Istanbul Devam / Istanbul Continued

Evet, Besiktas'ta vapurdan inmistik en son di mi? Kararimizi verdik, ve Barbaros Hayrettin Parkina dogru yurumeye basladik. Ust gecitten Taksim dolmuslarinin oraya geciyoruz, ust gecit uzerinde 2-3 tezgah acmis bir seyler satiyor. Dolmus sirasina giriyoruz, ve siramiz gelince arka cam kenarina kuruluyoruz manzaranin keyfini cikarmak icin. Trafik her zamanki gibi, sIkisik... Taksim'e gelince Marmara otelinin onunden Istiklal'e dogru yuruyoruz. O da ne! Kestane cikmis! Hemen 100 gram kestanemizi aliyoruz kosedeki kestaneciden ve yemege basliyoruz. Derken Kizilkayalar ve Bambi bize goz kirpiyor, elimizde kestane, ne yapalim diyip bir islak hamburgeri hemen oracikta yiyiveriyoruz :)
So, we just got out of the ferry in Besiktas, right? Well, we decide to go to Istiklal, so we start walking towards Barbabros Hayrettin park, then we cross over the bridge. On the bridge, there are a couple of people selling some stuff, we pass in front of them and get in the line for the minibus to Taksim. To enjoy beautiful views, we sit at the back, by the window. Traffic is caotic, as always... When we arrive to Taksim, we walk in front of the Marmara Hotel towards Istiklal. Hey, what is this!!! It is chestnut season!!! The guy in the corner is selling roasted chestnuts!!! We immediately buy some!!! We walk, while eating! But we are distributed by the view of Kizilkayalar and Bambi. Now we have to snack their special burger :) (burgers in Turkey are much much smaller than in the US)

Istiklal kalabalik, biz de kalabaliga karisiyoruz. Kozmopolit sehrin insanlari arasinda yururken, onlari inceliyoruz...Mutluyuz halimizden cok!


Istiklal is very crowded, so we join the crowd. We are watching the people in a real cosmopolitan city... We are very happy!

Istiklal'i bastan asagi yuruyoruz, Aznavur pasajina ugruyoruz elbette... Tunel'e gelince geri donuyoruz. Aslinda Galata Kulesine de ugramak lazim, ama o da baska gune... Bir gun de Karakoy'e gecer, ordan kuleye yurur, hatta ust kata cikariz...
We walk on Istiklal, form one end to the other. We, of course, stop at Aznavur. When we arrive to Tunel, we start going back. In fact, we could have gone to Galata tower, but let's leave it for another day... One day, we can take the ferry to Karakoy instead, and walk to the tower, in fact, we can go to the top floor...

Cok yedik ama bir kahvelik vaktimiz var aksam yemeginden once, saat 7'ye yaklasiyor olmali. 8 de Nevizade'de bulsuyoruz arkadaslarla. Raki - balik gecesi var... Ondan once Galatasaray Lisesinin ordaki kafelerden birine gidelim, bir kahve icelim, di mi ama? Su kafenin manzarasina bakar misiniz? Nasil bir kahve icmeye zaman bulamiyalim???
We ate a lot, but we have time for a coffee before dinner, it should be close to 7 o'clock. We are going to meet our friends around 8 at Nevizade. Tonight is raki-fish night.... But before, let's stop at one of the cafes around Galatasaray high school, and have a coffee, right? With the beautiful views of this cafe, we have to find time to have coffee there!!!

Manzaranin guzelligiyle sarhos olduk, vakit gec oldu, arkadaslar bekler, kalkalim...
We are drunk with the beautiful view, but it is getting late, let's go...

Binanin dar asansorune biniyoruz, iki kisi anca sigar. Kalabaliga karisip Nevizade'ye yuruyoruz icimizden bir sarki mirildanarak, mutluyuz. Derken arkadaslarla bulusuyoruz, raki, mezeler ve balikla saatler geciyor. Cingene teyzeler gul satmak icin dil dokuyorlar, o da olmadi el fali icin. Kafamiz guzel, 2 gul aliyoruz masaya, teyzeyle koyu bir muhabbete koyuluyoruz sonra. Derken buzlu badem saticisi cocuk geliyor, bu saatte evinde uyuyor olmali diye dusunuyoruz, ama o orda. Biraz buzlu badem aliyor, yola koyuluyoruz Taksim'e dogru. Kose basindaki midye dolmacinin onunda duruyoruz, tanesi 25 kurus midye dolmalara limon basip tukektiyoruz, ne kadar yedigimizi sayamadan. Ordan uzaklasirken hepimizin aklinda ayni sey, yine pilavlari yedik midye diye :)
We take the small elevator in the building, so small that 2 people can barely fit in. Then, we join the crowd, and walk towards Nevizade. While walking, we are singing a silent song, we are happy. Then, we meet our friends, and spend hours and hours with raki, mezes, and fish.While we are sitting at our table, gypsy woman are trying to sell us roses, or at least read our fortune. We are drunk, and happy, thus we buy 2 roses, and have a nice chat with the woman about everything. Then, a kid who is selling frosted almonds approaches, we think silently that he should be in bed at this time, and we buy some to eat. then we leave Nevizade, and start walking towards Taksim. But on the corner we see the guy selling stuff mussels. We have to have it! A Nevizade night is not complete without mussels. So, we stand in front of his tray, and eat, a lot.

Sonunda Taksim'deyiz. Saat 2 civari, vapur mapur kalmamis. Bostanci dolmuslarina dogru gidiyoruz. Soruyorlar "Sahilden mi Ziverbey'den mi?" diye. Sahilden giden dolmusa biniyoruz, yanimizda can dostumuz, iki Goztepe lutfen deyip sessizligimize gomuluyoruz. Derken dolmus kopruye yaklasiyor. Saga mi sola mi baksak bilemiyoruz, her yer o kadar guzel ki...Bir an icin gozlerimizi kapiyoruz. Gozlerimizi actigimiz anda icimizi bir huzun kapliyor, dudagimizda ayni sarki. Bu sefer sesli soyluyoruz: "Simdi Istanbul'da olmak vardi anasini satayim...."
Finally, we are at Taksim. It is around 2 am, last ferry is long gone, so we need to take the minibus. We walk to the Bostanci minibus stop. The bus driver asks "Sahilden mi Ziverbey'den mi?" (there are two routes to go to Bostanci, he asks which one).We take the one we need to take. Next to us, our best friend, we pay the fee, and then enjoy our inner peace. Then the minibus gets on the Bosphous Bridge. We are confused which views to enjoy, the ones on the left,or the ones on the right??? Both sides are sooo beautiful! Then we close our eys for a second. But as soon as we open our eyes, we are filled with sadness, the same song in our mind. This time we sing it out loud: "Only if we were in Istanbul now, damn it" (it is really hard to translate this song, but it is about someone who is longing to be in Istanbul, but can't. The song ends with the line that says "this song does not end here")

Bu yazi burda bitmez!!!!
This post doesn't end here!!!