We’ve now been in Istanbul for just over two months. And we’ve still barely scratched the surface of what there is to see and do in this amazing city. This goes especially for neighbourhoods, in which Istanbul abounds. But we thought we’d write a few posts about our favourite neighbourhoods so far. Let’s first mention our own. We live in Aksaray, in Fatih, about a 35-minute walk from Sultanahmet where many tourist sites are (Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, etc.). We chose our place on Airbnb without much information about the area. But we knew that we wanted to be close to the big sites, but not right in a touristy section. Well, there are very few tourists in our neck of the woods!
When we mention to Istanbullus that we live in Aksaray, they always make a sad face. They usually add, ‘It’s not what it used to be’. They are, we assume, referring to the large immigrant population here now. There are many Syrian and Somali refugees, and many signs in Arabic as well as quite a number of restaurants catering to the new occupants. For our part, we find it lively ,and it’s convenient to almost everything. There is a big supermarket and some very nice small stores selling fruits, vegetables, meats and the like. And did we mention there are no tourists here?
You couldn’t find a more different neighbourhood than Teşvikiye (Tesh-VEE-kee-ya). We first went here on our visit to the dentist. To tell the truth, we found it hard to believe we were still in Istanbul. There is a big mall with famous stores, and glitzy establishments everywhere, with lots of advertisements for western products. More than that, however, the people on the street look much more like those you would see in a western European city. Cafés and bars abound, and they are filled with young people wearing designer clothing and older people who have had work done on their faces.
We have a few favourite spots here. Since we like food (as if you didn’t know), first comes Lokanta Kru, a tiny restaurant with fantastic food. Much of it is Turkish with a twist. They have a menu, but we like to go see what’s on display and just pick from there. Across the street is a slightly larger restaurant, Kruvasan, owned by the same people, where the food is just as good. And they specialize in yummy pastries!
There is a lovely mosque in the neighbourhood, the Teşvikiye Mosque, also very European. It has a small courtyard, from which one enters, and the entrance is unlike any we’ve seen in Istanbul. (Admittedly, we’ve seen only a small fraction of the mosques here.) The interior is much brighter than most of the other mosques we’ve visited: there are windows on the ground floor and and another register of stained glass windows right above.
Finally, we have a favourite coffee shop here, called Sunday Coffee Bar. It’s across from the mosque and if you sit at the seats that open to the outside, you can see the mosque and its courtyard. The décor of this shop is quirky, with a beach theme that looks distinctly American. The drinks are great, as are the cakes, and the service is very good and patient with people who don’t speak the language. This particular place is probably not very different from dozens of others in the neighbourhood, but we just happened upon it one day and it agreed with us. On our last visit on Monday, they already had a Christmas tree up and were playing Christmas music. Loud. See what we mean about western Europe? (Our apologies to everyone we’ve tried to have conversations with from there – it never works and we’ve learned our lesson.)
We have more to say about fun neighbourhoods (all rather different), but this is one we go at least once a week!
