We were lucky to be able to spend a week and a half in Istanbul – an amazing city. Here’s a few photos.
Nikki at the Blue Mosque at night in Istanbul
The cistern in Istanbul
Inside Haghia Sophia, Istanbul
Inside Haghia Sophia, Istanbul
The Blue Mosque, Istanbul
Sulimanye Mosque, Istanbul
On our second last night in Istanbul we decided to head out for a nice meal and some drinks. For dinner we chose Pasazade on recommendation from TripAdvisor. There are heaps of ordinary over-priced restaurants in the tourist area (Sultanhament) but this restaurant was way better and much better value. Highly recommended – for great Ottoman cuisine (think Turkish but a bit more Middle Eastern).
After dinner we headed to the Sah Bar – again a TripAdvisor recommendation.
It was pretty quiet when we got there (around 9.30pm), and we were thinking of leaving after our first drink. But this older guy who was the only other person on our side of the bar, started chatting to us.
Whenever an older guy by himself starts chatting to you in a bar, it’s not normally a sign that things are about to get crazy. But that’s exactly what happened thanks to Stolp, our new friend. He proceeded to be great value, telling us lots of stories about his various escapades from his days as a hippy (he used to hang out with Bianca Jagger at Studio 54 apparently), to his 30 minute dance-off with a 24 year old Brazillian in Ibiza (he won), to his various businesses in Istanbul through the 70’s and 80’s (selling antiques and rugs). He was lots of fun and later on he set the dance-floor on fire with some amazing James Brown moves – no mean feat at age 65. (We took a few videos of his dancing, but sadly none of the footage came out).
His secret? The 5 Tibetan rights – a daily exercise routine he had learned back in the 70’s from some monks. He and his very droll friend Bernard have been doing these ever day since then, and despite probably a lot of drinking, they certainly both looked great for their age.
We were joined at various points of the evening by Stolp, Bernard, a very dramatic but lovely South Korean lady having a weekend break from her “fucking boring” job at the Korean embassy in Azerbaijan, and a very intense Swedish girl, who despite being attached to her Turkish boyfriend, seemed to fall intensely in love with Nikki in around 5 minutes. The kind of random fun night you can only ever have when on holidays.
Goats cheese-stuffed Chicken at Pasazade restaurant, Istanbul
Stolp the Magnificent, Nikki, Bernard and our South Korean friend (sorry can’t remember your name!)
The latinas breaking out at the Sah Bar
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