Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Turkish Delight!
In front of the Hagia Sofia..built in the 6th CenturyI just returned from an amazing trip to Istanbul and I must say that I paid as much attention to the food as I did to the beautiful, historic architecture. Its a little difficult not to because street food is more plentiful in Istanbul than in any other city I've been to. You name it, and someone was there to sell it to you; assorted nuts, corn on the cob, baked pretzels, rice with chick peas....etc.
Fish Market along the Bosphorus Coast
Fish Market along the Bosphorus Coast
Alex preparing a fried Sardine sandwich bought on the Asian side of Istanbul
The Turkish are famous for several dishes and my favorite of the bunch are kebab, baklava, Turkish delight (of course) and who could forget Turkish coffee and tea. The first night that we arrived there, we had an amazing meal with our tour group. What was more impressive however was the dining room that we ate in, which was situated in the garden of a Mosque with beautifully decorated vaulted ceilings and tables fit for royalty. I believe the Sultans used to eat here!
The Turkish are famous for several dishes and my favorite of the bunch are kebab, baklava, Turkish delight (of course) and who could forget Turkish coffee and tea. The first night that we arrived there, we had an amazing meal with our tour group. What was more impressive however was the dining room that we ate in, which was situated in the garden of a Mosque with beautifully decorated vaulted ceilings and tables fit for royalty. I believe the Sultans used to eat here!
Turkish coffee and tea
Lunch! It was exactly like cevape from Bosnia.My favorite "food" adventure had to be a trip to the spice market...it was WAY more interesting than the Grand Bazaar. As you'd guess, a variety of spices are sold here along with tons of other food delicacies. We purchased a bunch of spices to make curry with including saffron (not the real stuff, that was WAY too expensive), garam masala, chilly, a curry mix for when we're lazy and the rest of the names escape me right now. Another great purchase was all the Turkish Delight we bought in a variety of flavors again. FYI don't buy it in the Grand Bazaar; it was selling for 20 tl there, and only 5 tl for half a kg. at the Spice Market and these looked way more fresh. We also got an assortment of dried fruits...I'd never had dried strawberries, kiwi, ginger, and mandarin before, not to mention Apple tea (so good while smoking sheesha!). The best part about it is that all of the vendors allow you to try whatever you want before purchasing. I even had Turkish Viagra....settle down boys, its dry fig with a walnut in the center.
So many choices for such a good price
Sweets!
In any case, I was temped to buy way more food including honey comb but I was afraid of EU restrictions about stuff like that so we stuck to our spices and sweets! I'm temped to go back for more though and use my oh so expensive tourist visa. Even though they made me pay more than double than any other country to get in, I'm still willing to go back.
posted by Blanka at 6:49 AM
3 Comments:
Looks like a culinarily-superior version of Egypt.
Great post!
I absolutely LOVED the food in Turkey!! Of all the countries I have been to, it stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Your pics are wonderful. I must return...
Hmm... some pics from the Spice Bazaar is pretty similar to what you can see in Indian bazaars too.
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