Last Tuesday I went for a wander (actually I mostly used the bus) along the Bosphorus. I realized I had never traveled north of where I live, and there are supposed to be nice houses, lots of nature, and also good borek and milk pudding! I walked down the hill to Bebek and took the bus to Emirgan Park, which is famous for its tulips. Sinan and I went last year, so some of these pictures might look familiar. I think I should have gone a week earlier because some of the tulips were turning brown and had been deheaded.
It's nice to have such a beautiful retreat not too far away. Going on a weekday was a smart idea because it wasn't full of screaming children.
After Emirgan park, I continued north and I went to the Sadberk Hanim Museum, which is just a little south of Sariyer, about a 30 minute bus ride up from where I live. This was a wonderful museum, if you are in Istanbul for over 6ish days and you're a little tired of mosques and Sultanahmet, I definitely recommend paying this museum a visit. It wasn't too big and it had a great collection of archaeological finds from throughout Turkey and from many different time periods. The signage was informative and the objects displayed were interesting, and because it's out of the way, it wasn't crowded at all. After the museum I walked the 15 minutes to Sariyer, one of the more northern villages along the Bosphorus. It's famous for the fish restaurants (not of interest to me) and borek and sutlac (very interesting to me). I didn't go with a place recommended to me so I just found a place and got some of both things to-go. I took a bus all the way home and chowed down! It was delicious but maybe the long day's journey also played a part in that hunger! On my walk after the museum I saw this great house that just really spoke to me.
It was hard to capture, I think I'll have to go back and snap some more pictures and drool. The problem with the location is that it is right on a busy road (buuuut the Bosphorus is just 5 feet behind me) so it can be a little noisy for the residents.
On a completely different note, I got 20 days of vacation time and I'm going traveling! I'll start in Cappadocia, which is in center Turkey, and then visit southeastern and eastern Turkey. Don't worry don't worry I'm not going alone, I'll be with a tour group. I'm really excited - there's so much history and different cultures out there, I hope I can get some good photos to show to you. I leave on Friday night - yipee! After the 10 days, I'll go to Antalya to visit Sinan's family and then go to Kas, another city on the Mediterranean Sea, to have some relaxing time. I'm looking forward to it but I am a little worried about being in such a conservative area and also being with either unfamiliar people on the tour and then being alone in Kas, but I think I can meet people and/or enjoy Sally time! I'll definitely keep you updated as my travels start!
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