Istanbul .. Day 13

So much to see yet. We started slow .. maybe can’t go any faster. Sunday for the first time we ate out twice, for supper to a place our son had described as “northern hunting/fishing lodge meets Istanbul.” In the Anatolian tradition, we could have sat on pillows at low tables but feared we’d never get up. Here's the restaurant, Gani Gani.

Next problem -- there wasn't room for all the dishes. First came two $2 pieces (we thought) of Turkish “pizza” as appetizers but we got two whole rounds on wooden platters. Then came two plates of various tapas (mezes) .. yogurts, humus, tahini, chopped tomatoes/cukes/celery/parsley and who-knows-what. My entree was Iskender Kebap on a sizzling metal platter .. seasoned kebap meat piled with grilled juicy tomatoes and peppers over bread cubes that soaked up all the yummy fat and tomato sauce, with yogurt alongside. Plus a salad. Plus an enormous hollow pita bread, steaming and puffy right out of the oven like a collapsing basketball, about six inches high and larger than a big platter. Couldn't begin to eat everything. Total was $37 (including a 10% tip added to the bill, which is unusual).

At home tonight we ate about as well .. Elsa's terrific vegetable soup, warm bread from the bakery around the corner and a big hunk of crumbly feta cheese, though they probably don't call it feta in Turkey?

It was cooler and cloudy today but several round ladies hung wash out their windows as another one pulled up her groceries in a basket .. to the sixth floor! 

Then somehow a neighborhood cat decided to spend the afternoon relaxing on our second-story window sill. Don't know how he got up there. Twice the cleaning lady has left that window wide open but we can't see that any cats came in, though an orange tabby mewed at us imploringly one of those times.

We’ve carried umbrellas from time to time but have only used them once for five minutes. So far so good. Better weather coming.