Yesterday was the official walking tour, but today we managed to walk many times farther by heading up the island and across a bridge over the Golden Horn to the northern part of Istanbul. Along the way we watched man fishing off the bridge and admired and petted some of the city's gagillion stray cats.
By ignoring/misreading our map, we managed to get good and lost among the city's twisty streets, thus stumbling upon a warren of fascinating little shops where we visited and/or observed a wood carver, a miniature-maker, men playing cards and backgammon, a very attractive older woman with the most lovely lavender hair, a musty secondhand book/record/radio/ephemera store tucked deep in a narrow building, and a hairdresser sweeping water out of his basement thrift shop.
We also managed to find yet another restaurant where nobody else spoke English (best. chocolate. cake. ever.) and came home exhausted enough to collapse in our hotel room with a couple of giant cans of Efes beer and a sack of cheese, halvah, olives, bean salad and pomegranates.
By ignoring/misreading our map, we managed to get good and lost among the city's twisty streets, thus stumbling upon a warren of fascinating little shops where we visited and/or observed a wood carver, a miniature-maker, men playing cards and backgammon, a very attractive older woman with the most lovely lavender hair, a musty secondhand book/record/radio/ephemera store tucked deep in a narrow building, and a hairdresser sweeping water out of his basement thrift shop.
We also managed to find yet another restaurant where nobody else spoke English (best. chocolate. cake. ever.) and came home exhausted enough to collapse in our hotel room with a couple of giant cans of Efes beer and a sack of cheese, halvah, olives, bean salad and pomegranates.
Wow, that cat is red. I've never seen a cat that color. Gorgeous! -HH
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