last day in Istanbul

Fred and I are really good at taking a city by storm.  We are also really good at calling in an audible.  We decided that four days in Istanbul was the perfect amount based on what we had seen and wanted to see so we made a small shift.  We decided to leave a little earlier and spend a day and two nights in Vienna before going to Slovenia.  Our last day in Istanbul was perfect.

fruits juicesWe got up and walked down the winding street of Beyoglu down to Karakoy for breakfast.  The street was just starting to wake up.  The juicers had already stacked up their fruits.

lanternsThe lanterns were hung.

oldarchitectureThe buildings stood as tall as they stood probably centuries ago.

towerPeople were already climbing up the tower.

selfiestickAnd selfie sticks were ready to sell.

breadsBreakfast was at Namli Gurme Karakoy.  We had walked by there the first day but couldn’t figure out how to get in.  We knew it was food galore but just ignored it and kept going.  Glad we came back.  This place is an oasis of delicacies.  Beautiful breads.

store of foodJars of food.

olivesOlives of course.

honey EditHoney.

cheeseCheese.

meatMeat.

counter to orderAnd of course the counter to order your breakfast.

bfastPerfect way to start the day.  Eggs with a little feta and tomato on top.

Our next stop was to journey to the neighborhood of Nisantasi.  Definitely one of the most exclusive neighborhoods.  We were set on seeing Armaggan.  A store that is like Takishamaya in Japan.  Ends up that the one store is near the Grand Bazaar which we had seen on Sunday and it was closed that day.  The store in this neighborhood is for VIP’s only who make reservations.  We walked in and poked around but didn’t stay.  Super high end Istanbul style.  Alas.

aliceinwonderlandInstead we went to Dirimart Arts, a gallery I wanted to see.  The artist showing was Pelin Kirca and the exhibit was called In Bloom.  Drawings connected to Alice in Wonderland.

inbloomHere is two of them.

Beymen a high end fashion store is one that we stopped in to as well.  Then it was time to return to our hotel and get ready to go on our journey.

turkishairlinesIn all the traveling we have done I have never seen a lounge like the one that Turkish Airlines has in Istanbul.  It is insane.

mapofloungePool table, movie room with a popcorn machine, marble bathroom, variety of different restaurants, carts that come around with desserts and chefs.  Truly incredible.  There is a map just so you know where to go.

meimeibarWe arrived in Vienna around 7 and headed out to dinner at Meierei.  A beautiful restaurant located underneath a very fancy one, Stieireck located in Stadtpark.

restaurantoutsideThe building is beautiful.  Didn’t get a great picture in the night but it is very modern.

Back to the hotel to charge up for our one day in Vienna.

Comments (Archived):

  1. Gillian Morris

    Seeing these photos is making me seriously nostalgic. I’m coming up on my three year anniversary of leaving Turkey (lived there 2009-2012) – if you are going back anytime soon and want tips, please let me know.On another note, something I thought you’d enjoy: one thing I loved about Turkey was the fact that gender in tech wasn’t really part of the conversation. There are just as many female engineering students as men, and at least anecdotally they were more likely to end up in the CTO role (one female tech lead told me ‘Men aren’t interested in being managers of unglamorous sectors like IT; if they’re passionate engineers they’d rather build and if they have big egos they want to be CEO’).

    1. Gotham Gal

      i love that.