiful sunny day in the high 60’s and we enjoyed sitting outside, drinking our cold beers and watching the fishing boats haul in their net catches a short distance from shore. We learned that the Golden Horn river passage from the Black Sea in the North to the Sea of Marmara, is a main migratory route for the fish traveling south this time of year. We were also entertained by the many skanky cats with all manner of injuries, who were well fed from the surrounding fish markets and restaurants. We also had our first sampling of the famous Turkish pistachios. Mmmm, Mmmmm, Good. I wonder…Can you turn green from eating too many.
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suz
non-member comment
Wish I Was There With You......
Are the skanky cats anything like the ones in Venice? Also, would love to see you in action haggling! Can you get that on video? Suz PS Will you be posting photos?