The hot summer in Turkey was killing me so I deliberately booked a day bus from Izmir to Istanbul to avoid the hot sun. I could have slept in the night bus and saved one night’s accommodation but it was really too hot for me to walk around in the city during day time. I didn’t know what I could do in the heat in the hot and polluted Istanbul anyway.
As I said in my other blog about my funny moments in Cambodia, everything looked extraordinarily beautiful when you were on an air-conditioned bus.
I was planning to go to Topkapi Palace tomorrow which was highly recommended by my friend, the bride. I set aside some money for the entrance fee and food for tomorrow. After that, I still had some cash with me so I decided to treat myself a nice dinner tonight. After all, it’d be my last night in Turkey.
I found one that I wanted to try which was not too far away from my hostel. It turned out to be a good choice.
Apparently, the restaurant was for tourists only. No, that’s not what the owners said but all the customers were foreigners. It served seafood mainly. When I looked at the menu, I did some quick calculation – I still had enough to pay for tuna steak and dessert. Dessert! Dessert! 😀 It was also recommended in some reviews.
The main arrived.
They gave me beef.
But I ordered fish. Why did they… wait, GOSH! IT WAS TUNA STEAK! It looked like beef steak!! That was INSANE!!!
I WAS SO EXCITED!!!
I devoured it. 😀 The portion was big too.
I am laughing to myself as I write it now. It tasted so good!!!
Oh my goodness!
I was in heaven!
I am sure the other customers and the waiters could see how I reacted (or overreacted) after I had my first bite. They probably were thinking, ‘this lady is crazy!’
That was not the end of the story.
The highlight was the dessert!
I am laughing to myself again. 😀
I chose Halvah with ice cream. Remember I said I hadn’t had the chance to try Turkish ice cream in my previous blog? Here I was eating the ice cream in a restaurant.
Halvah is a hot dessert that is eaten in winter in Turkey, apparently. The pudding is made by mixing tahini and milk. Inside the pudding, you can find dried raisins and walnuts. The Turkish ice cream on the top of the crust of the hot pudding melts. OMG! I indulged myself in the dessert.
I was so full afterwards! It was so good!!! I couldn’t eat anymore. That was the plan – to eat a sumptuous Turkish dinner the night before I left the country.
To end my meal, I had Turkish tea. What else? 🙂
I was so excited and hungry that I didn’t feed my camera before I ate so too bad, my readers, I couldn’t share with you the photos of my tuna steak and Halvah. 😛 You should go there and try it yourself. 😀
I had such a good night sleep.
But the next morning wasn’t that great because I had to walk in the heat again. I had the whole morning to look around Topkapi Palace before I rushed to the airport.
What I didn’t expect was the queue at the ticket office. It was so long! I think I spent at least half an hour queueing for a single ticket. There were guided tours too. If you bought tickets from them, you wouldn’t need to wait in the queue. But I chose not to. It was a bit more expensive than a single ticket without a guide and I didn’t budget for that.
As the bride said, it was worth a visit.
That ended my journey in Turkey.
What a nice trip! 🙂
Fully satisfied.
Hang on, I didn’t have enough Turkish lira left for early dinner (or late lunch)!! I didn’t want to use any credit cards. Oh well, I could fast for a while and eat on the plane. 😛
21 – 22 August 2018
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