• Wednesday, February 5: We both arrived in the evening. We went to Pera Antakya for dinner.
• Thursday, February 6: I worked until 3. Then, since İstiklal Street was so close by, we decided to explore it. We walked all the way down to Taksim Square. It was raining, so we took shelter at Taksim Sütiş, because Rick Steves recommended it. By that time, it was about 5. We tried to do the Rick Steves self-guided tour down the rest of İstiklal Street, but it was raining and so cold that I didn’t want to have the book out, so we just walked down the street, looking at things. We went back home and didn’t need dinner since we had eaten such a large, late lunch.
• Friday, February 7: Late start to the day. Hailing and pouring. Somehow managed to fight through the weather to Kahve 6. Afterwards, we tried to go to the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, but 2/3 of the museums were temporarily closed, and tickets were nevertheless still the normal price (€15). I knew we were already going to be spending €75 at least on other sightseeing, so I decided for a museum that would be more “worth” the price. Thus, we went to the Turkish & Islamic Arts Museum. Afterwards, we went to Karaköy Güllüoğlu for baklava. Then we went back to the Airbnb; I taught, and Vasi got us takeout from Napoli Gusto TomTom.
• Saturday, February 8: Worked all day and didn’t go outside. Vasi got us takeout from Antiochia.
• Sunday, February 9: We only had 4 hours before I started work for the day, so we decided to stay local. We walked down the fun street near us, Yeni Çarşı. It has a wonderful bookstore, Homer Kitabevi, where we both got books. We then walked down the street, stopping in Turkish Modern and Meşhur Tarihi Boğazkesen Simit Fırını. We went all the way to the Galataport Promenade, which bizarrely has security. Then, I started work. Vasi cooked dinner at home.
• Monday, February 10: Topkapı Palace! Big day! Afterwards, dinner at Casius Antioch Kitchen Restaurant.
• Tuesday, February 11th: I worked until 3, and then we set off for Hagia Sophia. (Vasi had brought me a börek from Emek Börek for breakfast.) Afterwards, we went to the Blue Mosque. Then, wet and hungry, we headed home. I had my hammam appointment at Ağa Hamamı. I then met Vasi at Shamse Restaurant.
• Wednesday, February 12th: Weird day. We woke up at around 11 and so didn’t leave the house until 1. The plan was to hit the bazaars, but it was really raining – more so than on other days. My feet were wet by the time we got to the Grand Bazaar. We walked around and didn’t buy anything except very expensive hot drinks at one of the cafes (my sahlep was good, but like €9 or something absurd like that, but our hands were freezing, so we paid it). We then walked through Sahaflar Bazaar but we were miserable because it was so wet. We decided to take the tram to the Spice Bazaar even though it was the same amount of time as walking just to be less cold and wet and miserable. We walked through and then were so wet and miserable that we decided to go home. We relaxed… and then the power went off! Tired and cold, we went to bed at 6 pm and stayed there (power still off – I had to cancel all my evening classes) until 11 pm, at which point we decided we needed to get out of bed. We went to Flekk for drinks and then got a late-night dinner at Patsosis.
• Thursday, February 13th: The only sunny day of the whole trip! Sadly, I worked until 3. Our plan was for this sunny day to be our Boat Day, so we made our way down to Karaköy port in a leisurely way, stopping at all of the bookstores on Yeni Çarşı Cd., Turkish Modern, and Meşhur Tarihi Boğazkesen Simit Fırını. The ferries are frequent – every 20 minutes – so we didn’t have to wait long for one to Kadıköy. Impressions of the neighborhood: little charm but lots of life. We walked around the market and looked at the food shops, realizing that we should have come here on the first day to get groceries. However, we found that the restaurants were surprisingly expensive – much so than in Beyoğlu! – which prevented us from actually eating anything. We stopped by Akmar Kadıköy Kitabevi and then used Meşhur Dondurmacı Ali Usta as an excuse to walk across the neighborhood. Then, we walked back to the ferry along the waterfront, which was lovely. We made a huge mistake on the return ferry – the Karaköy arrivals port is different from the departure port, so we didn’t recognize it, and ended up spending an hour going back to Asia and then returning to Karaköy. I quickly headed home to teach, and Vasi went to Karaköy Güllüoğlu one last time to get us baklava to take back to Greece. He cooked dinner at home.
• Friday, February 14th: Woke up, cleaned, packed, and headed to the airport. Easy to get there by metro!