1) Already mentioned Midye Dolma and Midye Tava
2) Balik Ekmegi – A fresh fish sandwich served waterside, usually comes with an IGA like generic soda that does not taste good. (see the photo of the fish booths by the water)3) Simit – It is kind of like a mix between a bagel and a pretzel, if you get the wrong kind it can be a little dry
4) Gozleme – It’s like a pancake, I tried one at a bus stop and it sucked, but I gave it another try at a restaurant and it was really good.
5) Doner Kebap – I don’t think I have to explain this one
6) Sut Misir – These stands we saw everywhere, it is corn on the cob, but it is not as sweet as we have it back home, so I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. (see photo of the Sur Misir stand)7) Lahmacun – A really thin version of a Pide. Not as good as Pide. Pide rocks. Pide is not on the cheap eats list, probably because it wasn’t usually that cheap. Pide is just Turkish style pizza, but it is really good. I was totally addicted to it.
TJ left me on Wednesday to go Galipoli, so I am at Big Apple Hostel all by my lonesome! Good thing that I made new friends everyday at breakfast.
On Thursday I went to the Asia side of Istanbul to walk around (Istanbul is split by the Europe side west of the Bosphorus, which is where Sultanahmet and Taksim are and the Asia side on the east of the Bosphorus). There are very few tourists here, so a little more interesting to people watch.
(TJ) I parted ways with Michelle to do some site seeing at the Gallipoli battlefields. This was the site of an ill fated expedition that the British tried to pursue during WWI to capture the Dardanelles strait and then Istanbul as a means to get supplies to Russia. The leading warrior behind the campaign was then Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill. Most of the men involved in the campaign were ANZAC troops (Australia and New Zealand). The campaign failed due to stiff Turkish resistance led by Ataturk and also some terrible terrain, the front line was at most 300 yards from the shore where they had landed and most of the gains were made on the first day of the landings. It was the epitome of pointless death, of marching directly in to machine guns and against heavily fortified positions. The beachhead was ultimately evacuated and the campaign was given up. The sites were interesting, at some locations you can see the locations of trenches and there are also numerous cemeteries for British, Anzac and Turkish troops. I saw at one the cemeteries that there was a Aubin who died with the Australians, apparently we died all over the place for King and Country. The town that I stayed in was completely dead, as apparently there are only a few people who visit outside of the yearly ANZAC day celebration each year. So I was very surprised to get up in the morning to see a full military band and Turkish politicians speaking on a stage that was set up right in front of the hotel that I was staying at. Apparently it was a Turkish holiday for the armed forces and they did the flag raising, band playing, speeches etc. all starting at 7:30 am. Not knowing that this was going to happen, I walked over to the window to see what the hell all this noise was about. The window I was looking out was about the same height as the Turkish flag and all the dignitaries were facing the window and flag. I hope that I did not ruin their celebration by my bright white skin outshining the flag and burning their eyes. I retreated quickly after my eyes had adjusted and my brain figured out what was going on. Later in the morning I barely made it out of town, as my intended bus never slowed down as it cruised through town past me. Fortunately after some terse words with the people who sold me the ticket I was able to get onto another bus that later caught up with my original bus that had not stopped for me in the first place and I made it back to Istanbul.
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