The Wednesday morning sun came streaming to our room much too early. But the view of Bosphorus River was stunning. Today is when the rest of our traveling companions arrive.
Mae and I took a boat tour of the European and Asian sides of the river. The boat travelled close to the shore so we got to see the sights up close and personal. At one point, we got “pulled over” by the Coast Guard. While still underway in the middle of the river, a Coast Guard officer boarded the boat. After a lot of handwaving and discussion, he left. We went back to touring. Then the Coast Guard came back and reboarded. Much more animated shouting and handwaving ensued. It was clear that the ship’s captain and the officer did not agree. As in most of these encounters, the guy with the gun won. A citation was handed to the captain and the officer left our boat.
We finished the tour without incident.
We wandered the streets some and found a very small café. A 2-top on the sidewalk was available and we sat down. Cats are everywhere in Istanbul and we had to continually usher them off the seats next to us. The food was super fresh. The food shots below are of a mezze platter and Kori Chicken. After much discussion with the waiter and his sister regarding what was “Kori” I went ahead and ordered it thinking it was going to be an exotic Mediterranean preparation. It wasn’t, it was chicken curry. But good chicken curry.
Our friends arrived at the condo at about 6PM. After settling in for a few minutes, we left to find a spot for dinner. Boy, did we find a great place! A covered outdoor table for 6 was available and we snagged it. They had to move the cats to make room for us though.
The dinner was wonderful, but the staff was incredible. We had dishes ranging from chicken in a saffron sauce, to pomegranate chicken, to Brad’s lamb, date, walnut, almond concoction which was the winner.
Before dinner started we asked the server to snap a photo. After the dinner was over, he had been so good to us and we had so much fun, we asked him to join our table for a “family photo.” The café manager came over to take a picture of the 7 of us and he took it to a whole new level. He backed up to frame the name of the restaurant over us. Then jumped in for a photo bomb. You’ll see our reaction in the photos below. He then kept my camera and went into the café to take a picture of a larger photograph of him balancing 8 glasses on his head. What a riot.
After complementary baklava (freshest I’ve ever had) and Turkish tea, we wandered back to the condo. A shot of one of the bridges crossing the Bosphorus is included as a nightcap.
