Turkey
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Istanbul In Pictures | Until Dusk Do Us Part
We love travelling and although each place that we’ve visited holds a special charm for me, Istanbul left me spellbound. I found the city absolutely fascinating – a myriad of art, culture, cuisine and religion. It was like a kaleidoscope and put my senses on an overstimulated mode {reminding me very much of Kolkata, the city that I come from}. The charm of old buildings combined with the quirkiness of the modern Istanbul peeping through it that effortlessly blended into a palpable throbbing that could be felt at every corner, each historic site that we visited and each alley we passed by. Every single brick in each building seemed to…
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A Culinary Journey of Istanbul | From Street Food To Fine Dining
Where do I begin? On the streets of Istanbul? In cafeterias? Or in restaurants? If it is a restaurant, how expensive do you want it to be, or how cheap? Or perhaps one of the random alleys tucked somewhere in the city? Istanbul is definitely a place for foodies. The culinary heritage is reflected by the various influences that has shaped Istanbul’s history. There is a lot of influence of Ottoman Cuisine which itself is a fusion of Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Balkan cuisines. As Wikipedia describes – Turkish cuisine varies across the country. The cooking of Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir and rest of the Aegean region inherits many elements of Ottoman…
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Will you read my post on Turkish ice cream if there are no snapshots?
This is the only post in my entire history of blogging which will 'go down' or should I say 'stand out' as the only post without photographs. As I was about to savour the first spoon of the famous Turkish ice cream in Istanbul, my smartphone died. I was frozen in time. Here I recall this sensory experience, purely in words!
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Ortaköy In Istanbul | One Magical Night
We – my #FoodieOnTour buddies (Debbie and Kirsty) and I, left the hotel that we were staying in at around 9:30pm after gulping down an inaugural round of drinks. Where could we go out for the night for some decent food, a few drinks, have a feel of Istanbul and return back to the hotel safe and sound? Everybody suggested Ortaköy. I had already had an initiation into Ortaköy the night before, when we were stuck in the famous Istanbuli traffic while coming back to the hotel {my 15 seconds video on Instagram on that}. I remember somebody asking the bus driver ‘How long is it going to take to…
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Sultanahmet Köftecisi, Istanbul | Turkish Meatballs or Izgara Köfte
After spending the entire morning sightseeing in the Sultanahmet area in Istanbul rushing from one historical site to the other, our lunch halt was also in a historical site – the ‘Historical Sultanahmet Meatballs Restaurant’ (the quoted portion is exactly as it says in their website). The promise of the ‘best Izgara Köfte in town’ in a restaurant which originally ‘created’ them, awaited us. Sultanahmet Köftecisi is located in the crowded and the very touristy Sutanahmet Square in Istanbul, still housed in the original building where the restaurant was established way back in 1920. Although there are more than 20 franchises of the same all across the city and many restaurants…
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Grand Bazaar, Istanbul | Drenched in Turkish Tea And Sugar Cubes
From the moment we landed in Istanbul to the time we left, the two things that come to mind are the constant servings of Turkish tea and Turkish coffee – everywhere and at all times. This post handles only Turkish tea. Turkish coffee, for me, is too much and too strong to handle. Entering the Grand Bazaar or the Kapali Carsi (Kapalıçarşı, meaning covered bazaar), I was immediately pulled into the crowd. The non-stop hankering from the shop keepers trying to lure us into buying their ware, the crumbling ceiling desperately holding on to the main structure and giving away the faint traces of the grandeur of the mosaic art…
