Dorothy Conquering Constantinople: Weekend on the water

It's not hard to find a beautiful place to eat by the water in Istanbul. Because of it's layout, you've got your choice. In the southern part of the city, you can eat on the coast of the Sea of Marmara. In the central part, you can eat on the Bosphorus Strait or the Golden Horn, an inlet off the Bosphorus that is the great geographical landmark of the European side of the city. If you go far enough north, you hit the Black Sea. There is no shortage of waterfront dining, and when it comes to food, cheap and delicious are certainly not mutually exclusive. One thing that I read about in my guide book was the balik ekmek. They described it as a fish sandwich made right on the waterfront. Fried fish, simple yet delicious, with some onions and maybe some lettuce or cabbage, and some bulky bread. I knew I had to try it. This weekend, I had the pleasure of eating TWO balik ekmek(s?). I will describe the surrounding experiences, because I guess some of you may be interested in what I'm doing that doesn't involve food!

On Saturday, I adventured to Ortaköy with my pal Zoe. Ortaköy is part of the Besiktas region of Istanbul, which in north of the Golden Horn. Its most notable landmark is its beautiful, waterfront mosque that has reached some strange aesthetic harmony with the towering cable bridge that reaches across the Bosphorus behind it. We got there late in the day, and I had my first balik ekmek while admiring the beauty of the two structures from a public bench. As you can see from the photo, the cable bridge is enormous. Although I wasn't able to capture the full effect of the contrast between the 19th century mosque and the 20th century bridge, I think you can use your imagination. The Bosphorus Strait has heavy commercial traffic, and you can see massive cargo ships bound for Russia heading through regularly. After I had my balik ekmek, which was truly delicious, Zoe and I treated ourselves to dessert at Mado, which is a chain dessert restaurant in Istanbul. I had a waffle covered in melted white chocolate, fresh fruit and a scoop of ice cream. What a truly amazing culinary experience.

Sunday originally had the promise of being a less food-oriented day for me. I ambitiously set out in the early afternoon with my friends Alison, Dean, and Joseph. We were bound for the Grand Bazaar, which is apparently a true shopping experience. We never made it, concluding that it was undoubtedly closed on Sundays when we arrived and it was abandoned. Were we in the

right place? I'm not sure. However, there was still a plethora of shopping opportunities in the area. While I didn't buy anything, I did see several notable things for sale- puppies, exotic birds, ducklings, chickens, baby turtles, and on almost every corner there were big plastic jars full of leeches. I'm not sure what they are used for, but I had to take a picture. Eww! Eventually we meandered to the waterfront of the Golden Horn, where the bridge reaching across the water is notoriously populated by fishermen and lots of balik (fish) shops. I used this opportunity to purchase yet another ekmek balik. This one was bigger and cheaper than the one I had the day before! And I even thought to take a picture. Note the fishermen lined up across the top of the bridge and the restaurants beneath. We ate our sandwiches as we crossed the bridge, and then we hopped on a bus back to campus. Another successful and culinarily satisfying day in Istanbul!