Hakkımızda/About Us

Liseli iki yakin arkadas Lara ve Revna uc senedir kesintisiz olarak Istanbul kesiflerine devam eder iken Lara AFS Degisim Programini kazanir, bir seneligine Amerika'nin Charleston sehrinde yasayacaktir.Ancak bu ayrilik maceralarinin ve dostluklarinin bir sonu degil, aksine bir baslangicidir. Revna İstanbul sokaklarinda tirim tirim dolanmayi surdururken, Lara yepyeni bir hayata adim attigi Charleston'daki kesifleriyle Revna'ya meydan okur. Boylece bu iki kafadarin blog uzerinden surdurecekleri kitalar arasi gulunc bir mucadele baslar. Simdi ise aradan iki sene daha gecmis ve bu sefer Lara Fransa'nin Toulose sehrine okumaya gitmistir. Bu yolculuk yeni bir maceranin kapisini daha aralar ve simdi de bu iki arkadasin gerek İstanbul gerek Fransa'daki kesiflerine tanik olup, dostluklarinin renkli anilarini onlarla paylasacaksiniz.

Two high school teens, who are best friends, Lara and Revna were continually exploring the beautiful city Istanbul for three years, until Lara had the opportunity to experience a whole one year in Charleston in the USA by AFS Exchange program. But this separation was not the end of their friendship and explorations, unlike it was a beginning. While Revna was continuing to get around in Istanbul's elegant streets, Lara was challenging her with her discoveries in Charleston. And now, after about two years Lara is going to study in the beautiful city Toulouse in France. This is again another beginning of an adventure for these friends after their funny 'intercontinental' competition. Now their page is dedicated to share the colorful memories of their friendship and their new discoveries both in Turkey and France, especially in İstanbul and Toulouse!

Friday, September 26, 2014

Honest Istanbul Guide Vol1: GALATA

LETS GET STARTED WITH MY HONEST ISTANBUL GUIDE


I am a fan of this city and I go out almost every weekend to discover some nice places, because to be honest, although there are like thousands of cafes and bars around in this huge city, just a few of them have a really good quality. Yeah I know, what a shame! But unfortunately, after searching and tasting and discovering like crazy I have to admit that most of the spots we see around have just spent the money on the decoration but have no idea about the quality of service and food!
And thats why I am writing to you right now! So that you won’t get dissappointed and just pick the right places with my help . İstanbul is such a great city but to see its real great beauty, you have to know the city pretty well, cause its way too big and complicated!!!

 Thats why I am here to share my best discoveries, to share the most wonderful local spots that I personally enjoy ! So here are some tips from me:

 We start with one of my favorite districts in İstanbul at the European side: GALATA 
Galata is full of little cafes, which are located in little tiny streets rather than the main street. So it is a little hard to find them , I am gonna try to describe where they are but I suggest you to check this internet site foursquare.com  , where you can find all the cafes and their exact locations I am gonna suggest you. You  just need to enter the name of the cafe or restaurant and it opens you directly its location on google map!
BUT I AM ALSO GONNA MAKE SOME SCREENSHOTS FROM GOOGLE MAP AND PUT IT HERE. 




Okay, lets take this famous GALATA TOWER as the center. Firstly I suggest you going up on this tower as the view is fantastic! This is of course a MUST DO thing in Istanbul! But be careful about the timing cause the line gets too big, especially in the afternoon after the dreadful sun gets less effective. So you better visit there in the morning for example. I know, the sunset view will be awesome too but dont worry, I will tell you another place very soon where you can not only enjoy the sunset but also maybe a beer or cocktail! So Galata Tower is just in the middle and there are lots of streets around it. At the towers right side, right at the corner there is a hotel ( ANEMON GALATA ) and there is a street going down right near it. When you go that street down, you will find a great wine bar on your right side: SENSUS WINE .





 Its a great place for the evening to taste some wine ( especially the turkish products are suprisingly good! ) but sometimes you need a reservation, but you will probably find place on the bar. The prices are fair. Normally in the restaurants if you order just one glass of wine they dont have many options and they charge you pretty much for a tiny glass of wine ( they usally fill the glass just a little ! I HATE THAT! ) 

BUT this Wine House, as they sell their own products, offer you about 15 different wines that you can order just as a glass . And the prices change between 9 Turkish Lira to 25 Turkish Lira. So that means you do not have to open a bottle and stick to one type of wine- Get their special menu for Glass Wines and pick what you want, try some several different options-! That was what I exactly did- of course I prefered the cheaper ones and they honestly tasted all good ! So this place is PERFECT for a cheap but definitely quality WINE TASTING!


Anyways, if you pass this wine bar and continue to walk down, there is a super sweet cafe called CAFE VELVET: great place to drink a cup of coffee or something refreshing such as their homemade lemonade! By the way, if you wanna try something authentic: TRY THEIR YUMMY TURKISH DESERT: “KAYMAKLI UN HELVASI”. I mentioned more info about this place already on my blog! So check the special post about this place !




Now lets go back to Galata Tower. At the left corner there is an authentic turkish cafe where people generally have turkish tea for about 1.50 or 2 turkish lira and chat and watch around and this time there is again a street going down full of cafes. At the beginning of this street there is a shop which sells some authentic turkish products.So when you start going down this street, the streets automatically turns right. Follow it and you will see a coffee shop on the right side: CHERRY BEANS. 


Its one of the most peaceful places for a cup of coffee, its really tiny. The coffee is really good and their homemade cakes go great together. This spot is definitely one of my favorite spots for a COFFEE-BREAK. Inside smells awesome ( a lovely tasty combination of fresh coffee and warm homemade cookiieess and cakesss ) 

What I secondly adore in this place is always the music playing inside: sometimes they often play easy listening classical tracks and it goes perfect while sitting in this cute cafe, watching outside and drinking your fresh warm coffee.



 http://www.cherrybeancoffees.com/

If you skip this one and keep going down, you will see CAFE KONAK at the left side. This cafe is a standard patisserie but they have this terrace on the top of the building and it has an awesome view! You can drink maybe a turkish tea and enjoy the view: Galata Tower right on your back , which seems so close like you can even touch it, and the amazing bosphorus on your front. 






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