Sunday, March 27th:
Hagia Sophia, At Night:
My last day in Turkey! Such a sad revelation after such a wonderful and amazing adventure! We woke up early to catch our flight back to Istanbul which had been moved up an hour due to the rest of Europe going on daylight savings and Turkey deciding to wait an extra day—weird. Anyways, we got back to Istanbul around 2pm and checked-in to our new hotel, the Polat Renaissance near the airport. I would like to thank my father, Dana, here as he hooked us up with a room on the club level that overlooked the whole harbor of the city. We got settled in and decided to go to try and see the famous Whirling Dervishes (or Mevlevi Dancers) perform their Sema ceremony. After waiting over an hour for the bus to come by the suburban neighborhood of our hotel, we instead decided to head straight to Sultanahmet where I had scoped out a restaurant to finally taste the Testı Kebap dish. We wandered around the area behind the Blue Mosque before finally finding the Aloran Café and Restaurant, which we ended up having completely to ourselves. Do not be fooled by that information, however, as this was my favorite meal and meal experience of the whole trip.
At Aloran we had a wonderful waiter named Yunis who spoke English with us the whole evening. The Testı Kebap dish that I ordered is very unique but amazing—again props to my brother, Brad, here as he recommended that I not leave the country without trying it. The dish is lamb, onions, sweet peppers, and mushrooms cooked in a mushroom sauce. The special part, however, is how it is cooked. The mixture is cooked in a ceramic pot in a fire, sealed at the top with dough. The air inside builds up, and the server smashes the pot before handing you your meal. How awesome is that! My dinner was phenomenal, and Jen also had a very yummy Swordfish Kebap that we both enjoyed with a delicious bottle of Kalecik Karasi, a Turkish red wine. Yunis chatted with us for a while after dinner, offering us Turkish Delights and Turkish tea for free before sending us on our way.
Dancing with the Workers at Şiva:
After dinner we walked around the corner to a bar called Şiva I had noticed earlier which offers both Nargile and beer, and even more importantly, beer other than Efes! I ordered myself a Carlsberg and an orange Nargile while Jen ordered a cocktail of her own. This bar was the most fun place, I think, we went to during the whole trip. The bar was owned and operated by four or five best-friends, all from Kurdistan and all in their mid-twenties. We chatted with the bartender, Gino, and two of his friends, Fico and Hasan, for hours. The men even threw on some traditional Turkish music and began dancing for us. Before long, Jen and I were both recruited to come dance with them, and we laughed the night away until heading home around 230am. What a long night, and what a trip! Unfortunately, my flight the following morning is early and I will lose an hour of sleep tonight due to daylight savings, but I can sleep on the plane. My only regrets are not getting to taste golden Kokoreç (Lamb Intestines), more of the desserts, and the Turkish waffles that Jen says are so delicious. I will miss Jen a lot, however the next time I see her will be in Prague after I have graduated! This trip has been one of the best trips of my life, spent in great company, and I would recommend Turkey as a vacation spot, cultural experience, and historical expedition to anyone!
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