Istanbul Mosques

Some of the mosques in Istanbul. Can you name them??
Hagia Sophia is not a mosque anymore and was not a mosque when it was first built.

 

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Unknown 10:31 AM  No comment

Sultan Ahmet Mosque

Ariel View. Image: Beautifulmosque.com

More than 95 percent of people follow Isalm in Turkey. Istanbul is no different. The magnificent Sultan Ahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) marks Istanbul as the center of Islam. It has six minarets which represents its glory and its importance. One of the travel guides explained us the importance of the minarets. The minaret functions as a high place from where the announcements for "call for prayers" can be made. Most of the mosques here have dome which can easily resist against the seaward breeze.  The mosque with one or two minaret are ordinary mosque often build by general people. The one with four are build by the sultans or other royalties. And the mosque with six minarets, the grand one, represents its location as the center of the Islamic world are also built by "important people".

This mosque is called the Blue Mosque by the foreigners because of its interior of blue tiles. Image: Wikipedia

There is a legend about the construction of six minarets in Blue Mosque. Sultan Ahmet I ordered his architect to build a grand mosque with a golden minaret. In my opinion, he wanted to overshadow the grande of the Roman architecture, St. Sophia (Hagia Sophia) by building a grand mosque beside the famous Church( later turned into a Mosque, now a museum). "Altum" means gold in Turkish which was misheard by the architect as "Alti" which means six. So there he went, without asking the Sultan to repeat, doing whatever he heard in that big royal crowd. Was asking the Sultan a question back in the days an offence? Apparently, the Sultan did not see this huge mosque being built right in front of his royal palace, the Topkapi Palace until it was competed. It turned out that the sultan loved it and the architect, who must have later found out that he meant "Altim", had his breathe of relief (cause apparently it does not take sultan much to execute someone)

Sultan Ahmet Mosque at night

As far as I know, only two other mosques have more minarets than Sultan Ahmet; Al-Masjid al- Haram, the holiest mosque in Mecca has nine minarets and Al-Masjid al-Nawabi, the location of the holy prophet's tomb in Medina has ten. So, even if the travel guide was making up the story, I would without doubt accept Istanbul as the center of Islamic world developed by the Ottomans, who are by far my favorite empire.

The beautiful garden/park at Sultan Ahmet Square

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Unknown 2:25 AM  1 comment

Picture of Turkish food with a little bit of discription

I am sorry that I had kept you waiting on food. How rude of me. Without any delay here comes the food.

These are just the foods that I have tried so far. There are so many amazing food here that you could eat different things every meal for a semester.

Want to understand more about Turkish food and dining experience, please read the previous post.

Regular breakfast: Omlette, bread and Nescafe.
Omlette could be of various kinds

Turkish Chay: Hard boiled tea using
steam and diluted at serving

Two servings of Kumpir: Baked Potato mixed with butter and cheese inside and toppings according to your choice.
Example of toppings are pickle, lettuce, peas, yogurt, sausage, sauces, etc. topped with mayonnaise and ketchup

I think it was called Muhallebi: Turkish desert like custard. Comes in different flavors and toppings. This one is with 

Some mixed sweet dish. Like a desert. It was amazing

One of the cheaper dining option. Lets call it Turkish homestyle dining 

Pakistani mean in Istanbul. Prepared by Pakistani Students at BAU for some of us. Tandoori Chicken,  Chicken Biryani and bread

Gozelme: Toasted bread with cheese or potatoes fillings inside

Tavuk Doner Porsyion: a meal of chicken doner

Tavuk Nuggets Porsiyon: a meal of chicken nuggets.

Something like chicken wrap. I do not remember the actual name. But was amazing

Tavuk Sis: Chicken Kebab meal

Simit: Simit are some kind of breakfast bread. They have various forms. This one had cheese fillings inside. I said breakfast right? so obviously why would you not have chai?

Cheese Bread  (Do not remember the Turkish name, sorry)

More Turkish desert. 

Baklawa, Turkish "national" sweet laid out in the style of Turkish National Flag. I quoted national because it is one of the most famous sweet of this country.

Some Baklawas 

If you have been reading the captions, I am sorry.  This one is just regular penne pasta I made. It has nothing to do with Turkish food except that it was prepared in Turkey. But it was delicious. 

Dhurum (Tavuk Doner Dhurum): Wrap with chicken (tavuk) doner and other regular veggie.

This one is the winner. Burger Kings promotional meal. Two meal (sandwich, large drinks and fries) for 12 Lira, (less than $6)

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Unknown 7:00 AM  No comment

Eating in Istanbul.

As I have mentioned a million times before, a lot of young people live in Istanbul. What does that mean?

-This means people barely eat at home.

First of all, the kitchens I have seen visiting my friends' apartments are all small. There is not much space to maneuver. Secondly, there are places to eat out everywhere. The part of city I live in, the restaurants have put chairs and tables even on streets. And Finally, there are enough cheap places to eat. You can find a filling meal as cheap as $4.

I myself, who pride in cooking at home and staying economical, usually have one to two meal out in the restaurants. In addition, I want to learn about Turkish delicacy which obviously I do not know how to make. All I eat at home is breakfast (tea, cereal, eggs, bread, pasta and other easy things).

So what do people eat here?

Burger King: One of the most favored fast food chain 

There is apparently everything. The American and European Fast food and coffee shops, chain grocery stores (sorry, I have not seen Hyvee, Target or Walmart yet. Though Aldi might be here). "Doner" is a big thing where meat is roasted on a rotary and layers are chopped off as they are cooked. This roasted meat makes a variety of meal. Even though, Turkish food is a common choice, there is a craze for all kinds of variety. Thank you globalization! Chay and Nargile (hookah/shisha) is a very common thing and there are plenty of cafes and restaurants that serve these ethnic things.

Nargile in the making: My flatmate preparing one for the night

I know you will definitely ask about tipping culture. Although I have been told that servers "expect" tip I have never seen anyone actually tipping. Not even to the guy who brings your home delivery. In self service restaurants you leave your seat after finishing your meal without taking care of your tray and leftovers.

Home delivery reminds me of this amazing service they have in Turkey. There is a website called "Yemek Sepati" (literal meaning: food cart) yemeksepeti.com where you can order any kind of food from any restaurant (listed on the website) in no time (without having to tip your server too). Since the city is so big, I understand these kinds of service can sustain easily. Some people have told me that there is such a big competition that you have to incorporate these services.

Half eaten Tavuk Doner Porsiyon

Porsiyon means meal. So if you want to have a meal of say chicken doner, you ask for "Tavuk Doner Porsiyon". You will be served the meat from the rotary with some veggies or rice, some fries and other condiments. In fast food restaurants, if you want a combo you ask for "menu". Once I was trying ask for a meal and used words like "combo", "meal", etc and nobody understood what I was asking for.

A screenshot of my yemeksepeti page

It seems like Turkish people love mayonnaise. They have mayonnaise and ketchup with most of their meals.  But I have never seen any mustard around. That must be a thing here.

Well, these are the basics I have learned so far. I will be describing about particular food in future posts. There much more to eat here and time is running out very fast. So, I am off to get some food now. Or should order at "Yemek Sepeti" (I have not done that by myself yet)?
Have a knowledgeable day everyone.

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Unknown 10:17 AM  1 comment

More stray cats of Istanbul.....

This is the continuation of the previous post titled Cats of Istanbul!!!!!
http://nepalibideshma.blogspot.com.tr/2014/03/cats-of-istanbul.html

I took these cat pictures when I visited Princes Island yesterday. Princes Island has its history from Byzentine period. Princes Island is a chain of nine islands (archipelago) few miles off the coast of Istanbul. I had heard a lot of Turkish people have summer residence there.

Wikipedia article about Princes Island

Everything else, these cats are just so cute. 

How about you guys give a caption to these pictures this time? I will number them you name them on the comment section below.

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Unknown 3:32 AM  1 comment

Cats of Istanbul!!!!

Many of you like cats as an animal. Some of you even have cats as pets. Though it is not very easy to pet, it is one of the best animals to be around. It also has many good uses like chasing mice from your house,(well maybe not as much in the US) stealing milk, etc.

Cats in Istanbul have much more interesting stories.

A very simple question! What would you do if you saw a cat without a collar?? Would you tame it yourself? Call animal protection agency? Run Away?

You do not do any of those in Istanbul. If you are like me you look at them. You try to observe their difference in color pattern, habits and stuff. If you are good hearted, you would feed them. Otherwise you would just let them go. If you Google, there are many blogs about cats of Istanbul. I think the story of cats has to do with its history from Byzantine  period. Lets not go there! I'll just put pictures of stray cats I have seen here. Nothing special....... these are just some clicks

Cat on the roof

Cat on the car

Cat outside the museum

Cat inside the museum

One fat cat

Many fat cats

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Unknown 10:00 AM  1 comment