The walk around the corner!

It started out as a simple stroll around to another part of Istanbul for dinner. I was assured it was not far and the Lonely Planet book suggested it wouldn’t take long and the reward of good food would be worth it. The night started simply enough however we left the motel a bit late 7:30pm not realising the time had passed so quickly we walked down to the water front on the golden horn where an impromptu market was just starting out. People were selling everything from hairbrushes to hand made leather jackets. We walked across the bridge to the “New” Istanbul and as we were walking across the road a shoe shine man dropped his brush. From this point on we should have see the con coming! We hollered to the man who was most thankful for us stopping him about the brush and insisted on polishing our shoes (yes the shoes that are falling apart so I think he polished more of my sock than my shoe!). after the polishing we decided we would give him a couple of dollars as the shoes did in fact look good, but he then insisted it was a $10 fee for the shoe cleaning. At that point we realised it was a big con job, where he had deliberately dropped the brush! We got out of there as soon as possible giving him the couple of dollars and walking off. One lesson learned. (the following day another shoe shine man did the same thing with the brush, a well developed con for tourists!). However we continued just around the so called corner to get dinner and got completely lost and ended up walking down an abandoned street with the light starting to fade, thinking we are really not going the right way! After about 30 min walking, where it should according to the map have been about 3, we got to a freeway, but not the nice restaurants we were looking for. We then threw away the map as obviously it was wrong, not the map readers!, and followed the few people that were around. Finally as it got dark we found what we were after, a quaint restaurant and bar district down numerous inter twined alley ways. Stoped for a beer to relax after the long walk and then went to get dinner and found that most of the restaurateurs didn’t speak any English, nor were they serving hot food any more. We settled for a bottle of wine some cold mezes (starters) and another beer. On the way home which looked like it should be easy, especially with Jessica doing the directions, were turned exactly the opposite direction of the motel and followed the thousands of Turks up the main street of Istakel Caddesi which was surprising at 12:30am. We finally decided a cab was the best way home, however the cab driver had to ask for direction twice before Ben finally directed him back to the hotel!
















On the way to dinner




















Market on the way to dinner





















Dinner down a back alley