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<\/a><\/p>\nThe particular neighborhood I decided to explore is Kadik\u00f6y, which is easy to confuse with Karak\u00f6y, the Genoese neighborhood on the European side. At least \u2013 I found it super easy to confuse them. And by \u201cfound\u201d I mean \u201cfind\u201d, since I had to expressly look it up while I was writing this to make sure I had it correct. (Also to find an \u201c\u00f6\u201d to cut and paste in here.)<\/p>\n
Kadikoy has its touristy sections \u2013 there is a cruise ship port on this side as well \u2013 but in general, it\u2019s a lot calmer, and the northern section of the neighborhood where I started out had a vibe I would probably describe as \u201chipster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coffee shops every ten feet, art galleries, a (sadly closed) comic book store, and lots of thrift shops. A nicely refreshing change of pace from the insanity of the European side.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t really *DO* much in Kadik\u00f6y. I walked the length of the neighborhood several times. The center of the area is this bull statue, which was made in Paris in the 19th century, captured by the Germans, gifted to the Ottomans, abandoned after the end of World War 1, moved to a Hilton in the 1950s, taken to Kadik\u00f6y city hall in the 1970s, and finally moved to its current location in 1987, where it serves as an easy meeting point for confused cruise ship escapees.<\/p>\n I pursued a few geocaches, but my usual approach in a foreign city is to spend no more than five minutes looking once I get to the site \u2013 it\u2019s fine to use caches as a way to take you to places you might not have otherwise seen, but once I get to the place, I want to SEE it, and not spend half an hour looking at the underside of park benches.<\/p>\n And I did see some very nice places.<\/p>\n (Isn’t this a nice picture?\u00a0 I’m kinda proud of this one, and wish I were a painter so I could have a go at it.\u00a0 On the other hand, if you get me this on a jigsaw puzzle I will straight up murder you.)<\/p>\n I had some d\u00f6ner for lunch, (still getting some mileage out of that \u201c\u00f6\u201d) and later ice cream, and visited a few shops to buy presents for Leigh. But I planned my route poorly, and the presents and the ice cream involved a SILLY amount of additional walking. By the time I got back to the ferry terminal at about 4, I was dragging quite a bit. But just to perk up my spirits, there were a pair of musicians playing folk music on the ferry, and they were apparently familiar enough tunes that other passengers were singing along.<\/p>\n Given how tired I was, I decided to just sit in the train station back on the European side for a bit and think about what else I wanted to see on my last evening in Istanbul. I realized that one more bit of historiana that I hadn\u2019t looked at yet was the column of Constantine. More walking, but the thing was put up in the 300s \u2013 how could I NOT go see it?<\/p>\n The Wikipedia article informs me that the column was erected in 328. It also informs me that the column is \u201cpopular as a place to perch with local pigeons,\u201d which is perhaps somewhat un-encyclopedic, but I ain\u2019t gonna edit it.<\/p>\n Finally, I wanted to go to a restaurant recommended by my friend Walt, who regular readers of this blog (Hi mom!) will remember as my expert on all things Balkan and adjacent. He recommended a fish restaurant in an old neighborhood called Kumkapi.<\/p>\n The neighborhood was great, although I was definitely there a bit early to see it at its most alive. Tiny streets crashing in to plazas where the tables from the sidewalk cafes did battle to hold the most advantageous territory. Unfortunately, I got the sense that the restaurant was not quite the same as it was when Walt had last visited \u2013 the name on the menus was different than the name on the awnings, for one thing.<\/p>\n Still \u2013 the food was still great. One of my favorite culinary discoveries this trip was a humble dip called \u201catom\u201d consisting of chiles and yogurt. Every time I ordered it, the waiter was at great pains to explain to me how spicy it was, and seemed shocked that that was, in fact, a selling point as far as I was concerned.<\/p>\n But also \u2013 it\u2019s chiles and yogurt. It\u2019s got the dairy built right in. It is absolutely delicious, but on a scale of one to Thai food, it is about a three in terms of spiciness.<\/p>\n After inadvertently destroying one of the restaurant\u2019s chairs, it was time to head back to the hotel. Istanbul was amazing, and I would absolutely come back here again some day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I had one remaining \u201cbuffer\u201d day in Istanbul, and since it didn\u2019t appear I would need to go back to the customer site this day either, I decided to take a chance and visit a different continent. This is less … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n