rebecca soble

I’ve lived in Istanbul for four years, and never expected that I’d go to not one, but two, new places in the city on the same weekend.

Taking advantage of a half-day of work, I visited the Atatürk Arboretum on Friday afternoon.  This facility is only open to the public on weekdays, so the timing was perfect.  The arboretum is a bit of a ways out of the city in Bahçeköy, but there is the convenient 42M bus from 4.Levent that goes right there (or nearly).  Get off the bus at the Kemerburgaz Yolu stop, and then take the road to the left about 3oom to the entrance to the Arboretum.  Entrance fee is 2 lira, 1 for students.  The Arboretum has two distinct feelings inside it – there is a well-groomed area with lots of lovely plantings near a couple of small lakes, and walking paths around them.  There are also some other paths that basically lead into the meadows and woods, for a more natural experience. I wandered there for almost two hours without even noticing the time pass.

I fell in love with the fern undergrowth.

This sky blue and leaf green combination is my favorite.  I once painted my bedroom these colors (blue walls, green trim).

Japanese maple in the wind.

The next evening, Saturday, I met Claire for dinner and she took me to new place #2, a casual fish restaurant in Karaköy, on the inland side of the Golden Horn.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn about this little corner, I had never wandered far enough to find it.   To get there, walk through the fish market on the right side of the Galata bridge and at the other end there are a bunch of outdoor tables.  The view is of the bridge and the Suleymaniye mosque across the Golden Horn.   The fish was as fresh as can be, the hamsi (anchovies) was 5tl for a plateful and the barbunya (red mullet) was 15tl, but in my opinion worth the jump in price.  Accompanied by a salad (5tl) it was a lovely meal with a great view.  Sorry, I didn’t take any pictures as I didn’t have my camera with me.   That should teach me not to leave the camera at home even when I don’t expect to be going anywhere photo-worthy. Here’s someone else’s description of eating fish there, along with pictures.

All in all, these two excursions made me feel happy about being in Istanbul. And the lovely spring weather is a help too.

April has been a busy month, in a mostly positive way.  Nevermind the broken waterheater and the visits to the Emniyet, here are some images of the fun moments…

Ilkbahar tatilinda, Emrah ile bir gün Eminönü’de dolaştık.  Arkasindaki cami “Suleymaniye Camii”. Önünde balıkcı tekneleri, orada taze balık ekmek falan yenir. Ortasinda otobüs durağı.

Over spring break, spent an afternoon wandering in Eminönü with Emrah.  In the background is the Suleymaniye Mosque and in the front are the boats where people can eat freshly caught and cooked fish.  In the middle is a bus depot.

İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi kampüsünde evim yakında küçük bir göldür. Emrah’in yardımıyla, sonunda yaya yollarını keşfettik.

Near my home on the Istanbul Technical University campus there is a small lake.  With Emrah’s help, I finally discovered the footpaths that lead to and around it.

Gölet yaninda güneş batmasıyı seyretmekten zevk aldık, ve mahalli arkadaşlarla ziyaret ettik.  Onlara kurabiyeyi verdik.  Emrah’in gölgesi görebilirsin…

We enjoyed watching the setting sun by the lake, and visited with some local friends.  We gave them our cookies.  You can see Emrah’s shadow…

Yeniköy’den Beykoz’a vapura bindik.

We took a ferry from Yeniköy to Beykoz.

Nisan Türkiye’de lale mevsimidir.  Beykoz Korusunda pek çok güzel çeşitleri vardı.

April is tulip season in Turkey.  In the Beykoz park there were many lovely varieties.

Ayrıca, biraz örgü yaptım, bebek battaniyeleri (Nasıl Türkçe ile örme açıklamaya bilmiyorum.)

I’ve also done some knitting this month, baby blankets.  All in garter stitch, but some Entrelac and some Log Cabin.

Doğum günüm bulutlu başladı….

My birthday started out cloudy…

…ama çok nefis sona erdi!  Kadıköy’deki  Çiya Lokantada Alinazik kebabı yedım.  Altındaki patlican+sarımsak ezmesi en iyi parça.

…but ended yummy!  I had Alinazik Kebab at Çiya in Kadıköy.  The best part is the eggplant+garlic paste underneath…

Çocuk Bayramında, Büyükada’da kalabalığa dayanıp yukarı manastıra tırmandık.

On Children’s Day we faced the crowds at Büyükada and climbed up to the monastery.

Insanlar bütün yolu iplik çekiyor, iyi şans için (zannedersem).

People were stringing thread the whole way, for good luck (I think).

Günün sonunda  vapurla eve geri döndüm.  Vapurlardan çok hoşlanıyorum.

At the end of the day I rode the ferry back home.  I love the ferries.

Every workday morning, I wait for a bus near my apartment. The bus comes at 7:35, I get to the waiting place about five minutes earlier, and take a few minutes to watch this view.

It does my eyes and my spirit good to be able to look long distances. I’m thankful for this view.

I’ve been trying hard to pay attention and appreciate the small things in life, because these days the big things are really kicking me in the ass.

The weekend was mostly grey and cold, not really encouraging me to go outside.  But on the 2nd afternoon at 3pm the sun appeared and I scampered out.  I stayed in my neighborhood but walked on a new route, on Eski Bağdat Caddesi, just above the train tracks.

I turned a corner and my heart leaped with green pleasure when I saw this little path.  Probably a dangerous place at night, but in the sunlight it felt like the closest thing to a stroll in the woods I would find in Istanbul.  My joy was muted when I realized it was just a one-block-long dead end, but it was still a nice find.

Next to the fence by the train track, a tree was blooming.

And a lovely overgrown garden filled with little purple wildflowers.

And something that looks like forsythia except it has pink flowers.  Maybe it’s quince?  It looks just like something in my mom’s yard, but I can’t remember what it is.

I’m really enjoying the warm spring weather (despite the almost nonstop rain) and new plants I see peeking out everywhere.  During the winter I reaaaallllly missed the smell of green, and didn’t even get the smell of white to make up for it.

I’ve managed to shake off my listlessness and got myself out and about a few times this week. On Sunday morning (the first day of my weekend) I woke up around 9:30 and thought “I MUST GO OUT”, but couldn’t get excited about any particular place to go. So I left the house with a book and a knitting project but without a plan and wandered north. I ended up in lovely Çengelköy, on the Asian side of the Bosphorus between the two bridges. Here is the view I had for my book reading:

The nicest part was that the bench I found to sit on in order to look at this view had rather short legs, which made it much more comfortable for me than normal city benches. My feet easily reached the ground!

After reading my book (The Thirty-Nine Steps, by John Buchan) and soaking up the sun and view for a while, I continued my wander north and ended up meeting up with Emrah in Beykoz. We went for dinner at my favorite fish restaurant, the Beykoz Balikci Barınağı (basically a fishsellers area with a big grill and outdoor seating – short tables and little square benches). As far as I can tell, there’s just one thing on the menu: ızgara uskumru (grilled mackerel) served with arugula, parsley, onion slices and bread. Best of all – no forks, just dig in with your fingers! If I hadn’t been so hungry I would have taken a picture before we ate almost everything…

The next day we stayed home and relaxed for the most part, just wandering near the local seaside in the evening, people and animal watching. On Tuesday (a work day for me but due to cancellations I had a big chunk of the day free), we went to Büyükada and rented bicycles for a couple hours.

Eventually I did have to leave and head to work… but it’s nice that the adalar (islands) are close enough that I can spend a few hours even on a workday.

Finally, last night, taking advantage of another cancellation I was able to leave work just before sunset so again decided to go up to Çengelköy because I wanted to watch the bridge at night. After dark (these days around 9pm) it is lit up with lights that change color in interesting patterns. Also last night there was a lovely crescent moon (waxing) just above the bridge. As it sunk lower in the sky it turned a lovely orange color. I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera so no pics this time, but if you want to see for yourself, try this google images link. I plan to go again before too long, with my camera.

I finished The Thirty-Nine Steps rather quickly (it’s a thin book) and started another called Balthasar’s Odyssey by Amin Maalouf, a new author for me. Jenney lent me four of his books while she is away and this first one is very enjoyable so I’m looking forward to the three others to follow… Here in Istanbul it can be hard to find good books in English without spending a fortune so teachers (who tend to also be readers) do a lot of sharing. Yay for book sharing!