Sunday, April 06, 2014

Istanbul Trip Part 2: Istanbul Old Town At Night

After getting lost for quite a while, we decided to find a place to eat lah...

Alas, not dinner places were showing the Liverpool match.. so in the end, we just chose one restaurant with more vegeterian options...

When we first sat down though, Ace was complaining that it is very hot.. cos there is a heater in that particular seat.. I was wondering why the other patrons of the cafe still had their jackets on... In the end, we changed seats and realized tat particular spot is extra hot... but as we sat there longer, it also started to get colder.... I think we felt super warm cos we had just trudged UPHILL for the last 15-20 min and still havent totally cooled down :)


That is Ace trying to protect himself from the heater.. wahahah:)

We were served this super big bread.. dunno wat is it but dam big!


When Ace tried to cut it open, got steam come out one lor! :) wahaha


Me and Max had pizza...

While Ace ate ommlette... Max also ordered something Turkish.. is like a plat with hummus and some other of those arabic stuffs with little bit of rice inside.

I discovered this trip that my son is a 饭桶 cos he will request for rice at every possible chance... in fact, at the end of our trip, I asked Ace if he is sad to say goodbye to Istanbul, he told me he is sad but glad too cos he misses his lan gui fang food:) wahahaha...

 Max ordred this mixed set with rice and picked stuff... and for the next few days hor.. he ordered something similar again and again and again and again.. eat till i scared! wahahahaa...


As we finished our meal and it got darker, it started to get cold... now then the two boys realize why people are sitting under the heater with their jackets on.. wahahaha



Then we saw this old guy with a violin.. I think he is going to perform.. Ace went up to him to KPO and they let him hold the violin to pose pose a bit...


Like very wu sei like that hor:)

After we are done with dinner, we decided that we should head towards the dessert places we have seen to have dessert!



Yums... so many choices.. dunno wat to choose!



Check out what is inside the menu!:)





Max and I ordered a strawberry tart.. very nice.. not too sweet!:)

Ace ordered a chocolate eclaire:)



Ace also ordered pomegranate juice.. he is crazy about everything pomegranate.. hahaha :)


When I looked closer at the cup then realized this place is really old.. started in 1864... wow... and i think it is realy popular and we were lucky to get a seat cos I saw  people politely turned away because they were full!

Me drinking my Turkish tea:)

Marble basin outside the toilet.. I am wondering if they are more than a hundred years old as well...



Too bad we did not have a chance to try these dolmas..


When we went back out into the cold, it has gotten much much colder... brrrrrr.... I had to take out my hoodie and cover my head!:)

But took the chance to take a few more photos of the blue mosque and Haggia Soffia at night..








Saw this sitting in the middle of the parade square and I was wondering why in the middle of nowhere go this thing.. and then only much later in the trip, I found out that this is part of the Hippodrome...


At night, the square is till filled with people selling things.. BUT this time sell different types of things.. we saw someone selling tea.. someone doing drawing...

Max says so cold how come still got people want to buy and eat watermelon.. wahahaha






Max says there is this market place called Arasta Bazaar near our hotel as well.. so we went and we managed to catch a little bit of the Dervish dance.. This dance is actually part of a religious practice or ritual but has become a tourist entertainment now...

It is amazing how they can twirl non stop for half an hour.. the one tat we saw did it with his eyes closed too! I find it a miracle how he never fall off stage..


The Arasta Bazaar is actually quite interesting.. sell alot of interesting litle knick knacks and artwork..

Love this pic of Istanbul I saw there...


Max loves this picture...



Alibaba hats! Wahahaha.. is part of the turkish traditional costume:)

We saw a very interesting lmap and thought if we cannot find anything better we might come back and buy this... hahaha.. we wanted to buy turkish lamps and initially wanted to buy them in Dubai but thought since we are coming here, buy from here may be cheaper and it is cheaper.. by half..

Even the drain cover here is artistic..

As we wandered around, we saw this lighted tunnel... like ghost house like tat.. dunno wat is it but no gate mah.. so we just walk in...

Turns out to be the blue mosque! Sultan Ahmet.


After that, we wandered around a little and found this street with lots of quaint restaurants. We saw someone eating this thing called the Testi Kebab.. which we saw while having dinner.. it is a sort of stew they bake inside this clay container and they will break it open in front of you to serve you...


While crossing the road, also noticed something interesting...

They have another type of traffic light.. this four pillars.. if green light it goes down and cars can past... if red light, the bob up and cars cannot pass.. hahaha:) cool right

Walked back to the square and went on our way back to the hotel..

Saw this ad and thought we might want to invest in one to visit the museums...

Right beside our hotel.. we saw someone selling these but he only sells them at night...  Looks very nice at night.. but I think the picture doesnst look that nice in the day time.. plus need electricity.. so  we did not buy..

Those with the candles are nicest as they made the lights flicker..:)

Back in the hotel.. Ace wanted to do a bath in the bath tub and so he and his dad went and did a bath in the bathtub.. they were so happy to discover tat the bathtub had a jacuzzi in it!:) wahaha..

And that spelt the end of our first day in Istanbul...

Previous Post: Istanbul Trip Part 1: Istanbul Old Town

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