Well, it’s not really afternoon yet, but it’s the 2nd half of our adventure today! We get back to Karakoy around half past 10 – too early to eat, way too early to go back to the ship. It’s a little drizzly, but not bad, so we decide to climb the hill to the Galata tower. Perched over the city, it has excellent 360 degree views, and is one of the oldest towers in the city. It was originally built of wood and used as a lighthouse in 528. It was rebuilt in 1348 in the stone masonry that you see today. The tower is 220 feet tall, stands 460 feet above sea level and has walls that are 12 feet thick.
The climb up to the tower isn’t as daunting as it looks. We follow the signs up a winding stair case and through these little back alleys filled with shops and restaurants – and a mosque or two.
And finally arrive at the tower itself – just before the rain sets in.
Fortunately, there is an elevator! Which is good, because we’d already decided we were not climbing steps up to the top. So we pay our admission (25 TL for foreigners – way less for Turkish people) and head up to the top of the tower. The elevators only go so far up, and we do have to climb the rest of the way, but it is a nice circular staircase and doesn’t take too much out of us The views from up here are spectacular. Even on an overcast and rainy day.
We take our pictures quickly because it’s cold and windy up there, and the rain is coming down fast and hard on one side of the tower. After snapping away, we duck back inside to the little café on the top level of the tower. It’s cozy and warm, with lots of wood, wonderful arched windows and a great domed ceiling of purple glass. We decide to pay tourist prices for 2 cappuccinos, just so we can sit and gaze out over the city.
Warmed and rested, we strike back out into the streets, with our rain slickers on, walking carefully down the cobblestone streets to the port area. We explore the restaurant options around, finally settling on a teeny little place (whose name started with an “oz”, but that I completely missed writing down.
We are the first customers, and the girl there is very sweet – she takes us up to the display counter and shows us everything and tries to explain what it is. No beer here though, interesting! We stick with water, and I end up choosing the “meat in a pouch” that was displayed in the counter and Ed chooses the meatball with cheese. She also plies us with a traditional Turkish starter – some sort of small fried thing.
Which turns out to be quite good – I compare it to a meat hush puppie! It’s a hush puppie type breading with meat and bulgur inside. Yummy.
My meal comes first, then Ed’s after I’m basically done. His meatball ends up being a hamburger type patty that was perfectly spiced and grilled. Really delicious. Mine is like a stew – so we call it Turkish stew – meat chunks and lots of potatoes.
It’s all very good and we are stuffed. Now comes the problem – they don’t take credit cards. Crap! So I run to the nearest bank, which is fortunately right around the corner, grab some fast cash and pay the bill. Then we’re back out on the streets, wandering off the main street (literally in the street, no one was walking on the sidewalks) in search of a bar so we can have a beer and spend our last Turkish Lira.
We are totally unsuccessful – even after strolling past this big long complex of restaurants and cafes – they were all Hookah bars – not bar bars. We pass the rainbow stairs on our way back…
…have no idea the significance, but they really brighten up the area where everything is a shade of grey. We walked a little bit past the port to see if there was anything there, but no such luck. Plus, it is really starting to rain, so we head back to the port, and stop at the little café in the waiting area for 2 more cappuccinos so that we were only left with 2 TL at the end of they day.
Back aboard, we spend a very lazy afternoon watching old ER episodes on our computer and then Valentines Day on the ship TV (with popcorn purloined from the lounge where they are screening the movie also) – all the while checking on the monsoon outside. It gets pretty nasty for a while and we are very glad we made the decision to stay inside this afternoon.
Later, before we sail, we take pictures from our balcony of the Galata tower and a mosque in the sunset.
Now we are ready for 2 days at sea to relax and prepare for our next marathon of ports – starting Friday with Naples – it’s 7 days straight of exploring our way through Italy, Monte Carlo, France and Spain!
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