In case you dedicated Daily Candy readers missed it, our new home and city was featured the other day in their e-newsletter.  Read on and enjoy!

March 25, 2009

Not Constantinople

DailyCandy Goes to Istanbul

Let’s talk Turkey — and Istanbul, in particular, where the shopping is bazaar, the food is mezemerizing, and the best hotels will revive you from your haggling and ogling with rapturous service (and bafflingly strong coffee), so you can get back to business in the boisterous city on the Bosporus.

GPS
Get your bearings: Sultanahmet is packed with historic sites (like the gorgeous Hagia Sofia). Nişantaşı is shopping central, from high street to high end. Bebek has a chichi seaside scene. For nightlife, walk Istiklal Caddesi in Beyoğlu and veer to its side streets for a great dinner. Antiques and offbeat fashion mingle in hilly sister neighborhoods Cihangir and Çukurcuma, sections of Beyoğlu where the young and fashionable are migrating.

Ingest
Start your day with simit, a delectable sesame bread sold by street vendors everywhere. Say yes to complimentary tea and Turkish delights offered at the Spice Bazaar (Eminönü, near Galata Bridge), where bins of hibiscus tea and towers of Turkish Viagra (a.k.a. dried fruit-wrapped nuts) make dinner seem irrelevant. Break for coffee at The House Cafe, a minichain of cute bistros in the chicest neighborhoods. End your evening with locals at rooftop boite NuPera (Mesrutiyet Caddesi 67; +90-212-245-6070) to bask en plein air and behold the minaret-studded skyline.

Nest
Cool your heels at the Park Hyatt-Maçka Palas (Tesvikiye, Bronz Sokak 4; +90-212-315-1234), a restored deco beauty in upscale Nişantaşı and one of Istanbul’s newest hotels. Book a spa room for the personal en suite hammam, which includes a steam room; marble basin and heated seat; and all the scrub mitts, rose petal soap, and cottonpestemels (towels) you’ll need to exfoliate the grit of travel. Nearby Sofa hotel (Tesvikiye Caddesi 41-41a; +90-212-368-1818) has an international newsstand, cafe, and art gallery. Or crash near the party that is Beyoğlu at WittIstanbul (Defterdar Yokusu 26; +90-212-393-7900), where the supermod suites were created by Autoban, the city’s It design firm.

Invest
Gird yourself for a scene of retail extremes. On one end, Kanyon(Büyükdere Caddesi 185; +90-212-353-5300), a spaceship-like megamall (yep) that has two native boutiques of note:Machka, for smart and feminine frocks, and Yargici, which sells just accessories and its full line of apparel (perfect for outfitting a balmy walk near the Bosporus) at the Nişantaşı location.

At the other end, the Grand Bazaar, a 74-acre warren of shops and stalls (more than 4,000) brimming with jewelry, ceramics, textiles, and more. Watch as masterful salesmen up-sell you from a 30-lira pillow cover to a savings-eradicating antique kilim with such charm you don’t even mind. Dervis (Keseciler Caddesi 33-35) sells gorgeous Turkish towels and wraps in cotton, silk, and linen. Take home a stack for your pals; they’re absorbent enough to dry friends’ tears when you reveal the full extent of your Istanbul booty.

In Cihangir and Çukurcuma, Alaturca (Faikpasa 4; +90-212-245-2933) is the destination for Ottoman antiques, kilims, and ceramics. For funky house-label oxfords and punky accessories, pop into Kop-Art (Turnacıbaşı Sokak 34/A), an art project-cum-boutique.

The Rest
Decor nuts should beeline it to the harem at Topkapi Palace (Sultanahmet; +90-212-512-0480). It was once the home of Ottoman sultans and is still home to a staggering number of breathtaking, hand-painted tiles. Water babies should save a morning for the traditional bathhouse experience at Çemberlitaş Hamam (Vezirhan Cadessi 8; +90-212-522-7974) to get sudsy in stunning surroundings. Or point your gaze east and hop a ferry to Asia — in as short as twenty minutes — to enjoy two continents for one low-lira ticket.

Apparently it’s never too early for Mr. Santa Clause himself to make an appearance at the mall.  I did think that March was a little too early, but hey it’s almost April, so it can be forgiven?  Nah.  Or maybe we should let it slide because hey it is a muslim country after all, right?   Christmas here is just for us yabancis (foreigners).  Ok no – it is not OK that Santa was spotted at the mall today… it is March, people!

Regardless, the ripe jolly ol’ fella made an appearance today at one of Istanbul’s mega malls.  The proof is in the pics.

Before we moved to Turkey, whenever I was taking Turkish classes or cooking Turkish food, I would always jokingly say I was a Turk in Training.  Little did I know we would actually be living in Turkey one day.  But here I find myself, a true Turk in Training.  

But the fact of the matter is I have found my domestic side.  Yes, it does exist!  And I actually do like to cook, I’ve discovered.  And I like to cook Turkish food.  Once you get into it, it’s not rocket science.  There’s no tricky timing to it.  There’s no difficult to find ingredients (in most cases).  And there is a lot of room for flexibility, which is great when you forget an occasional ingredient or forget to add that extra cup of water.

Recently I went to a Turkish cooking course at a cooking school here called Alaturka.  They specialize on cooking lessons for foreigners living in Istanbul, or those traveling through.  I had such a fabulous experience and learned to make some really tasty dishes!

So here’s to being a Turk in Training!   PHOTOS