April 26, 2012 · 8:48 am

The Spice Market and Grand Bazaar Surprise Us in Istanbul

Kayan and Ava got a free meal at the Spice Bazaar. The Turkish love for children combined with their love for Turkish delight led to an all out binge as every other store owner stuffed juicy pieces of lokum into their mouths.

Eighty eight shops line the L-shaped 352 year old Spice Bazaar. Since it’s birth, the market has been through two major fires and some personality adjustments. Even though it still services as the center of spice trade in Istanbul, tourists can now find everything from jewelry to tea for every occasion.

We chose to first visit the Spice Bazaar over the Grand Bazaar as we thought the former would be less mobbed with tourists. Wrong. The Spice Bazaar’s size is a fraction of the Grand Bazaar, so every additional body inside the building adds exponentially to the crowd.

I joke around about being the Queen of Rationalization while Sandeep is the King of Paranoia. The truth is that I am paranoid about losing one of the kids. I have this recurring nightmare that we are in some crowded place in some corner of the world. I think Sandeep has the kids, he thinks I do and suddenly they are gone. Our afternoon at the Spice Bazaar definitely had my nerves on edge and I couldn’t relax enough to take many pictures. Oddly, we found the experience in the Grand Bazaar much less chaotic.

The Grand Bazaar is more like a covered city. At 551 years of age, it is one of the oldest markets in the world and welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors a day. The covered bazaar has 18 gates leading to a maze of 61 streets with 3,000 shops, dozens of eateries and cafes. Despite its popularity among locals and visitors alike, it doesn’t feel “crowdy” according to Ava. The quieter vibe also makes it possible for us to rest at a few stores and appreciate what’s on sale while the owners coddle the kids.

It’s interesting how our travel preconceptions can be so far from reality. As a foodie and cook I thought I would really enjoy the Spice Bazaar and almost skipped the Grand Bazaar, thinking it would be a chaotic market full of kitschy souvenirs. In the end, we ran through the Spice Market, each of us holding tightly onto a Turkish delight stuffed child. Not only did we enjoy the Grand Bazaar, we went back a second time to meander its alleys in relative peace.

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April 25, 2012 · 9:00 am

Starting our Days with Turkish Breakfast

I participate in a monthly writing project with other traveling families. Last month we wrote about how Anyone Can Travel. This month, we’re sharing stories about a major reason why many of us travel – food. After reading about our breakfasts in Turkey, you can go on a culinary journey around the world with other families by clicking on the links at the bottom of this post.

The first meal of the day in Turkey is an elaborate affair, one traditionally enjoyed over hours with family. Visitors can experience a Turkish breakfast at leisure in one of Istanbul’s cafes or restaurants, each competing for the best breakfast spread. Turkish cuisine reflects the country’s position at the cross roads of East and West. Of all Turkish meals, breakfast best showcases the effect these cultural exchanges have had on Turkish food.

The Turkish word for breakfast is Kahvalti, which translates to before coffee. No respectable Turkish person would consume coffee without first starting with a hearty breakfast and plenty of cay (tea). Equally as important as the food, numerous tulip shaped glasses of black tea accompany the traditional Turkish breakfast. I am a tea drinker but I’m not a big fan if Turkish cay. I find the brew bitter and would love to add just a little bit of milk to calm the flavor. I’ve been told that the locals would gasp in horror if I tried.

To truly understand the ingredients in Kahvalti, we went to the market to assemble our own Turkish breakfast. It’s hard to name the main dish in Kahvlati as the meal is more of an assortment of various nibbles. Most of the dishes do not require cooking, which means that even though the meal is broad in variety, it can be somewhat easy to prepare. Consuming it is another issue. It takes time to enjoy traditional Kahvalti and our Turkish friends tell us that in modern days, a full spread Kahvalti is a treat for weekends and holidays.

Cheese, peynir, is a key ingredient. The most ubiquitous cheese is white sheep’s milk, which is creamy and salty. This is usually paired with a couple of other cheeses, one fresh and mild and another aged and sharp. I put a cheese plate for breakfast up there on the list of genius culinary inventions.

For meat eaters, there is always a selection of cold meats. Being a predominantly Muslim country, this rarely includes any pork products. What’s missing from bacon is more than made up with cuts such as pistachio studded beef or garlicky Turkish pastrami. Various countries claim to have invented pastrami, and the Turkish say it originated with their bastirma, which means to depress and reflects the process of squeezing out the juices from air dried meat.

Green and black olives, zeytin, add additional saltiness to the spread.

To balance out the meal there are fresh seasonal vegetables, currently tomatoes and cucumbers.

The savory side of kahvalti is married to sweet goodness. White bread, ekmek, baked twice daily serves as a vehicles for freshly churned butter, jams and honey (called bali). At least one syrupy jam, recel, is on every Kahvalti plate. Usually there is also some honey, preferably still in its comb. The recel and honey are meant to be mixed with the fresh butter and then applied to the bread.

Fancier Kahvalti include boiled eggs or mememen scrambled eggs and fresh juices. However, with all the food and cay these additions seem superfluous.

If breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, then the Turks have their priorities straight.

Finding My Way to Fabulous (and Freaky) Food by Walkingon Travels

Persian Pomegranate Chicken and other Fantastic Foods of Iran by Growing Grace Life

Food from Guatemala by Travel Experta

Magical Easy-To-Make Israeli by The Nomadic Family

Traditional Dishes of Peru by Raising Miro

Alloco (from West Africa) by Sparkling Adventures

My crêpes recipe (from France) by Avenue Reine Mathilde

Gallo Pinto, Costa Rica’s Signature Dish by Family Travel Bucket List

Taking the Kids to Yakitori Alley in Tokyo Japan by Vagabond Kids

 

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April 24, 2012 · 9:54 am

Is Traveling to Africa with Kids Too Risky

Extended travel requires planning. There’s a delicate balance between planning enough to have stability and leaving an itinerary open enough for spontaneity. Between Internet research and personal recommendations, this has been an easy balance to strike during our travels in Asia and Europe. Things may not be quite as easy in Africa. We’ve just started planning for a June arrival in southern Africa and preliminary research makes us feel like novice travelers. Things such as car jacking and being eaten by lions (toddlers make good lion bait is one thing we have repetitively read) are risks we just haven’t had to consider elsewhere.

Here is last night’s conversation between The King of Paranoia and The Queen of Rationalization.

Sandeep: We should have planned for Africa months ago. I’m looking at these game reserves and the good ones book out a year in advance. And then a lot of them don’t allow kids.

Diya: Oh yeah? Well, can’t we just camp? Isn’t that what the One Year Off family did?

S: I’m not camping in the bush.

D: Why? We can take a guide with us.

S: There are wild animals in the bush. And a lion can definitely bite through a tent. Plus, how are you going to control the kids in a tent? What if Kayan just runs out? There is a reason that these places don’t allow kids.

D: I think there are better things for a lion to eat than our tent. But I get what you’re saying about Kayan. I’ll look into what our options are with kids.

S: And we should research all the other risks in Africa.

D: Like?

S: Scorpions, snakes, crime.

D: We know Africa has all those things, we just have to be careful. If I see a scorpion I’m not going to and make friends with it.

S: This is not funny. There are specific risks and if we don’t research we won’t know how to prepare. Like what if we need to buy the kids closed shoes to protect them from scorpions?

D: I am sure all the kids in Africa don’t have closed shoes.

S: That’s not the point. Look, we have two kids to worry about and we need to know our risks. You wouldn’t go to war unprepared, would you?

At this point I can see that Sandeep is really annoyed so I search “risks to visitors in Africa” on Google. This is a really stupid thing to do. There are over 50 countries in Africa and the risks include pirates, guerrilla warfare, and of course scorpions and snakes.

D: I don’t know how to do this. It’s telling me things like don’t have s*x with strangers because a third of Botswana’s population has AIDS. What do I do with that?

S: Look D, I need to know that you’re taking this seriously otherwise we just shouldn’t go.

Of course we are going to go. The kids are so excited about seeing Africa’s animals, although even they don’t know what they are in for. Kayan’s closest encounter with a wild cat is his affectionate relationship with Tiger.

I joke with Sandeep that he’s African and our trip should be like a happy homecoming. He was born in Nigeria, which is a very different country now than it was almost four decades ago. Moreover, Africa is a diverse continent and one that neither of us knows much about. The King of Paranoia has a point when he says we need to research the risks. Our Sikkim experience taught us that we are city slickers and not intrepid wilderness types. I can deal with a horse being outside our tent in Sikkim, but knowing that canvas is all that separates the kids from a lion will elicit fear even in The Queen of Rationalization.

Come June, while Sandeep, Kayan, Ava, Tiger and I watch a lion kill a zebra, I hope we all can rest assured knowing that we are prepared for the experience. Our next several days will be spent figuring our our Africa plans. Who knows, we may even go shopping for some closed shoes.

When planning for travel, which camp do you fall in? Paranoia or Rationalization? We’d love to hear your stories of when either worked for or against you.

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April 23, 2012 · 2:26 pm

Celebrating Childrens Day on a Tram in Turkey

Yesterday I wrote about how much the Turkish love kids. Today is Children’s Day, a holiday that originated in Turkey. We’ve seen posters advertising various children’s events to commemorate the occasion, but they have all been in Turkish and appear to cater to school age kids more than those as young as Ava and Kayan.

We were wrong if we thought we were going to be left out of the festivities. We were waiting to take the tram to the Grand Bazaar this morning when a heavily decorated tram approached the station. After telling everyone that the tram was not in operation, the conductor ran over and ushered us inside. At first we resisted – why would we be singled out from the platform to board this elaborately dressed vehicle? Before we could think, a hand reached out from inside the carriage and gave Ava and Kayan balloons. Then a clown popped his head out with a “Mehraba!” The kids were inside before we could react.

Turns out we were just in time for the Children’s Day party tram. The Istanbul transportation authority runs one just for kids and their families. Kids are the ticket to boarding this tram and those without children were left waving at us from the platform. The tram blasted children’s music and came complete with entertainment, balloons, puppets and miniature turkish flags.

I can’t think of a better person to celebrate Children’s Day with than my cousin Keri who is visiting us from London. She knows so much about kids and their care that she was the one who taught us how to change Ava’s first diaper. In addition to being our go-to person for baby care, she knows how to show Ava and Kayan a good time. Some combination of the party tram and the company made Ava exclaim, “Mama, I love Istanbul!”

While we didn’t start the morning with the intention of celebrating Children’s Day, we were reminded quickly that it’s hard to escape anything that has to do with lavishing love on children in Turkey. We’re glad we caught the tram to another Turkish cultural experience.

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April 22, 2012 · 2:58 pm

The Turkish Love Children

April 23rd is Children’s Day in Turkey. The occasion, now celebrated by countries around the world, was the brainchild of Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, in 1920. The Turkish think that a day to honor children is so important that it is a national holiday.

We’re not surprised. While every country we have visited on our journey has been friendly to our family, none has welcomed us with the enthusiasm of Turkey. The Turkish have very strong community and family ties, along with a keen awareness that the role of the present generation is to nurture and prepare the future ones.

Young kids are treated like celebrities wherever they go in Turkey. People here, young and old, male and female, go out of their way to get kids’ attention. They smile, they make funny faces, sometimes they even dance, all to elicit a smile. While people in other countries have been welcoming, the Turkish attention towards children was a little too much for Kayan at first. Every minute, someone comes over with a fond, “Mehraba!” and rubs his hair, putting him on the fast track to Sandeep’s smooth head. Kayan went through a phase where he used to exclaim, “No more Mehraba!” but has since given up. Even he realizes that the attention is genuine and there are benefits if he plays along. At every Turkish delight store the kids are invited behind the counter and offered a selection of whatever they want. At this pastry shop, the chef handed them beautiful chocolate ribbons and ice cream. He only half joked about taking the kids home.

All of this attention also pays dividends to parents. We have a helping hand no matter where we travel. When we ride the subway, people don’t get up to offer us a seat. Rather, they take the kids on their own laps or carry them for us. At restaurants, waiters entertain the children with balloons so that we can enjoy our food. A security guard at the Aya Sofia spotted us in line and directed us to a secret entrance. Even he couldn’t bear the idea of the children having to wait in line with everyone else. This behavior seems as natural as if these people are a part of our family.

We’ve mentioned before that traveling with kids can be a more enjoyable experience that traveling without them. While Ava’s constant singing and Kayan’s accompanying dance moves may invite reactions, we’ve seen other kids in Turkey benefit from the same positive treatment. Our visiting cousins said their daughter’s ample cheeks were constantly admired and our friends from New York told us a story about their three year old being whisked away by a group of jovial men at the Sultanhamet. Traveling with kids, at least in Turkey, opens the door to interacting with locals. Childless visitors to Turkey shouldn’t be disheartened. You can start a conversation by borrowing someone else’s baby or toddler for a tram ride or meal. If the parents are Turkish they won’t think twice about handing over their child. Just don’t try the same thing in New York City.

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April 20, 2012 · 2:41 pm

Crossing the Bosphorus for Dinner

Are we responsible parents? On one end we paid a premium to rent an apartment close to our jobs in New York so that we could reach the kids on a 10 minute cab ride should an emergency arise. On the other, we just left Ava and Kayan in one continent while we had dinner in another.

Istanbul straddles both Europe and Asia. It’s the only city in the world with this split identity, and it’s public transportation system is unique in being able to claim that it services two continents.

We have been living on the European side, which according to every guide book is all that exists of Istanbul. However, we have been intrigued to find out what lies in the Asian face of Istanbul. It’s been beckoning us from to cross the Bosphorus, whose waters we view see from our apartment.

Our New York City neighbors, whose two kids are Ava and Kayan’s very close friends, are also visiting Istanbul. We decided kids and adults would enjoy our own respective play dates, so we left the four kids in the care of a sitter and ventured across the Bosphorus in search of dinner.

Looking at Istanbul from the Bosphorus at dusk is one of the most spectacular sights. For 2 Turkish Lira each (about $1), we took the public ferry that pushed off from Karakoy just as the sunset call to prayer begun. From the dock, we could hear several mosques in unison, providing a haunting soundtrack to start our journey. Asia, our destination, twinkled on our left. Straight ahead, the smooth domes and sharp minarets of the multiple centuries old mosques on the Golden Horn looked alive in the evening light. The Galata Bridge was still holding on to its day time activity. It was one of those moments where I was struck by how lucky we are to be on this journey, soaking up centuries of history, being out on the water and crossing continents for the perfect meal.

We docked at Kadikoy and went to Ciya Sofrasi, a highly recommended laid back no-menu restaurant that showcases food from around the Turkey. After we gorged on a self service meze selection, our waiter brought little dishes of goodness. We tried everything on offer, from stuffed onions to stuffed lamb intestine. The most memorable part of our evening was dessert. Not ones to bypass a culinary experience, we asked for one of everything.

The plate had an assortment of preserved fruits and vegetables.

– Preserved green walnuts in a clove syrup. It tasted like Christmas.

– Slightly bitter but sweet orange rind, like marmalade without the goo.

– Cream that tasted more like butter, but it was a good way to cut out the sweetness of the various sugary preserves.

– Preserved olives. On first bite we couldn’t tell it was an olive, but the aftertaste revealed its identity.

– Preserved eggplant, cured in a vanilla syrup and stuffed with walnut. This wasn’t too big of a hit, but we were impressed that the curing process completely masked evidence of the vegetable.

– Preserved pumpkin with tahini sauce and walnuts. This was the most memorable dish of the evening. The salty tahini was a perfect complement to the crunchy pumpkin.

The entire meal cost four adults 125 Turkish Lira, one of our best values so far in Turkey. We were so engaged in our dining that we forget to consider the timing of the last ferry back to Europe. Luckily there was one at 11 PM. In contrast to the ride to Asia, the ride back home to Europe was much quieter. It seemed that most of Istanbul had fallen asleep. With the large ferry almost empty, and without the hurry of usual Bosphorus traffic, we felt that we had the city to ourselves. A steaming cup of cay (tea) is never far away in Turkey. The ferry canteen was still open and as we made our way back to the continent where our kids were, we enjoyed glasses of the Turkish staple.

When we got home the kids were engaged in their games and seemed oblivious to the fact that we ever left. We were responsible, even though we went to another continent for dinner. Yet another reason we love Istanbul.

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April 18, 2012 · 5:54 pm

A Perfect Birthday Cake in Istanbul

All four of us are celebrating our birthdays during our around the world journey. In January I turned a year older in Kodaikanal, India where I went to boarding school. Kayan blew out his two candles in Goa in February. Sandeep is in the spotlight today, ringing in his 3X year in Istanbul.

I’ve already angered the smoke alarm by burning a dish in our Istanbul oven, so we decided against baking a cake here. Instead we went on a hunt for the perfect vehicle to hold Sandeep’s birthday candles. Our biggest problem was choice. Sure we could go with a conventional cake, but what fun would that be in a country full of amazing sweets?

We thought about topping a pile of Turkish delight with a candle.

We considered going all out with this pistachio goodness of a show stopper.

The kids advocated for a marzipan fruit bowl.

We tried all of the options, wanting to make sure our purchase tasted as good as it looked. After the tasting fest, we thought that perhaps we should preserve the caloric intake and just go with a Play Doh cake. Ava and Kayan demonstrated their best confectionery abilities.

In the end, we decided to honor baklava. Surrounding countries stake claim to having invented the addictive dessert, but Turkey has the most evidence indicating that it was in fact developed by the Ottomans. Every other store in Istanbul proudly displays baklava of all shapes and colors in its windows. Our greedy eyes settled on a one kilo assortment of eight different types of gooey, honey dripping goodness from Mado, an dessert institution in the heart of Istanbul.

Next month we will celebrate Ava’s fourth birthday. We’re not yet sure where, but I’m already doubting the hunt for the perfect cake will be quite as exciting.

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April 17, 2012 · 2:00 pm

Lessons From Shopping at an Istanbul Mall

We spent our first week in Istanbul soaking up our immediate neighborhood. Beyoglu is sometimes referred to as the Soho of Istanbul. It’s the perfect base to explore tiny cafes, drink international wines or local raki, listen to live music and watch independent theater. Living hear reminds us a lot of living in New York’s East Village.

Sandeep needed to do some research on a few home furnishing stores so we decided to combine work and hopefully find some pleasure by breaking away from our area and exploring Istanbul’s most prestigious suburban mall, Istinye Park. We were heading well out of our comfort zone – we are not suburb people and we are not mall people.

Istinyi Park is a great way to observe how Istanbullu families spend their weekends. In a contrast to what we’ve seen in the city, fancy strollers harboring well dressed tots parade around the hallways. The mall has a large rotunda by the food court that is perfect for kids to burn of energy. The enterprising mall management has centered children’s toy and clothing shops, as well as a mesmerizing fountain, around it. As the kids engaged in an instant play date, we enjoyed coffee and caught up on the newest toys and gadgets, including these spiffy kiddie cars.

The mall is more upmarket than any I have been to in The States. It also required us to open our wallets wider. Sandeep and the kids started drooling at the thought of southern fried chicken, so we paid 14 Lira ($8) for a three piece meal. They’d say it was worth every penny and I had to pry the cleaned chicken leg bone out of Kayan’s grasp. In addition to the bill, the kofta place sandwiched between the American fast food joints was our only reminder that we were in Istanbul and not a ritzy suburb back home.

I passed on the chicken fest but found my happy place in the mall’s vast food bazaar, with vendors specializing in everything from specialty vegetables to sugar covered almonds in every color.

What did we learn during our day at the mall? Istanbul has a laid back side and a luxury side. The mall had stand alone multi-story buildings for brands Gucci and Louis Vuitton that were bigger than their 5th Avenue flagships. We also learnt that we have been out of touch with what’s new in popular culture. We didn’t recognize  any of the new English movies or children’s toys. And our outfits, reflecting what we packed five months ago in New York, were definitely not up to par with Istanbul style.

The luxury of spending time in a city is that we can explore its different faces. We’re loving Beyoglu, which provides many of the comforts of home with a decidedly Turkish flair, but we’ve also been able to glimpse the suburban life, which on the surface took us back to America.

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April 16, 2012 · 8:55 am

Turkish Hammam in New York City

What a great Monday for our New York City readers. You can get one step closer to experiencing Turkey with us by purchasing today’s Living Social offer. The deal provides about 30% off the regular prices at the Russian & Turkish Baths on East 10th Street.

Before you hit the purchase button, let me tell you about our Turkish hammam experience in Cappadocia. Sandeep’s brother generously gifted us two hammam sessions as well as babysitting coverage, so we went on an afternoon date. We were led to a comfortable locker room and given teeny tiny cloths to use as coverage. The first part of the treatment was mellowing in a sauna for ten minutes, after which gender-matching attendants summoned us into a large colorfully tiled bathing area where we lay on heated marble slabs. Hammams traditionally have domed ceilings with tiny glass openings that allow for plenty of natural light.

We opted for the exfoliation and massage treatment, which is the traditional Turkish hammam experience. Exfoliation entails being rubbed rather vigorously with a dry glove. After the exfoliation, the attendant bathed us much like we bathe the kids. The only thing that made being cleansed like a toddler less awkward was the heaping pile of soap that provided ample discretion. The bathing was combined with a great massage, using the suds for moisture in lieu of oil. Just as we were about to fall asleep in bliss, the attendants rinsed us off and patted us dry, resulting in the toddler feelings all over again. We rested from the treatment in a spacious lounge before returning to our parental duties of bathing Ava and Kayan, albeit with much less soap.

The characteristics of a traditional Turkish hammam include separate times and/or areas by gender, a hot room visit followed by a bath glove and massage treatment, and then a rest in the lounge. Tea shops outside hammams restore lost fluids.

The Russian and Turkish Baths in New York are not quite a traditional hammam, but they’ll get you close. The facilities have a mix of coed and gender specific hours. In addition to a soap massage, you can get more global with Swedish, Thai and Russian treatments. While there isn’t a Turkish tea shop outside, there is a small restaurant serving Russian fare. The building is not in a domed facility, but there is a sun deck that serves as a lounge. Resting on a rooftop in Alphabet City after a massage is just about as awesome as relaxing in a tea shop in Turkey.

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April 14, 2012 · 9:14 am

Street Dogs and Cats in Istanbul

We expected a coffee shop on every corner in Istanbul. We expected mosques everywhere. We even expected a well groomed crop of Istanbullus. What we didn’t expect was the plethora of stray dogs and cats. Growing up in Egypt, where we were the rare family that had dogs, I know that dogs are considered unclean by Muslims. Turkey is about 98% Muslim yet groomed and well generally behaved dogs not only freely roam the streets of Istanbul, they are taken care of by Istanbullus.

Until 2004, the city used to capture and kill its strays. Public outcry urged the city to rethink this practice. While Islam does have negative connotations about dogs, it also urges its followers to treat all creatures with kindness. The compromise in Istanbul is that strays are vaccinated and neutered or spayed by the municipality and released back into the area in which they were found. The treated animals are tagged and micro chipped with a record of their medical history. Istanbullus rarely allow these animals into their homes, but take it upon themselves to feed and sometimes provide outdoor accommodations. I am a big believer in having a pet, but Sandeep, who doesn’t mind animals from a distance, argues that this is the more natural way of treating animals. Their basic needs of shelter and food are provided by humans, yet they avoid pent up energy by roaming freely. This is not unlike what we observed in Chiang Mai, with it’s pedigree-like crop of stray dogs.

Istanbullus that have chosen to semi-adopt a stray take their duties seriously. Every evening, we see little aluminum trays with pet foot outside the doorways of our neighborhood. Most have dried kibble, but many have delicious looking hot food. We’ve seen cardboard and straw bedding outside stores for the dogs. The tiny corner store on our block, where I couldn’t even find cereal, had a variety of cat and dog food in single serving baggies.

The practice of treating and releasing the dogs is not without its issues. Animal rights organizations around Istanbul still claim that the municipality doesn’t fully follow through on its directives. Some report that dogs are captured and released into uninhabited areas, where they are left to starve. Aggressive and temperamental dogs are not unheard of, and their night time barking can be a nuisance.

Islam doesn’t hold the same negative connotations about cats as it does on dogs. That, combined with the more reclusive nature of cats, makes them more tolerated on Istanbul’s streets. In addition to the well groomed people, even the animals seem to take their style seriously. I took this picture a few days ago, finding it rather amusing that the cat matched the bike. The cat has been on that bike for the past two days, which just goes to show that every stray has a home in Istanbul.

 

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