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Istanbul Day 3: Asia

After yesterday’s epic effort I’m after a slightly easier day today. My legs and muscles are definitely feeling the effects of the exertions. If any proof is needed, I actually slept all the way until my alarm at 8.30 this morning!

I have a list of things that I definitely want to see and do in the next couple of days so I just have to figure out how to divide them up. I’ve also made a list of the Turkish foods I want to try before leaving – of course that’s something that I’d do :-)

This time I forego breakfast in the hostel; it’s free, but I want to try new things! First up, fresh pomegranate juice (squeezed in front of me) from a street seller for 30p. Tart and delicious.
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As an aside, I’ve come up with a very basic Istanbul tourist index – the price of a sesame bread from a street vendor. It’s 1 lira (TL) outside my hostel, 2TL from Taksim Square and Istiklal Avenue (the main tourist street in Beyoglu where I was the first night), 3TL near Sultanahmet, 0.5TL in some shady backstreets. Not useful for anything but my own amusement, but anyway!

I call into a cafe and get a “su böregi”, a Turkish water pastry. It’s a lasagne-like layered pastry sheets filled with the Turkish equivalent of feta. It’s OK, but I think it would taste better hot.
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Today is Asia day; I hop onto the ferry and 20 minutes later I’m standing in Kadikoy district, Asia.
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As is usual for me, I go for a wander. This side of Istanbul is distinctly less touristy and there’s nothing in particular I’m aiming to see or do, just looking to experience what’s there. It’s quite nice; quiet, market-y, hilly, not many tourists or hawkers.
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I stop for something to eat at a random food place as they’re advertising something on my food list – lahmacun! It’s a thin pancake filled with lamb, spices and other things and then rolled up. Possibly the tastiest thing I’ve eaten in Turkey so far, it was incredible. For £0.70.
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While being served I got talking to an American who had come in. He and his wife had decided to move here a year ago when they were just on holidays, and it was working out well. He gave me some advice on which other parts of the Asia side were worth having a look at and a walk through.

Back towards the pretty waterfront, more wandering.
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I’m done with Kadikoy and I take the Marmaray (train that crosses underneath the Bosporus and services a couple of stations either side) north one stop to Uzkudar – still in Asia. Again, nice seafront and views (including of The Maiden’s Tower sitting just offshore), but I’m done with it after about an hour.
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Back to Europe! The ferry from Uzkudar goes to Besiktas, an area northeast up the coast from the hostel. I find some weird phones, and some weaponry just lying around.
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I head southwest, now with a destination in mind – the Dolmabahce Palace and Museum. I’d come across it the first night on my walk, it was supposed to be one of the best attractions to see in Istanbul. It’s the modern incarnation of the Topkapi palace; built on the 19th century, they’d discovered creature comforts combined with excessive wealth by then!

I pay the 40TL (~£11.50), quite a lot more than every other museum I’d been to so far; hmm.

It’s made up of a few different parts, the palace itself just the most obvious one. The others are the harem, a clock museum and the grounds themselves.

The clock museum had some impressive pieces but again no photos (and this time it wasn’t worth trying to flaunt the rules). Here are some photos of the grounds.
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Next I head for the palace and realise why it was more expensive – both the palace and harem are only viewable on guided tours! I’ve arrived just in time to catch an English tour – luckily, because if I’d missed it I wouldn’t have been able to have tours of both places. I do go on both tours, about 45 minutes each.

One word: lavish. Other words: opulent, impressive, somehow cosy.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been inside a more decadent place, and I’ve seen a few palaces in my time. The floors were, obviously, covered in hand-woven Turkish carpet. The ceilings were done similarly, which is maybe where it differs from most other palaces I’ve seen. One of the floors (underneath the carpet) was made from tiny pieces of three different kinds of wood, slotted together by hand; 120 square metres of it. Also present was the largest chandelier in Europe, weighing in at 4.5 tonnes.

These two places were also off-limits to cameras but I got a few shots off before I realised:
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After that it was back to the hostel for a brief rest and out to dinner. I wanted a lighter meal so I went for a starters plate with a lamb mince pastry. In hindsight it wasn’t the best choice, but it was all quite tasty!
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Picked up some Turkish icecream on the way home, getting into an amusing conversation with an old Turkish waiter in the process; his speaking was much better than his understanding, although that could definitely be my accent. Pretty sure he thought I was German, though.
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And then the hostel, and collapse again.
I’ve kinda failed in my attempt at a relaxed day; “only” 32k steps in 5 hours activity. Maybe tomorrow?

It’s only 21.30 but I’m asleep already.


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