The Church Where We Attended Service
Sorry I haven’t gotten this out sooner! I’ve had quite a few problems with my internet lately. I know, I’ve said that a lot here, but it’s true! My internet often becomes completely unreliable for a week at a time, and that gets me lazy, and it means I can’t upload photos well, and then I can’t post, etc. Anyway, here we go.
Our morning started early (considering how little sleep we had getting to Istanbul and how much we did our first day there) so that we could attend church at St. Antonio di Padova, the biggest Catholic church in Istanbul. Carey really wanted to go, and the fact that they offered an English mass was appealing to me, so the lot of us trekked out to the church on Sunday morning. It was nice to be in church again, especially with a friend as close as Carey. The sermon could have been better, but the ceremony of it all was familiar enough (I joked with the others, most of whom were Catholic, that when they finally got to spots of the mass that I recognized I perked up real quick).
A Demonstration Seen From a Cafe Window
After church we were all a bit hungry, so we decided to try to find some food in the same area we had been walking around the night before (which is where we discovered the church and its English mass to begin with). We went into a cafe which had a large second floor window from where we could people watch. There was no food, but decent tea and chess. I taught Leslie Lindsey a bit of how to play, which was fun. The had open the window for us, which was wonderful in the warmish weather. As we were sitting there, parts of a demonstration (of which we were ignorant of at that time) came by. We saw some of the story on CNN that evening at the hostel.
After we left the cafe and found some food down the street, we made our way to the Galata Tower, which you can climb to get some magnificent views of Istanbul, even if the place is extremely crowded. The tower has a lot of history, and was to me one of the more interesting places we visited.
A View of the Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sofia, and the Blue Mosque from the Galata Tower
After that we wanted to catch a ferry to head over the the Asian part of Istanbul. The Asian part felt far less touristed and was a lot cheaper. I bought my spices from a bazaar there, rather than at the Grand Bazaar or the Egyptian Bazaar. It was a lot cheaper there. Carey got the idea of buying some fish there and making it for dinner at the hostel. I put my well honed scrounging abilities to the test and found a five lire disposable grill (charcoal included!), we grabbed the yummiest looking fish, some fresh herbs and spices, and took it all home with us.
Where I Bought My Spices
I can’t begin to explain how this idea became the perfect storm… Perhaps I should have known something like this was going to happen when Casey contributed the idea of calling the toilets of Georgiana simply “Auburns,” as in, “hang on a sec, I’m going to the Auburn.” Any trip that has that good of a contribution to Carey’s and my retirement plan to open up the ultimate Southern restaurant is gonna have some crazy like a fox fool idea from Carey and/or me and turn out to be a miracle. As it ended up, Carey grilled up some of the tastiest stuff ever.
The Fish Monger’s From Where Our Dinner Came
At the hostel things were going perfectly. First off, they said itwas no problem to grill on the roof. They even gave us extra charcoal. There was actually a grill up there, but it was is such a state that we didn’t want to even attempt to clean it or use it. Nonetheless, we fired up our own disposable, which did quite well enough anyway. Carey grilled some vegetables, including green onions, after oiling them up with olive oil. I had never had grilled green onions before, and they were absolutely delicious! I mean, just amazing how yummy and yet so simple.
Carey Works His Magic
After the vegetables finished, Care-Bear started grilling the fish. He had been preparing them all along, but basically he spiced them with olive oil, salt, red pepper, and some other stuff, but then put fresh mint, lemon, and green onion between the fillets to cook in a foil packing. The result was wonderful. Tender, tasty, and oh so complimented by the grilled veggies. For dessert he made a steamed apples thing too. We decided to call the whole meal the “Istanbul Special” for when we offer it at Georgiana.
A Perfect Night
I think that experience of grilling and eating at the hostel with Carey, Leslie, Casey, and Lindsey was my favorite bit of the trip. It was just great to sit back, have a few beers, grill, and enjoy the open air (oh year, we grilled on the roof!). It felt like being home again.
The Pièce de Résistance
Near the end of the evening Carey had to go use the restroom. He had given me instructions to get him another beverage, but I got the idea that he deserved a bit of a present for his great work. I grabbed the leftover foil and made quick work of wrapping up his beer. The following set of images are Carey discovering and opening his present:
As you can see, he was quite happy. He especialy loved the foil ball used for a bow.
After dinner we were all pretty tired and went to bed, which wraps up day two of my Istanbul trip. Sometime soon I’ll add day three, which includes the Blue Mosque and Topkapi palace. Thanks for hanging in there with me. Also, please don’t forget to donate to my PCPP project if you haven’t yet. You can donate here.
