Kadiköy at twilight
after checking out of the Otel Sultan, we hopped the wrong ferry to Istanbul Asia...i suppose on a trip with no concrete plans it wasn't really the "wrong" ferry per se--we did still make it across the Bosphorous--but we entered Asia via Üsküdar, attempting to get to Hayderpasa train station...which actually has a ferry that runs right to it.
we ended up hiking 3km across town only to finally reach the station and be told that there are no overnight trains to Denizli or Pamukkale, only bus.
we were sure we had read somewhere about the Pamukkale Express overnight sleeper train...thanks to the nice man in the booth line up beside ours who helped us navigate between languages we learned that the Pamukkale trains were currently (2 years!) out of service.
looking at the map, our options were to either get back to the other side of Istanbul and travel by metro and tram outside of the city centre to the huge main otogar (bus station) or walk back a couple of kms to the smaller Harem otogar, and hope that there were buses running to Denizli/Pamukkale from this station.
we chose the latter and back tracked through the main road out of town which is a crazy school and military district...between a high school, a university, a hospital and military barracks which were heavily patrolled with fatigued guards armed with machine guns, there were uniforms everywhere (note: all institutions are named Atatürk)...
students at the university in Üsküdar/Kadiköy (Istanbul Asia)
we found the Harem otogar off of an industrial side street, tucked away beside a ferry dock, and got ready to negotiate a bus ticket.
a little note about the bus service in Turkey: unlike the Greyhound here in Canada, there is more than 1 (or 2) bus services to take you across the country so competition can be fierce. even at the smaller stations, men are outside screaming out different destinations...when you are walking around the station with a big backpack, you get mauled by men asking where you are going and trying to lure you in to their company...what we later learned from experience is that the prices are all generally somewhat similar, but it's the type of bus and the perks that you have to ask about...it is not unusual, and actually quite expected to ask to be shown the bus you will ride on (this is important on a 12 hr overnight bus--a couple we met later in Pamukkale told us that they chose the cheapest company for their trip down and rode 12 hrs in a dolmus-sized mini-bus!)
we chose the company called Pamukkale (which we thought was fitting since that was where we were trying to go)...thankfully the agent spoke some English. he let us drop our bags in the closet while we went to explore the bustling city and market-filled backstreets of Kadiköy.
immediately on the hunt for food (surprise!) we searched out a small grocery shop near the otogar for lunch and to stock up for dinner on the bus...the otogar is kind of in the middle of nowhere, in the suburbs of Üsküdar, but it had started to rain and so we were also in search of some reprieve.
after purchasing our lunch standards--dolmade (stuffed grape vine leaves), hazelnut butter, olives, bread, cheese--the rain got heavier and there was no sheltered area to eat...but then we passed this tiny hole in the wall, with men milling about outside drinking çay and smoking...a wonderful smell wafted out into the rain that made me stop to check it out...i must have lingered just a bit too long because suddenly a man was ushering us inside, motioning us to eat...despite our "no, no"s (since we had just bought lunch from the store and didn't want to spend more lunch money) he made the man in the shop serve us his specialty...the only thing, besides çay, that he served: pilav.
a delicious concoction of rice and chickpeas, topped with boiled chicken.
sounds so simple and yet so tasty in that comforting grandma sort of way. we accepted the dish, along with some fresh bread, and the hottest little hot peppers ever, and sitting on 2 of the 5 stools at a little counter top, devoured the bowl...still not sure what had happened as none of the men spoke english. so we tried to give the man some money and he waived it away. of course, this just made us want to buy another bowl. and so we did (obviously with some çay). the grand total was something like a whopping 2.50 YTL. ridiculous.
and so wonderful to have a warm tea in the rain. when we look back now, this tiny little place with its simple little bowls of goodness, made our top 10 eating experiences in turkey. hands down. although i must admit that i was biased because of those fantastic hot peppers.
when the rain stopped, we thanked the man profusely and set out towards Kadiköy.
passing the military barracks in Üsküdar on the walk there, we noticed a sign stating "müze Florence Nightingale". well, since this was my graduating from nursing trip, how fitting it would be to see the museum where our heroine, founder of modern nursing and advocate for public health came to Istanbul during the Crimean war...but getting in to an active military barracks for the Turkish Army proved about as difficult as getting into the Pentagon...more on this later.
i much preferred Istanbul on this side of the Bosphorous.
the streets were wonderfully packed full of fish and nut markets and locals milling about in cafes and bars.
we found an English bookstore with two wonderfully helpful women with whom we chatted for a while and finally bought a Turkish phrasebook.
in Turkey, dogs are everyone's and no one's. they are all tagged and most people pitch in to feed them.
gypsies take a break from flower selling in front of the cafe balon, kadiköy
pumpkin seeds, still steaming
after hanging on the waterfront for a long while, watching the dogs wander and roam and gypsies fight over flowers, we found a cozy little bar to have a beer, eat our freshly roasted pumpkin seeds (which became a staple in our diet) and practice newly acquired words...which actually came in handy shortly thereafter, trying to find the city bus back to the Harem otogar for our overnight bus to Denizli.
our first long bus trip in Turkey and i must say i was impressed.
the buses are huge, with extra comfy seats and more leg space than an airplane (which isn't saying much i guess)...they have an attendant who serves çay and Nescafe and water and tasty little snacks like cheese crackers and marble cake. a spare driver sleeps in a little bunk under the stairs. it's crazy.
most people in Turkey actually use the bus for long distance travel within the country. the trains generally tend to be cheaper, but they are much slower and follow rickety tracks to only certain destinations. the buses are definitely where it's at. they are still super duper cheap (roughly $40 cdn to travel 12-15 hrs).
and the drivers are real pros.
case in point: halfway through the trip i awoke to look out my window which was about 2" from the side of a house. the bus was stopped and there were men outside trying to direct traffic. slowly the whole bus started waking up, all of us craning our necks to see what was going on. in this tiny little village in the mountains, two buses travelling in opposite directions had tried to pass through a narrow mountain road and had gotten stuck. this had caused a small pile up of about 4 buses and 2 trucks trying to pass each other. it was misty out, and the drivers and attendants had all gotten out to assess the situation.
after some yelling and directing, we slowly crept along, the bus on a what felt like a 45 degree angle, passing the other buses within mere centimetres to spare in between, nervous laughter filling the soundtrack to strangers faces looking back at us from the windows of the other buses.
random wandering shots from Kadiköy:
Türkish kahve (pre)
Türkish kahve (post)...that is sludge at the bottom of the cup.
the coffee, brewed without filter, is served with water to wash the grounds out of your teeth afterwards
