Christmas in Istanbul

Christmas is the time for family and travel. Travel takes precedence, for an immigrant like me, as being with family was not an option in many of the years. With the pandemic not ready to be subdued yet, this year will be different as it has been for everyone. As I look forward to a Christmas at home and no travel, I naturally reminisced about my past Christmas travels. My trip to Istanbul in 2014 quickly leaped to the top of my memories.

It was a hastily arranged last-minute trip, after my trip home to India got cancelled. After landing at the Ataturk International airport on Christmas Eve around 8:30pm, I took the airport shuttle to Taksim. From there it was a short walk to my studio rental apartment near Galatasaray but took a while fighting through the sea of crowd on Istiklal street. By the time I settled down and showered, it was close to midnight. I went out and had a quick bite to eat at the nearby Solera winery. It was a lucky hit, Solera had excellent mezes and wines, and was buzzing with locals even late in the night.

On 25th, my host Ege, who lived next door, invited me for a home cooked breakfast and gave me some good tips on navigating the city as well as her Istanbulkart which was convenient to use on all the public transportation. There are a lot of good descriptions of all the tourist sites elsewhere, so I will skip them here. I have to say though, it doesn’t take long to be taken in by the majesty of the city and to imagine how awe inspiring the city would have felt 500 years ago for anyone coming into the city. When I went to Chora church, which is just outside the ancient city walls, I was astonished by how large the ancient city was as it takes a while to even get to the city walls.

Chora church is often missed by visitors because it is further away but is a must see in my opinion for its beautiful frescoes on the walls and ceilings. Another reason to take the trek is the Asitane restaurant. They serve some of the authentic (I was told) Ottoman cuisine that was served to the sultans. The food was very rich and delicious, probably better eaten shared with a group or after a rigorous three-hour workout. It reminded me somewhat of the Mughal cuisine found in Agra.

After two or three days, I was done with sightseeing and mostly settled down to enjoying the city. There are a couple of restaurants I frequented during my stay. One is Hayvore. The food in Hayvore was based on the cuisine from Black Sea and a little different from most places I ate in Istanbul. Some of my favorite dishes were white beans in red sauce, bulger rice pilaf, cabbage soup and fish. Even though simple, the dinners here were among the best I had in Istanbul. The environment is homey, and when I went back to the restaurant, not just the owners even some of the patrons recognized me. If I lived in Istanbul this would be one of my regular go to places.

The other go to place would be Canim Cigerim. They have the simplest menu, they only serve kebabs — liver, beef or chicken. Liver is their specialty, I liked both liver and beef. Kebabs come with a bunch of appetizers and you mix everything in a delicious wrap that you can eat every day without ever tiring. Their homemade baklava was a good way to wrap up the dinner. It was always busy here, but the owner was nice and always made sure I got a table quickly. It is also on a street with a lot of bars and clubs, so a good place to spend your Friday evening.

My favorite bar though was U2 Irish pub which is closer to Taksim. They have good beer, although a little more expensive than other places. The real draw was that they had football on Sundays, as it was for a few other American travelers on the Sunday night I was there. On a trip alone, it was nice to spend an evening drinking beer and watching football with fellow Americans.

I was a little nervous walking back home on Istiklal street from the bar feeling buzzed. I spent a lot of time on Istiklal street in this trip but also grew to hate it due to shady people constantly approaching with the sole intent to cheat when they see you alone. But I would not avoid the area as this is home to several good restaurants all on the small side streets. Outside of Istiklal street, people were incredibly nice and helpful. When I went to the Chora church, I took the public transportation without really knowing what I was doing. Everyone I stopped to get help was unbelievably patient, even when they did not know English, they tried to understand what I was asking for and with a mix of Turkish words and hand gestures found a way to help me. As a rule of thumb, it is safer if you are the one approaching someone for help in a foreign environment. If you rely on someone approaching you to offer help, they have a significant advantage over you in an environment that is familiar to them but not to you. People are always willing to help everywhere and you just have to ask on your own.

I almost missed the Asian part of Istanbul, but with some prodding from Ege, I went there towards the end of my trip and was glad I did it. I took the ferry to Kadikoy from Galatta bridge, where I picked up a balik ekmet — freshly grilled fish on a half loaf of bread. With lot more locals than tourists, the Asian side felt like real Istanbul. What I remember most was eating a lot of this sugary crunchy sweet that tasted like jalebis you get on the streets of Mumbai. It was fresh and not overwhelmingly sweet that I could eat a lot in a day without getting sick of it. Or maybe I just have a very sweet tooth. I did eat a dessert nearly every meal and between most meals in Istanbul. Kunefe was my favorite of all the desserts and it goes so well with the Turkish coffee, but you can’t go wrong with any of them.

On the last day, it started snowing and the weather turned abysmal, so I was bummed and planned to do nothing. Luckily, Ege asked me to join her and her friend for a movie and dinner which I readily accepted. Her friend could not join for the movie part, so Ege and I were off to see ‘Interstellar’. I had low expectations, but the movie surprised me by getting off to a good start. Occasionally, it felt like a Disneyland version of space travel, but the plot kept me intrigued. And then abruptly the movie was stopped for intermission, one of the quirks of watching a movie in Istanbul. In hindsight, it was a cue for us to leave and save our time. They left the screen dark for 10 minutes and played ads for another 15 minutes, but unfortunately, we did not take the cue and continued with the movie. Regret sat in quickly as Anne Hathaway rambled on about the scientific aspects of love and the signal emitted by love as the reliable signal to follow when deciding between two planets while in a far away galaxy with the fuel running out. Most people end up in ditches when they make stupid decisions like that but lucky for her she is in a movie and everything works out. Not so much for us as the movie dragged on for another hour and a half.

Her friend joined us after the movie, and we went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. That was a really nice way to end the trip, with some good Chinese food and lovely conversations. It is the history that draws a lot of tourists here, but even beyond the impressive sights, Istanbul is among the pantheon of great cities that can be savored on its own.

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