Mini adventure to Kadiköy, Istanbul

One free night in Istanbul I was fortunate to have a colleague who (a) had lived in Istanbul and was therefore familiar with navigating around the city and where to go, and (2) game to head out for a couple hours to show me how to get over to the Asian side, specifically Kadiköy.
It started with grabbing the ferry from the Karaköy terminal.

And stopping by Fatih before continuing on to our destination.

Once on the ground we wandered, taking it all in. A busy, interesting area full of cafés and restaurants with outdoor seating full of customers not deterred by temps in the low 50s.

We grabbed dinner at, Güneşin Sofrası Meyhane, a place she knew through Turkish friends. Solid food and hospitality. Not a ton of English spoken. But with her Turkish food basics we got some essentials, including Raki.

All in all a very cool experience I'm grateful to have had.

Coffee & a snack in Balat, Istanbul

Judy and I are pulled in by bakery windows wherever we go. She wasn't with me on this walk through Balat, but if she was I know she'd want to duck in here. I grabbed that round thing that looks like a bagel but was fluffy like a croissant. Solid use of the 20-30 TRY it cost me if I remember correctly. Francala has a flat 4.0 on Google, but my limited interaction was 5*.

Bread disc in hand, I met up with the rest of the group at El Rincón Café. They have outdoor seating if you want fresh air and people watching. But the inside area was cozy. It was pretty chill, being a mid-November Wednesday morning. But I can see this being a great hangout. Service was friendly and the coffee hit the spot.

Shots from a walking tour of Fener and Balat, Istanbul

No particular unifying theme to these shots. Just a cool area (Fener and Balat) where you're prompted to try and capture everything you see. Everywhere you turn is something calling to your camera. A building in elegant decline waiting to be renovated. A cat sitting peacefully in a streetside café. A colorful ceramic shop. Street art behind a scooter parked next to a selection of salty snacks. Etc., etc., etc. Fun place to spend a few hours. We were there late morning on a Wednesday in November. I imagine there are more fellow travelers in the streets during the warmer months.

Knockoff New Balance from Istanbul

While walking around Istanbul in November I passed through one of those underpasses that is filled with miscellaneous retail. This one in particular was after you cross the Galata bridge and head into Eminonu Square. I took a very brief and semi-useless video that gives some idea of the place.
I cut the video right before it pans to the wall of knock off sneakers. Normally I'm not stopping to check out knockoff sneakers. Plenty of opportunity to buy those here in la CDMX. But they had the New Balance type that are currently fascinating my wife and her friends. So I picked up a pair for the nice price of 600 TRY (approx 17 euro, cash only; credit to the guy manning the stall who took my 20 euro and gave me the TRY equivalent in change rather than simply telling me the price is 20 euro take it or leave it).

Comfy so far. TBD how long they last, but I feel confident I will get 17 euro of value out of them.

Takeout from Tahin Lebanese Grill (Istanbul)

Needed a quick dinner to-go one night while working from the hotel. Tahin Lebanese Grill was 150m away or so and looked decent. So I ordered this mixed assortment of neutral-toned food. I recall it tasting better than it looked. With more time and under different circumstance I could see myself enjoying a more leisurely meal on-premise. But last November 10 with work to be done, this box o' snacks hit the spot.

View from my room at Novotel Istanbul Bosphorus

Back in November I had the opportunity to visit Istanbul for 5 nights. My company held its annual end-of-year meeting there. This was my first visit to the city and you do feel its vibrance and energy immediately. Our location for the week was the Novotel Istanbul Bosphorus. I forget my room number. 208 maybe? Low floor. Solid room that I took zero pictures of apparently. View was to to the rear, overlooking Mumhane, which is full of restaurants and cafes, some of which are open to the early hours (1, 2, maybe 2:30am?). Fortunately the windows were very well insulated and I had no issues sleeping. At one point during the week I tried a doner wrap and have to say I didn't love it. I see now that the reviews for Izmir Isi are decidedly mixed. Looks fun and interesting, but food not always on point maybe. Could also be a rookie move to try it for lunch take out rather than swinging by in the evening when they are buzzing and have the A team cooking.