Today I wasn't feeling too great. Probably due to a number of things, but I just felt tired and cranky for most of the day... So didn't have energy to do too much walking around/sightseeing. (Apologize in advance for the crappy blog post haha) Nevertheless, this morning (aka right before noon) we went to Topkapi Palace, which was the royal palace during the Ottoman Empire. The palace and a number of other museums are housed behind the palace walls, and entrance into the palace itself was 25 TL. Stephanie and I were actually kind of disappointed, because it was mostly just looking at artifacts and jewels rather than the architecture of the palace itself (which wasn't that impressive compared to Hagia Sophia or the mosques). We also opted to skip the harem, since it cost extra haha.
Afterwards, we walked over to Galata bridge and crossed to the northern part of the city, which is much less touristy. We tried to find carts selling fish sandwiches by the bridge that we had seen 2 nights before, but couldn't find any! Instead we just ate at a small makeshift restaurant in the fish market, but it wasn't as exciting... Still, fresh fish sandwiches for 5 TL is not a bad deal for lunch! Afterwards, we went to a coffeehouse called Cherry Bean Coffee, which was super cute, but lacked A/C :( I had some Turkish tea (black tea) and yummy homemade cake, and we rested for a bit before going to Galata Tower. Galata Tower cost 13 TL to go up, and basically you just go to the top and look out over the city. The views are really nice, and you could see Asia!
Also, we've seen SO many stray cats and dogs here! (Cats more so than dogs, but there were also a ton of stray dogs in Greece) We even saw a cat in Hagia Sophia when we visited! It's kind of strange, but they're all super cute! And Stephanie gets super excited whenever we see them hahaha.
Afterwards, we walked over to Galata bridge and crossed to the northern part of the city, which is much less touristy. We tried to find carts selling fish sandwiches by the bridge that we had seen 2 nights before, but couldn't find any! Instead we just ate at a small makeshift restaurant in the fish market, but it wasn't as exciting... Still, fresh fish sandwiches for 5 TL is not a bad deal for lunch! Afterwards, we went to a coffeehouse called Cherry Bean Coffee, which was super cute, but lacked A/C :( I had some Turkish tea (black tea) and yummy homemade cake, and we rested for a bit before going to Galata Tower. Galata Tower cost 13 TL to go up, and basically you just go to the top and look out over the city. The views are really nice, and you could see Asia!
Fish sandwich!
View from Galata Tower! (The Asian side is that bit in the distant left)
Afterwards, we took the tram back to our hostel, and then went to Express Laundry to do laundry before we left. Yay for clean clothes! And we literally just napped/rested while we waited the 3 hours for our laundry to get done.
Also super random, but there are hella blue bullseye/eye souvenirs for sale everywhere!
For dinner, we went to a place called Meat House, that was recommended by one of our roommates. You know it's popular when we get there and all the tables are full! But we walked around for a bit and got a table around 9PM. I ordered a chicken pide, which is like the Turkish version of pizza. It was super yummy! And oh my gosh how I've missed melted cheese! And the owner was super nice, and brought us free apple tea afterwards! (That he claimed was the best apple tea they have) Then afterwards we went and bought apple tea of our own! We opted for artificial powdered version because it was tastier and easier to make than the natural kind. So if you ever come over to my apartment next year, I can serve you apple tea from Turkish teacups! ^__^
Also, we've seen SO many stray cats and dogs here! (Cats more so than dogs, but there were also a ton of stray dogs in Greece) We even saw a cat in Hagia Sophia when we visited! It's kind of strange, but they're all super cute! And Stephanie gets super excited whenever we see them hahaha.
There were a bunch of kitties too!
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