So far, so good — we have always made it back to our hotel! Off for the Golden Horn/Bosporus voyage — quite cold on the water, I always forget that. Saw lots of stuff but only one stop, the former Sultans’ hunting palace, which actually wasn’t a palace — well, maybe if all you’re doing is hunting you might think so, but no bathrooms, just four fancy, fancy, gilded and swirled and pasha’d up four reception rooms on first floor, four reception rooms on the second floor. Lot of sitting around room when you consider it was probably only guys out shooting things — don’t think women came along. And why would they if they had to use an outhouse once plumbing was invented??? At some point Attaturk lived there, but our guide pointed out a REAL palace, second largest after Topkapi with a name I can’t spell, where he was supposed to have lived and I think somewhere else as well. Plus, if Ankara was the capital, wouldn’t he have to live there while being in charge? He must have had more houses than a sultan! Maybe he was a paranoid and slept in a different house every night. We ended by spice market so we strolled through there — how much fun it would be to know how to use all the things we saw; someone should start a school. Tonight was the dervish performance — I so want a dervish outfit! The cotton looks so wonderfully soft and I bet it’s such a neat feeling to have the skirt swirling around your legs as you whirl. The taxi ride to the cultural center was so scary we decided to walk back to hotel instead of wearing our hearts in our throats for the 10 minutes it would take to ride. Lovely night, soft air, pleasant weather and we even figured out how to find Sultanahmet square, with its color-changing fountain, the Blue Mosque lit up at night with palm trees silhouetted against it. Ahhhhh. We got a lesson in pottery at a gallery, then went back to the restaurant we first went to — the food is delicious, the staff is great and the prices are reasonable, what more could someone want?
Off to the palace I can’t spell tomorrow, or that’s the plan. Can’t wait, it looked so very palacey from the water. I’ll even learn to spell it. Scribely yours, jm
lairdandjonelle 
Loving your posts, Jonelle. But, my friend, Judy, hitch-hiked all over Europe, came back, and announced that the best food-on-a-budget was Turkey. I have eaten Turkish food made by a real Turk (alas, now deceased) in Germany. It was de-lish! So, what is the name of this restaurant to which you keep returning??? Ray & I need to know.
It is called Spectra Café Restaurant. Turkish food is quite delicious, one of my favorite cuisines. jm
In this post you wrote, “….then went back to the restaurant we first went to — the food is delicious, the staff is great and the prices are reasonable, what more could someone want?” WELL, the NAMES of the dishes y’all enjoyed! Y’all know ME and FOOD! I want to be able to make some of these delicious dishes for myself. I Googled the Turkish “Shepard’s Salad and Turkish Kecap” you mentioned in a prior post, and found a recipe! I know you don’t take “food notes” in writing as you go, so these daily blogs are my only way to keep up with the FOOD. Just think of it this way…..or, say to yourself….. “If I don’t include this FOOD info in my post, Daniel won’t be able to make this dish for me when I get home!” Glad ALL is going well for you……keep sending the posts!
Actually, we had the hemmus sultan again — a kabap in a sauce with pomegranates. Named after a wife of a sultan — we saw her picture in the Dolmabache palace yesterday. Or we’re assuming it was named after her.