Istanbul, Day One and Two - The Grand Bazaar

[bf_nightingale]

I went there with my two cousins, whom I met for the first time ever that day. Probably needless to say that they were both awesome, and - even better for me whose cousins' average age was at least 20 years older until now - they are my age! They both spoke a pretty good English as well despite my first fears, although I had sometimes still trouble

Comments

[rhagi]

That bazaar is like the coolest place ever! Not like I'd have imagined either, but like you said, uneducated tourist with oriental phantasies much ^^; I guess Scheherazade's time is over, huh? ;P

Btw I have never heard of the food before, but it all looks rather tasty :D

Oh, and the Spice Bazaar <3 I love spices, even if I can't cook to save my life. Gnah, looks so delicious!

Istanbul definitely made my Must Visit list :D

Oh btw, what's a narghile? *curious*

[bf_nightingale]

It was really nice, though I'll have to go again with plenty of time (and a large number on my bank account) one day!<3

The best thing ever (next to what my cousins' mother cooked) was İskender kebap. SO TASTY! I have to find out whether I can do it at home as well or whether this one dish I'd better eat at restaurants only... *sigh*

And yep, I can definitely recommend Istanbul!^_^

A narghile is a hookah or shisha (or simply waterpipe). And good thing I searched the wiki article for you, because now I also read the part about the effect for your health. Oh great, and here they told me smoking narghile was significantly less bad than smoking cigarettes and would be a-okay for non-smokers too... orz Not that I'm mad at them, it was an interesting experience at it's not a one-time smoking that'll kill me (not after I spent 3 1/2 years regularly locked in a room with heavy smokers when I was still a firefighter), but so much for the rumors. *facepalm*

[rhagi]

Haha, yeah well, these kinda trips usually tend to empty my wallet, too ;)

Gosh, this really looks quite tasty. And I'm not even that much of a kebap fan ^^; I probably wouldn't say no to one of those, though :)

Definitely on my To Visit List then :D

Oh, a shisha <3 Heh. I just skimmed through that article. Seems like my das wasn't just trying to scare the hell out of me. I do like to smoke a witerpipe, occasionally ^^;

[bf_nightingale]

It's horrible, isn't it? And you can't possibly consider going home without a souvenir or two or three? And since I'm not the kind of tourist who is satisfied with some kitsch stuff from the tourist shop with a big TÜRKIYE written all over it, I need to buy the real nice stuff. Something authentic. Or as close as I can get to authentic that is, without having to invest millions in some antiquities. ._.

In that case, the "kebap" doesn't have much to do with döner kebap, except that the meat slices are being cut from a vertical pole. Says wiki. And wiki also says that there are nobel restaurants who serve nothing else but this İskender kebap. So no, definitely not the same as döner bebap.:)

At first, I definitely liked the tavla (turkish backgammon) game better than the smoke. But I admit it got much more fun later in the hostel, when we shared a narghile for about ten people maybe. *g*

[rhagi]

Yeah, it really is. There's the best friend you promised to get a little something, the best male friend, your parents, etc. Problem is I don't like that "kitsch stuff from the tourist shops", as you call it, either ;)

What kind of meat do they use? Lamb? 'Cause I love lamb (and pretty much every other meat, so yeah, no vegetarian here ;P)

What kind of tobacco do they use? Is it flavored?