Friday 17 June. Day 1: International flights and Istanbul

June 17, 2016

We packed our bikes over the weekend prior and had a pretty relaxed set of final preparations for our morning Singapore Airlines flight to Istanbul via Singapore. Extra leg room seats in economy upstairs on the A380 to Singapore, 6 hours in the transit hotel, and a relatively short flight to Istanbul meant that it all wasn't too traumatic. Even with the head cold I was carrying. Felt like a prune from the various medicinal aides I was popping and the flying itself though!

After getting ourselves to the hotel by about 10am - Borancik Suites near Taksim Square - we started being tourists. First a late breakfast/lunch of börek on İstiklâl Caddesi (the 2km pedestrian street with tram which runs from Tünel to Taksim Square), then the funicular down to Kabataş, a transport hub on the European side of the Bosphorus. We have spent time in Istanbul before, so rather than revisiting Sultanahmet and the other main tourist areas, our plan for the day was to see some alternative 'attractions'.

First Santralİstanbul, located on the site of Turkey's first power station (coal fired), operational from 1914. Since 2007, it has been recommisioned as a library, concert venues, art galleries, a part of the Bilgi University and, most importantly for us, an energy musem. The museum is essentially a couple of large spaces with turbines, generators and the control room. It was very easy to get to by bus from Kabataş, a free mini bus for uni students leaving every hour and it took about 20 mins I think? Totally worth it if you like this sort of thing!!

This is just a small collection of the photos. We spent lots of time exploring and photographing. Mostly on our own, until a groups of American exchange students turned up!

German, French, English - and sometimes Turkish. Reflecting the origin of the various components...

This was an emergency shelter. Hard to imagine an emergency where this structure would be helpful?

Go on. Pull it. The American students did...

After a cool drink in the funky little cafe and gift shop, we headed out into the very hot mid-afternoon sun. Our next stop was the nearby Miniatürk. So dumb. So kitch. But SO GOOD!!! 122 models at 1:25 scale of noteworthy sites from Istanbul, Turkey (and Ottoman territories now outside Turkey of course!).

So you see, there's really no need to spend months cycling around Turkey to see all the sights...

Even the airport - the planes are on little tracks, but not moving the day we visited. A shame.

Then we reversed our steps back to Taksim. Very hot. Very jet lagged. Only one thing for it. Sweeties!! A milk pudding with sour cherry and our first künefe (made with cheese and shredded Kadayif dough soaked in sweet syrup - served hot).

Sitting above the street in the window of the pastry shop off Taksim Square - usually the downstairs is for buying takeaway and there are several floors of sit down areas with maybe a roof terrace. The tram had picked up a rowdy football supporting car - the EURO 2016 football championship was a constant companion this whole trip.

After some bad TV in the hotel (including a Russian pop music station) we headed to an Armenian restaurant just off İstiklâl called Aret'in Yeri.

There were so many yummy things possible from their menu, but in the end we went for some mezze plates.

Sea bass in a parsley sauce; eggplant salad; and a cool gooey chickpea dough pastry with a curranty, cinnamony, oniony goo inside. We also had some grilled haloumi cheese. From the first floor window we watched the people in the offices and tailor studios across the road.

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