July 20th
I managed to sleep for about five hours ish. I had a lot of ground to cover and only two days left in Istanbul 😩😩😩.
I decided to try and tackle the Grand Bazaar again. This time I would be focused, relaxed, and with no real agenda to distract from.
So here's the hilarious part. The last time that I tried to Uber to the Grand Bazaar, it was closed, but I had the driver take me there anyways. This time my driver gave me a hard “no” and dropped me off at the train station and instructed me the best be could about the next part of my journey. I somehow managed to avoid the train this whole trip but now, two days before leaving my time had come.
Don't get me wrong I wasnt anti-train but it didn't seem necessary until now and you know…it's underground so out of sight, out of mind.
So down I went.
I had no idea that the ticket machines had an English setting 😅🤣 this made things so much easier. I bought myself a pass and continued on my figuring-it-out journey.
Hopped off at Vezneciler and immediately grabbed a coffee.
Now it was just a ten or so minute walk to the Bazar and I was feeling so good and proud of myself for this train accomplishment 😅🤣🥂.
Furrever stopping to pay my respects to the city's keepers.
People ask me, “why Turkey??” It's sounds a little crazy to say cats but…cats y'all.
Always something beautiful and interesting to see on a walk in Istanbul.
I made it to the Bazar and secured the items that I needed. Including a Bazar kebap cause we are living in a kebap world and I'm a kebap girl.
I took a very blurry photo of my lunch and google offered to help, however it's hard to unblur a kebap.
After my Bazar adventures I hopped back on the train and headed back where I came from to drop off my goods. Once I got back at my station I called an Uber, on my walk to him I walked over one of those wind grate things that created a real Marilyn Monroe moment which made me laugh too much.
I went back to Beşiktaş and took a nap before meeting a friend that I made while on Rhodes. I took the ferry to Kadıköy and we agreed to meet at the Starbucks.
Upon walking around I noticed a bunch of riot cops but honestly just thought this was business as usual. Apparently…it was not business as usual. From inside a coffee shop I watched as protesters were carried down this main street and put on the paddy wagons. At one point I saw my friend from the inside of the Starbucks but for a few minutes they would not let me leave and I didn't have time to be arrested so I stayed put till they let people cross the road.
It was action packed and definitely interesting to be caught in. I had to find out what the stir was all about so I went to the source, Twitter. I don't even use Twitter except to find out what's happening on the ground.
From what I gathered it was a protest on the memorial of a suicide bombing that happened that the socialists blame on the Govt. That day in the midst of my coffee 130 people were detained.
Very saucy stuff indeed. I was thankful that I didn't get swept up and taken off to jail and I carried on with my day.
Once we were reunited we walked around Kadıköy for a bit before heading off to a mayhane for mezes and rakı…my new favorite things. I forgot to snap the foods but they were all good. You get to go look at a case and pick out the mezes you want. We had some sort of fish in a mustard sauce, fava bean dip, and some sort of sea noodle, they were all so very delicious. The Meyhane also had an adorable courtyard that we dined in. It was a very lovely setting.
We walked around Kadıköy and I petted some more cats.
Then my friend made me try some sort of fried tripe business and tbh it's not for me 😅 but I tried it so I can check that off the list it wasn’t on.
I stayed the night in Pendik and snapped a thirst trap in someone's Turkish living room.
It had been a long time since I had seen a doily.
It was a great day in Istanbul.