Finishing up Turkey

On my last two days in Istanbul, I had a wonderful dinner with colleagues at Cezayir in a wonderful little neighborhood in Beyoglu (spell that right?) with windy twisty small cobblestone roads. The atmosphere was so lovely, outside but with a tent above us, a clear tent (huh?) or was it a screen, with candlelight and lightly lit. Perfectly prepared meal.

My almost last day, I had Turkish coffee with a colleague at some palace near the water to discuss the climate of NGOs. I had a hard time drinking it, kept wiping my mouth to remove the sludge, and trying to lick my teeth clean so they weren't brown with coffee grinds. Hrmm. Actually, I had the salty yogurt drink, too. I didn't like the yogurt drink as much as I do in the Balkans, but it was still good! Of course, the other delicious meal I had in Turkey was at Ben & Evelyn's, homemade and prepared by the wonderful marvelous chef Ben.

And on the very last day, I stepped into try the Grand Bazaar for about 30 minutes. Not as overwhelming as the Spice Bazaar, but still annoying, I couldn't do it. Had I more time and patience, I would have gotten:

1. a glass tea set and a silver tea pourer. Just lovely.

2. a rug. yep, some small cheap one.

3. a nice necklace. I saw some, and just couldn't get into it.
4. Something for all of you.