The flavors of Turkey can now be found in Istanbul restaurants; it is a trip back to the land of the Ottoman Empire and the wealth of great food with recipes that date back centuries. But as non-native ingredients become more readily available and foreign cuisines gain influence, a coterie of Istanbul restaurants are reinventing Turkish food.

Enjoy the day by waking up to a rich breakfast buffet, consisting of freshly baked breads and bakery items as well as selected meats and cheese, fresh fruits and juices with rich coffee and traditional Turkish tea.

In Istanbul you will find from luxury restaurant which serve occidental meals to traditional meyhanes (taverns) and fast-foods. Reservations are recommended wherever possible; in the case of upscale and popular restaurants, they are essential.

The most part, 90% of the restaurants, and eateries in the neighborhood of Sultanahmet. A bit farther up the Bosphorus in Besiktas and Etiler are the five-star restaurants that attract Turkish jet-setters and consulate personnel, for the most part providing a wide selection of fresh-fish specialties, excellent service, and spectacular views.

You can savor Turkish food or take advantage of the international buffet with a different theme every day. Prices are reasonable, service average, and there is a good selection of meze, kebabs, and the usual Turkish fare.

In a Turkish themed restaurant, the main draw is the Kebabs and with a ’Fries, Soda, and Kebab’.Ideal for a late breakfast is menemen (a kind of sloppy Turkish omelette with tomatoes, served with crusty bread) and a pot of filter coffee. For lunch or dinner try the mezze and foods based on lamb, fish and chicken like kebaps, kofte, baba ganoush, hummus, gyros. Finally, round out the meal with a choice of Turkish deserts.

The latest trend in Istanbul restaurants is the fast food version of the traditional simit (kind of bagel) and borek (pastry).

My favorites are to traditional meyhanes (taverns) for the healthy fresh fish and delicious appetizers.
Kebap is sold right on the street and it is delicious. Try the Adana but be careful it is spicy.

Fast foods are very popular: you’ll find McDonalds, KFCs and a lot of local fast foods and pizza places. I have eaten at McDonald and the food was ok. They serve some interesting burgers: with Turk kofte inside.

! Tip: There are restaurants which provide a backdrop for the view over the Bosphorus. This kind of restaurants is ideal for a relaxed family lunch or romantic meal.

! Tip: The Istanbul restaurants have wide selection of Turkish wines produced from rich Anatolian grapes.Try one.

! Tip: Belly dancing is performed in some Istanbul Restaurants. Also the atmosphere is very relaxed and the staff loves to enjoy themselves with the customers which all made for a very entertaining night out with traditional Turkish music and dancing.

! Tip: Ask about the special Turkish Pizza served some nights for dinner.

Most of Istanbul restaurants have absolutely fabulous food, a very relaxed atmosphere and they are definitely not as expensive as other restaurants. The beautiful atmosphere, lovely friendly staff, and delicious Turkish cuisine will make you happy.

Istanbul Food and Cuisine

Turkish cuisine is based on lamb and mutton but it also includes beef and chicken (no pork, of course), as well as all sorts of seafood.

The most common preparations are roasting and grilling, which produce the famous Turkish kebaps, including döner kebap, the national dish, and köfte (small meatballs), the workingman’s favorite.

The doner kebap (turning roast) is dish made of meat cooked on a vertical spit and sliced off to order. The meat may be lamb, mutton, beef, goat, or chicken. It looks great and tastes divine.

Popular kebabs:

• Shish kebab (sis kebabi) is a dish consisting of small cubes of meat threaded on a skewer that are grilled or roasted.
• Adana kepap is a dish consisting of pieces of meat with rice and vegetables (often grilled) and very spicy.

• Urfa kepap. It is the same as Adana but it is nor spicy.

The supremo of döners is Iskender Kebap, named for a chef in the city of Bursa who created the dish: lamb raised on the thyme-covered slopes of Mount Uludag (which rises south of Bursa) is roasted à la döner, spread atop diced flat pide bread, then topped with savory tomato sauce and browned butter and served with a dollop of yogurt on the side.

You will find a lot of delicious food selling right on the street. I recommend trying the Adana kebap, but be careful because it is very spicy.

You will also see a lot of places selling Durum; it is just kebap rolled into flat bread.

Izgara Köfte is ground lamb mixed with egg, rice or bread crumbs and spices, formed into longish meatballs and grilled. They are delicious. Try them.

Börek are filled pastries with white sheep’s milk cheese and a chopped vegetable such as parsley or spinach. Popular types of borek are

• ispanakli = with spinach
• karisik = with everything
• kasar peynirli = with yellow cow’s milk cheese
• kiymali = with ground lamb
• patatesli = with mashed potatoes
• peynirli = with white sheep’s milk cheese (feta)

Istanbul Deserts

The most appreciated are the Baklavaci (baklava).

Besides baklava, the many-layered flaky pastry stuffed with crushed nuts and soaked in honey and syrup, these shops often have other sweets such as tulumba, small fluted cylinders of soft pastry baked, then soaked in syrup.

Dondurma (freezing) is ice cream. The Turkish ice cream is very tasteful.

Helva (Halva) is basically a crystalized paste of sesame seeds (tahini) and sugar. It is made from a variety of other ingredients, including sunflower seeds, various nuts, beans, lentils, and vegetables—such as carrots, pumpkins, yams, and squashes.

Istanbul drinks

Beer

The best—and best-selling Turkish beer (80% of the market) is Efes Pilsen, brewed in Izmir. The same company brews Efes Dark, Efes Light, Efes Extra and Marmara.

Tuborg is also brewed in Turkey under license. Heineken is imported.

Raki

Raki (called by Turks lion’s milk) is clear brandy made from grapes and raisins, flavored with pungent anise. Most is quite potent (80- to 90-proof/40% to 45% alcohol) and thus usually diluted with water and sipped. It’s similar to Greek ouzo and French pastis.

Famous raki brand are Yeni Raki, Tekirdag, Altindag and Efe Raki.

How to drink raki: a clear, straight, narrow glass is filled 1/3 or 1/2 with raki, then diluted with water and/or ice to suit the drinker’s taste.

Turkish Wine

Good wine has been produced in Turkey for millennia, and still is. The Turkish wines are pretty good, and it won’t ruin your budget, but it won’t be cheap, either.

The bottles have a special design as you can see in the image above.

Imported Alcoholic drinks

Istanbul is a cosmopolite city, you will find a lot of imported gin, vodka, whiskey and liqueurs brands.

Turkish coffee

Turkish coffee (Türk kahvesi) is made by pulverizing freshly medium-roasted beans in a mortar and pestle, or grinding them very fine in a cylindrical brass coffee mill (kahve degirmeni).

The Turkish coffee is it famous for its flavor.

Turkish coffee types:

• Sade - plain, no sugar
• Az sekerli - with a little sugar
• Orta sekerli - with medium sugar
• Çok sekerli - with lots of sugar (quite sweet; two teaspoons of sugar or more)

European-style coffee has finally come to Turkey, and it’s now possible to get a good cup of French-style or Starbucks-style brew, as well as espresso and cappuccino.

Turkish tea (çay)

It is hot, fragrant, bracing, and available everywhere, all the time in Turkey.

Traditionally, Turkish tea is brewed samovar-style, with a small pot of very strong tea kept hot atop a larger vessel of boiling water.

How to drink it: pour a small amount of strong tea into a little tulip-shaped glass and cut it to the desired strength with hot water.

Types of Turkish tea:

• tea açik (weak)
• koyu (dark)
• çay (it will come normal strength)
• Ada Çay (sage tea, one of several popular herbal infusions)
• Ihlamur (linden-flower tea)
• Elma Çay (apple tea)

You must see: the Topkapi Palace Museum, Hagia Sophia, the Sultan Ahmed (Blue) Mosque and the Dolmabahce Palace.

Topkapi Palace Museum (Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi)

The Seraglio Point (Sarayburnu) where the Topkapi Palace is located is seen at the left tip of the historic peninsula; followed by (left to right) the Hagia Sophia, the Sultan Ahmed (Blue) Mosque, the Yeni (New) Mosque near the Galata Bridge, the Beyazıt Tower rising high in the background, and the Süleymaniye (Suleiman the Magnificent) Mosque at far right, among others.

Topkapi is the largest and oldest palace in the world to survive to our day. The construction of the building was started in 1466, and was completed in 1478 several years prior to the demise of Sultan Muhammad II. The palace is formed by many smaller palaces and apartments. The population of the palace of 750 during the Mehmet era, has continually increased and reached up to 5000 in XIX th century.

You must visit:

• the mysterious harem (word harem originates from the Arabic harîm, comprising the concepts of secrecy, inviolability and sacrosanctness that pervade the very walls of this place and marked life here over the centuries that it was a closed book to strangers)
• Palace attire and garments: The costumes of the Sultans
• The Imperial Treasury Miniatures from the Topkapi Museum
• The portraits of the Sultans
• The chambers of the Sacred Relics
• Guns and Armory and
• Porcelains in the Topkapi Museum

The personal belongings of Mohammed and the earliest Caliphs who followed him are today preserved in the Topkapı Palace, the Eyüp Sultan Mosque and in several other prominent mosques of Istanbul.

! Museum hours are 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. Topkapi Palace is closed on Tuesdays.

Here are just a very few items exposed at Topkapi

Hagia Sophia (know as Saint Sophia)

Hagia Sophia the most famous Byzantine structure in Constantinople (now İstanbul), built (532-37) by Emperor Justinian I, and now a museum.

It occupies a prominent place in the history of art and architecture. It is one of the rare works of this size and age that has survived to our day.

The entrance to the museum from the courtyard is the original west gate, which has now been put to use again after centuries. Next to the entrance is the remains of the earlier (the second) basilica.

To appreciate Hagia Sophia fully, one should try to look at it not just as an empty museum, but as the magnificent and mystical church or mosque it once was. While it was the mother church of a great empire, the section in front of the apse, the altar, the ambo (pulpit) and the ceremonial objects were all plated in gold and silver and decorated with ivory and jewels. Even some of the doors were covered with such precious metals. The Latin invaders of the 4th Crusade tore all of these down and carried them to Europe, together with some architectural fragments.

Sultan Ahmed (Blue) Mosque

One of the most famous monuments of Turkish art, the blue mosque is visited by all who come to Istanbul and gains their admiration. This imperial mosque is an example of classical Turkish architecture, and it is the only mosque that was originally built with six minarets.

It is surrounded by other important edifices of Istanbul, built at earlier ages. Istanbul is viewed best from the sea and the mosque is part of this magnificent scenery.

The architect was a student of Sinan, the greatest architect of classical Turkish architecture. He applied a plan used previously by his master, but on a larger scale.

The main entrance to Sultan Ahmet Mosque is on the Hippodrome side. There is an outer courtyard, and the inner courtyard and the edifice itself are elevated.

Dolmabahçe Palace

Located on a hill behind the Dolmabahce Palace was the last residence of the Ottoman Sultans. It is not very loved by Turk’s (you won’t find a lot of informations about it) because it is built in occidental style.

Dolmabahce is a beautiful 19th palace right by the Bosphorus, on the waterfront. It’s in baroque and rococo style and very French.

The palace is decorated with French Baccarat and Czech Bohemian crystal chandeliers.The entrance hall is the hall where the visitors were used to welcomed. This part is the official part (Selamlik) of the Palace that was only open to the men. The women and the children lived in a different part called “the Harem”. The Sultan’s bedrooms were also in the Harem Part.

Rare handmade artifacts from Europe and the Far East’decorate every room in the palace. Brilliant crystal chandeliers, candelabras and fireplaces add to the lavish decor.

The ballroom is the largest of its kind in the world. A 4.5 ton colossal crystal chandelier hangs from the 36 m high dome. The hall, which is used for important political meetings,receptions and balls, was previously heated by an oven-like system under the floor. Central heating and electricity were later additions to the palace.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic died in this palace in 1938.

Here is picture to see the beauty of the Dolmabahce Palace.

Many visitors, in their rush to see the “big three” of the old city (Aya Sofya, the Blue Mosque, and Topkapi Palace), pass up the opportunity to visit this museum, which is next to Topkapi Palace and Gülhane Park. The palace was the hub of Ottoman power for more than three centuries, and for lavish decor and exquisite setting, it is a must-see.

Other important museums and places

Istanbul Mosaic Museum contains the late Roman and early Byzantine floor mosaics and wall ornaments of the Great Palace of Constantinople.

In Istanbul there are many historical mosques, churches, synagogues, palaces, castles and towers to visit.

Following the Ottoman conquest of the city, Sultan Mehmed II initiated a wide scale reconstruction plan, which included the construction of grand buildings such as the Eyüp Sultan Mosque, Fatih Mosque, Topkapı Palace, The Grand Bazaar and the Yedikule (Seven Towers) Castle which guarded the main entrance gate of the city, the Porta Aurea (Golden Gate).

But even before the Tanzimat period, European styles began to appear in the city, such as the Baroque style interiors of the Aynalıkavak Palace (1677-1679) and Nuruosmaniye Mosque (1748-1755, the first Baroque style mosque in the city, also famous for its Baroque fountain), and the 18th century Baroque additions to the Harem section of Topkapı Palace.

New palaces and mosques were built in Neoclassical, Baroque and Rococo styles, or a mixture of all three, such as the Dolmabahçe Palace, Dolmabahçe Mosque and Ortaköy (Mecidiye) Mosque.

Istanbul became a major center of the Art Nouveau movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with famous architects of this style like Raimondo D’Aronco building many palaces and mansions in the city proper and on the Princes’ Islands.

The public parks of Istanbul are very beautiful including Yıldız Park and the Gulhane Park at Topkapı, which houses the İstanbul Zoo.

Sports. The Turks love soccer and are several stadiums where you can see a game like: Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium, Ataturk Olympic Stadium and Ali Sami Yen Stadium.

Istanbul short description

Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, is located in the north-west Marmara Region of Turkey.It is situated near the North Anatolian fault line, which runs from northern Anatolia to the Marmara Sea. It is the only city in the world that sits astride two continents Europe and Asia.

Istanbul is also one of the world’s major conference destinations and is an increasingly popular choice for the world’s leading international associations.The city has 9,451,000 official population, unofficial population is much higher.

Hotels

There are 40,586 beds in 265 lodging facilities bearing touristic license and 19 of which are 5 star hotels, in Istanbul.You will find many types of hotels: 5 stars hotels, 4 stars hotels, 3 stars hotels, cheap hotels & hostels and accommodation in Istanbul apartments.

Pensions and one and two star hotels may be as inexpensive as $9 per night.

For mid-range and cheap hotels/restaurants, you may actually have a better time if you avoid places listed in your guide.

The Sultanahmet district hotels place you closest to many of the key museums and attractions of the city, but be sure not to miss out on other parts of Istanbul as well.

All major credit cards are accepted at most hotels, restaurants and stores.

Its full range of accommodation, from tourist class to deluxe hotels, and the hospitable people of Istanbul will make your holiday comfortable and enjoyable.

Tourist tips

! A frequent scam, often in smaller hotels (but it can also happen in a variety of other contexts), is to quote prices in Lira and then later, when payment is due, claim the price was given in Euros.

! It’s best to have your hotel arrange for cabs as hotels often have arrangements with a particular company and thus have a little leverage that will act in your favor.

This is the first part of the attractive destination Istanbul, in the future posts you will read about What to visit in Istanbul, Shopping, Food and drinks.