This afternoon we went to visit the carpenter who is making our doors. It was a very long journey there as our contractor and architect decided to drive and there was a great deal of traffic on the first sunny weekend afternoon after the lifting of lockdown.
The carpenter seemed good – he showed us some other doors and windows he is working on for historic buildings, and they seemed of good quality and to follow the original designs. It will take a while though, at least six weeks before he can deliver them, and we have to somehow order the mechanisms from abroad as they are not to be found in Turkey.
The carpenter was in the northern bit of Kadikoy, so instead of driving back through the traffic, the GF and I decided to walk at least part of the way, south towards the coast where I hoped to find a shop selling enamelware (to buy a soap dish) and then on to the ferry. In the event we walked all the way, about 12 or 13 km – a not very long compared to walks past, but longer than we’ve gone in some months.
The quiet neighbourhood where the carpenter is based had a little market on, and we bought 2 kilos of mushrooms and some very large pink turnips, both of which seemed fully in season. Then on past a very big motorway where the traffic was intense and which was a bit of a hassle to cross. We found ourselves in a fairly impoverished borderline industrial area, with a very steep hill going almost straight up. It was a bit of a climb but there was also a slight feeling of being a tourist in hell as the other people going up were young men pulling the immense handcarts that one often sees in this city.
At the top of the hill it became a lower middle class sort of neighbourhood, with low rise apartment blocks of varying age, and at the very summit of the hill was a very well placed little park. it was all quite relaxed and pleasant here. In the meantime I learned that my father and grandmother had been taken for vaccination and had received it, very smoothly and easily. This was an immense relief as Pakistan has only about half a million doses at the moment, but sadly vaccine hesitancy is such that at least for today anyone above the age of 60 could just walk in and be vaccinated.
It’s the Sinopharm vaccine, so who knows how efficacious it is, but impoverished countries can’t be choosers, and the virus is spreading fast in Pakistan.
We descended slowly from the hill and eventually found ourselves in a familiar area – the very same where, some weeks ago, we had found the pile of rubble that had once been an art show. It was all very different now, though – that was a winter Sunday in lockdown and the streets were quiet and empty. Today was a sunny Saturday when the entire population of the city seemed to be out on the streets and every cafe and restaurant was rammed. it was rather lovely, though of course also deadly. We happened to pass a little shop selling fresh pasta and bought a couple of meals’ worth to supplement our mushrooms. The Kadikoy area is very pleasant – not as lovely as Beyoglu, but definitely more stylish and where the heart of the living city is.
By now the GF was rather hungry so we decided to go on towards the ferry port and have dinner at Ciya. But no taxis were to be found, so we started walking. Along the way we passed a van making and selling fresh doughnuts so we got a little pack to tide us over and were surprised and pleased that they were being given out for free. A promotion, I daresay, or maybe just kindness. In any event we made it down to the coast where the sun was setting in grandeur over the Marmara.
We arrived at Ciya just after 7, when the lockdown begins, so it was too late to eat, but they were still selling takeaways. As usual there were many, many intriguing items but we got all the vegetarian ones and took them along. (They were only somewhat vegetarian, though – the spectacular beans were definitely cooked in mutton stock.) Then on to the ferry and back to Beyoglu where we had our much delayed dinner with the aforementioned beans and a superb yoghurt soup being the standouts.
Oh and we never found the shop I was looking for. So the quest for a soap dish will continue.
And so, and so.