We went back to Bebek for brunch this morning, as one of the visitors really wanted to go. It was disappointing, I must say: overpriced and not great, and even the view was a bit whatever, though admittedly I am spoiled. After brunch we strolled along the sea for a bit and even though it […]
Family arrives
This morning some relatives arrived. The night was terrible, as mosquitoes kept us awake, biting and buzzing and I don’t think I got more than 2-3 hours of sleep. In the morning they arrived, rather to my surprise as I’d thought they were coming in the evening. Meanwhile the GF had developed a very slight […]
Down in the world
We moved to a new flat today, and I’m afraid it feels like a definite step down in the world. We are no longer perched over Galata with the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn spread out in front of us; instead we are down on the hillside below Cihangir, still with a view of the […]
Abort, abort
Yesterday afternoon we went to Eyup, an old mosque and graveyard which lies further up the Golden Horn than we’ve been to date. We got a ride to the foot of the cable car that takes one up to the top, to find a really, really long queue. We waited about 30 minutes, during which […]
Witches of Scutari
We took our second trip to Asia, this time by walking along the coast (a bit inland to avoid the dust and traffic) to Kabataş, through quiet streets lined with little old blocks of flats and past the place we are moving to next week. It’s a far more residential bit than the beautiful Galata […]
Don’t buy it
Yesterday, after work, the GF and I went down to Taksim Square where we were going to see a flat that had been renovated by an architect we’d met, to see how we liked the work. It turned out that she hadn’t actually done the renovation at all, just her company had, so that made […]
Aptly named
Since the GF and I went our separate ways for lunch I took the opportunity to try what is supposed to be one of the best purveyors of kokoreç, a Greek/ Turkish/ Balkan speciality of grilled lamb intestines stuffed with sweetbreads here, in Turkey, usually eaten as a sandwich. it is rather well-named since the […]
Rushed
Our flat buying proceeds apace, but suffered a bit of a setback today. We are more or less settled on our fixer-upper, assuming it goes through – if not, whatevs – but the GF went today with a contractor to see what needed to be done, and was basically ambushed by a lot of men […]
Faceless city
Today we walked through faceless Istanbul, through wide streets lined with blocky mid or late-century commercial buildings that, in Pakistan, are called plazas. There are streets like this in virtually every city, and if the signs had not been in Turkish it could have been in any of a number of countries I’ve been to, […]
A new prospect
After the glumness of a few days ago, we encountered a new prospect. It is a complete tip: a small flat in an old building which has clearly never been updated or cared for particularly, other than layers of paint slapped over each other and the occasional odd flourish, like a hole in the wall […]