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. 

My HONEST Istanbul Travel Guide

Last week my dad met some Italian tourists who were coming to Istanbul for a couple of days and as they asked for some advice , guess what my daddy told them?
He immediately gave my e-mail address - of course ! Cause I am the guide here !
Soo as soon as I heard this news I grabbed my laptop and wrote a LOOONG E-Mail to these guys and gave them some really good advice about the city.

As they were tourists I also warned them about some popular events-must do things or places , cause you know, MUST DO and MUST SEE things can be really disappointing! So what I prefer is to always tell the truth to these people who do not know the city and introduce the real city to them!

I guess that was exactly what I did in my e-mail. I recommended the places I prefer to go and the things I like to do and see - as a local.


As the mail is reallly long I am gonna divide it into a few posts and probably add some more info and PHOTOS about the places.
PLUS: Since one of the biggest problems in this city is the traffic and public transportation I am gonna solve that problem with some tips too!

 

SO WAIT FOR MY HONEST ISTANBUL GUIDE !

oh oh oh - and maybeee this project of mine can start another challenge with my dear friend Lara ;) What about creating an honest TOULOUSE GUIDE my dear?

LET'S GET STARTED AGAIN !

I know , it has been AGAIN ages since I wrote my last post :(( BUT it was such a difficult year for both me and Lara , as we were trying to graduate from our high schools and struggling with our last finals ! All that exams, stress, university applications... After all we still made some discoveries but could not find time to share them .

BUT NOW IT IS TIME AGAIN ! It is time to discover, to drink, to cook, to eat, to enjoy and to APPRECIATE all these. And of course TO SHARE.
This time we will be writing even more than before. I will be here in Istanbul studying in the state conservatory of Istanbul University but my dear friend LARA LEFT ME AGAIN => This time she left me for EUROPE ! She will be studying in Toulouse in France.
But you already know that the distance does not play any role in our friendship ;) The fact that Lara was going to USA two years ago as an AFS student was the reason we started all this blog thing.

Soo, I would like to start with a discovery I made the last day ALL BY MYSELF because Lara is already gone.....

I went to this wonderful roof bar in Beyoglu and enjoyed a glass of Italian white wine together with the amazing sunset view of the Bosphorus :  NUTERAS

This place is in Pera which is a district right behind Asmalımescid. When you start walking in İstiklal Street , starting from Tünel towards Taksim, after about 3-4 minutes you will see this arcade called ODAKULE on your left side. There is this clothes shop called 'Collezione' right in front of it. So pass through this arcade and you are directly in Pera.

Go to Nuteras right after 6.30 and you will immediately find a nice seat at the roof bar. My pick was whine but of course you can also have a beer or you can try one of their great cocktails.

GREAT MUSIC+AN UNFORGETTABLE SUNSET VIEW+A GLASS OF WINE=Only about 15 to 25 Lira.  To enjoy all these costed me only 23 Turkish lira. I think it was a PERFECT DEAL for a peaceful evening.

Meşrutiyet Caddesi No.67, Tepebaşı, Beyoğlu

Here is the link : http://nupera.com.tr/restoran/nuteras

For more info+photos: https://tr.foursquare.com/v/nuteras/4c00234237850f479fcc973f

Dear friends from ALL OVER THE WORLD ,

I am writing in regards to my country Turkey. As you might have seen in the news in the last 48 hours a civil war started in my country. The protest is against the destruction of Gezi Park (the only green spot left in the center of Istanbul) for the construction of a shopping mall instead, but it was never only about the park.The park became a symbol for everything that the government is tearing down, the trees they cut down, the history they destroyed, the rivers they polluted, the seas they filled with cement, all in the name of economical growth, and of course the laws they have enacted to attack our private lives.. Now, in Turkey the police (known as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's army) are using guns, force and chemical products to stop the riots. The riots are being caused by the violence of Turkish police. While all these things are happening Turkish media is trying to ban everything including Facebook,Twitter, newspapers, etc. so I am asking your help please don't ignore the ruthlessness and cruelty of the Turkish government!! Thousands of people are on streets all over the country protesting, and yet the police are gas bombing the unarmed protestors! No offical has made any attempt to stop this violence! 

AFS EXCHANGE STUDENT LARA TELLI

I have been writing this letter to all the local news around Illinois State ! PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ! THE ONLY WAY IS TO SPEAK UP