Winter returned to Istanbul. It was cold and rainy all day long so we did our usual thing on such days and went to Cihangir to buy groceries, despite the carefully angled hills to catch the cold wind and the slopes down which the rain turns into muddy torrents over cobblestones. But that was later – first we went to the art gallery whose director we met the previous evening, and saw a very nice show, an artist called Murat Yildiz who rubs flowers and leaves against canvas. A rather violent act if you are a flower or leaf, but the result was soothing and subtle compositions of changing tints if you are a human.
Our attempt to get coffee at the best cafe was foiled. It has recently turned towards opening only thrice a week, but even those days are not reliable. It is primarily a roaster and training centre, so I’m hopeful this is only because their full time barrista left and the owner makes the coffee now, and not a sign that the place will close soon. Instead we went to a small Scandinavian style cafe, a recent discovery that is the backup when Probador is closed, and had a decent though not outstanding coffee there. Then up the hill to Cihangir to buy supplies (forgetting what I had actually needed to buy, namely a laundry detergent for silks and wools) and down again, wading through torrents.