Istanbul. October 15

So today we discovered our dream cafe. It was everything we love all combined into one cafe. So we first saw this cafe in Turkish Elle magazine, it's called Dandin bakery and is in the region of Istanbul called Karaköy, which is basically cafe-ville. So the breakfast/brunch was a dream, Elise had the classic poachies with avo on toast and Ash had roast veggies with scrambles on toast. With coffee. Mmmmmm. Then later we had smoothies and basically spent all day in the cafe working on blogs.

We then went home for a bit before going to another amazing place for dinner called Gourmand. It's on the street that looks up to the Galata tower, which is pretty great.  We had Mac n cheese and a quinoa salad and found our IB faves- truffle and Parmesan fries! Ahhhhh yummmmmmm.

Xx A&E

Istanbul. October 14

We went to Aheste for breakfast today, which we went to on our previous visit to Istanbul. Elise got very buttery scrambled eggs and Ash got PANCAKE BALLS!!??? With fruit and sugary syrup. Yum!

We did some shop looking on Istiklal and then Ash was feeling unwell, so we came back to the apartment. Elise went out for a couple of hours to see some more of the Istanbul Biennale, which by the way, is MASSIVE, and all over the city and there is no way of seeing it all ever. Like. Not even close.
She went to the Italian school and to the Museum of Innocence, which are both pretty close to where we live. On the way back, she passed a good looking pizza place called NaPizza, and took note.
We returned later to the restaurant, but after asking for pizza, we were ushered down into the courtyard, which at night is used for the other half of the restaurant called Peymane. So in the end we got mezze and chicken skewers, which even though the place felt fancy, it was kind of weird, because they changed their traditional food to try and be modern, and it made it kind of odd/gross. And also a slug climbed onto our plate, which all a bit much for Ash. We vowed to return during the daytime for NaPizza.

Lots of love,
A&E

Istanbul. October 13

Another nothing day. We didn't really leave our apartment much, just for food. Buuuuuttt we did do some catching up, writing blogs, looking into many things we need to for when we get home, boring stuff really.

Love,
A&E

Istanbul. October 12

Look. This is how it is. The food in Istanbul is vast and very good. Especially when you live in an area that is like a mini Melbourne. So. Be prepared for lazy days of eating. BUT! We don’t have silly snacks anymore, so it’s all okay.

So we got burgers for lunch, which were super good, proper ones. We found them in Karakoy, the area down by the Bosphorus and near the Istanbul Modern. It’s just down the hill from us, as we are basically staying on the line between Galatasaray and Karakoy, which is a total dream.
Karakoy is full of cafes and restaurants, and any spaces are filled with design shops. It’s super nice down there, so after a few hours of post lunch exploring, we found a café and had coffee.

Toilet views

We did some more wandering up on Istiklal later on, and eventually got pizza from ‘Miss Pizza’, which is a super tasty pizza place nearby.

After dinner chats with old m8

Love A&E
xxx

Istanbul. October 11

Apologies for the boringness of today. We basically got blogging. Which is very important considering how behind we were. We also had kumpir, our favourite stuffed potatoes for lunch. YUM. We also got shakes from shake shack, which FYI, are the best shakes in existence. We got peanut butter and chocolate COMBINED. Amazing. Anyways that's really it for today.

Xx A&E

Istanbul. October 10

So we arrived at the bus station way earlier than we should have and after another horror taxi ride, we were at the apartment about an hour before we were even supposed to arrive to the main bus terminal.
Eventually, after a very long time waiting, surrounded by garbage cats, we were met by one of the hosts ‘assistants’ who took us up to the apartment.
The apartment is pretty good! We have a separate bedroom, with the worlds smallest bed and an even smaller linen set. And we have a big bathroom with a dethatched loo. We also have an entry area for shoes, which is fancy, a decent sized living area, and a small kitchen with a tiny balcony. Very nice! We get pretty good morning light and many, many sounds of ‘old long john’ cat chats.

We went down and got some food for breakfast and dinner and took it all back to eat. We spent a good chunk of the day here to be honest, but did venture out for a Shake Shack ‘concrete’. Lawl. Turkish cuisine we guess.

We had chilli for dinner, and while we prepared it we facetimed our pal Prash.

Lots of love,

A&E

Cappadocia (Göreme). October 9

So today we had to check out of our hotel by 12pm but didn't actually leave until 8pm, catching another overnight bus (joy) to Istanbul for the last leg of our summer of George. Oh, also, we haven't mentioned yet the summer of George idea. We're talking George from Seinfeld, who's life is basically a summer because he is just never employed, and everyone needs a summer of George at some point. This was ours.

So we got breakfast, this time on the roof of our hotel, which we wish could have been everyday because it was so lovely and sunny and just generally very idyllic. After breakfast we went and got coffee after a weird walk to the outskirts of town where we found a pumpkin graveyard and not much else. Well maybe some cats too. We sat at this cafe for a bit of time, pretty relaxing then moved on to get the magical gözleme for the last time. Then back to the hotel to retrieve our blog writing supplies, then to another coffee shop for an afternoon of blogging.

Dinner was approaching at this point, so we went back to the hotel briefly before getting an earlyish dinner at our new favourite restaurant (3rd time visiting) for the incredible chicken rolls. After this we came back to the hotel to just have some last minute internet time before the bus. We were treated to delish tea made by one of the hotel guys and then had to leave to get to the bus stop.

We soon boarded our bus to Istanbul, which luckily this time we got back seats so less light shining in interrupting our attempts at sleeping. Also most people sit at the front so it was so much quieter with fewer neighbours. We spent the first few hours listening to podcasts and stealing snacks when our bus attendant wasn't looking (they hand out snacks and drinks like real flight attendants!). After a while we eventually drifted off into sleep, dozing and waking and dozing again.

Love,
A&E