"Fascinating and Captivating Istanbul! " a Istanbul Travel Page by Hopkid

We landed in Istanbul via an air-hotel package through Gate 1 Travel. We'd always wanted to take a couple of weeks to visit Turkey and while this trip would only be 5 days we figured 5 days in Istanbul was better than zero days in Turkey. So we jumped at it. And boy are we glad we did! Istanbul has gobs of history (Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans), culture, cuisine, and some of the nicest people we have met anywhere. Despite the not-so-high standing the U.S. has these days in the Middle East we never had reservations telling people we were from the U.S. and we never felt threatened. We were noticeably two of the few American tourists in Istanbul during our stay but we are very glad we went and are dying to return.

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Some of our favorite experiences included:

- Hearing the enchanting call to prayer for the first time (although hearing it at 5am the first night we were there wasn't the greatest...)

- Having a home-cooked meal at (pay attention now) the home of the parents' of a woman who used to work for a work colleague of Rita's despite only having met us two days earlier.

- Being invited into a bakery in the Draman neighborhood by a very pround owner of an old fashioned in-wall oven and walking out with a bag of cookies that we weren't allowed to pay for.

- Watching club age group boys (11-12 years old) playing football on fenced in pitch near the Golden Horn on a bright sunny day.

- Briefly talking about the prospects of local football powerhouse, Fenerbahce, in the upcoming Champions League quarterfinals with workers in the Grand Bazaar

- Playfully chatting with guards outside the Topkapi Palace early on a Monday morning

- Standing in awe at the interior of the two mosques we visited that were designed by Mimar Sinan: Rustem Pasa and Sehzade Mehmet camiis

- Walking through and taking photos in the fish and produce markets in Kadikoy and Galatasaray

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We even had a very enjoyable and unsolicited experience purchasing carpets even though we had vowed before coming that we weren't going to buy any carpets. And the food, oh the food! It is truly something that we don't get here in Richmond, VA and everything we had was delicious. Probably the worse thing we had was a rather old simit (a sesame-covered bread ring) although we had good simit every morning as part of our breakfast at the hotel. Our favorites were:

- Kofte at Sultahamet Koftecisi in Sultanahmet

- Pide at Karadeniz in Sultanahmet

- Kokorec sandwich at Sampion Kokorec in Galatasaray

- Lamb with quince, potato, and chestnuts at Ciya Sofrasi in Kadikoy

- Lamb shank in puff pastry over pureed eggplant at Asitane in Erdinekapi

- Fried bluefish at Kor Agop in Kumkapi

And of course the multi-course meal we had at our new-found friend's parents' home. What a feast!

Tips to come!