On Friday, I got to meet Katie’s Turkish boyfriend Bayrum. Bayrum means “festival” in Turkish and he’s a good guy. He’s studying at another university in Istanbul to be a teacher. He knows enough English for us to have some interesting conversations and he taught me a bit of Turkish.
Together, the three of us wandered down to Besitas where we saw the doma bace(excuse my butchering of these names) and the huge stadium for one of the city’s soccer teams. Then, we boarded a Ferry and for a lyre fifty I was on my way over to Asia!
Kadikoy, the area we landed in is just on the other side of the Bosporus and honestly little different from the rest of Turkey. However, it was a little less touristed and we found some excellent baklava! I had never heard of this Turkish pastry before, but I am so glad I have found it. It consists of 40 layers of very fine pastry on top of a walnut, or pistachio base. The man we bought it from had been working in the same shop for about 40 years and you could tell from the taste that he had learned his trade well.
Last note on food. You can put anything on a baked potato, kind of like the waffles. Hotdogs, corn and yogurt work surprisingly well together. My favorite conversation in Istanbul was about this tasty treat. One waiter was trying to entreat us in, asking us in English if we wanted to see a menu. When Katie replied “no thanks” in Turkish he realized he’d have to try harder. His response: “But we have potatoes!” we laughed so hard that we almost went, even though we had just eaten.
