Brunch with Faruk at Armada Hotel

We slept in a little this morning, as we got back late last night from Fehmi’s house. I walked to Bebek and back around 9:30, a bit overcast, with at least 125 fishermen manning the walls, which I decided to count, just to see how many there were. Most were situated just before the point of Arnavutkoy, less crowded then between there and Bebek. It rained slightly, I bought some kasar for later as well crackers. Ates called from the gate at 11:00, a half hour earlier then expected and I was in the shower. I hurried up, dressed and we were in his car within ten minutes, heading to the Sultan Ahmet area to eat at the Armada Hotel, one which I had never heard of. Faruk met us in the lobby and we went up to the terrace, with a wonderful view of the Sea of Marmara, the Asian side, and the Princess Islands. Also, there were at least 50 small fishing boats, slowly trolling or fishing for lufer and palamut. We were pratically the only ones in the restaurant, so we got great service, though it was mostly a buffet of everything Turkish imaginable, or as Faruk said, genuine Ottoman food. At the one end was spices, cheeses, olives, jams, helvah, kaymak, butter, things like that. In the middle were fruits and vegetables, of any kind, and towards the end were omelettes and three or four different boreks, our favorite being the kol boreck, one of I am not sure of . The beyaz peynir was either in olive oil or pepper oil, or plain. The jams were various, apricot, rose, ect. We did not have melon, at least I don’t remember seeing it. As we sat and ate and talked for at least three hours, we also were served tea in a samovar in the middle of our table. Faruk ordered a couple of menemens, and two small frying pans, of eggs with socuk, the other with pastirma, which we loved. They cook the meat separately and when the eggs are done, they throw it and cook it a bit. The bread was supposedly a peasant bread, from Trabazon, and was delicious toasted. We sipped tea, ate kaymak and honey, dipped our bread in the eggs, had more tea, took pictures, and finished everything with Turkish coffee, some water, orange juice, and a final tea before leaving. It really was a great place to eat and stay, if you want to be in the Sultan Ahmet side of the city, where most of the monuments are. It has a neat feel to it, clean but old, with a wonderful Radio Bar, made up of many old radios from the old days as decoration. Faruk and his wife, Aydan, were wonderful hosts and all six of us (Ates and Mine) had a good time telling stories and laughing about the exploits and travels on the b ball team.

We then headed to the Besiktas Complex near Taksim. I am still not sure what it is…a complex of buildings and apartmetns built where they used to have a practice soccer field. I assume the club built the complex, and earns money from rents from businesses and apartment renters. The top of the building ,the Vogue, has a modernistic bar, and some of the best views in town. It was a bit overcast but still memorable. We then went down to the Citi Mall, in Nisantas, the newest and the least successful for some reason. Lots of boarded up shop fronts and it’s only two years old. We went to Mavi jeans…made the mistake of wanting to buy something and Faruk insiste on buying both Evie and me a tee shirt. So, we caved in, as it’s impossible to say no. We ended up going to the top of the mall, enjoying the views, then left to go have a final coffe at the Nero coffee bar in Nisantas. A very hip and busy European style coffee bar, it had an outdoor smoking area in the back , as well as other rooms towards the front. We had a couple of lattes, listened to Ates complain about the heat and being tired, then finally headed up through a tangle of traffic to our apartment. It took us at least a half an hour to get home and of course, as we were winding our way down the hill in Arnavutkoy, Ates ran in to a doctor friend whom he had not seen in years. This always happens when we are out with Ates. His last words were to let me know your program, and inside joke, as we always seem to be making plans for the next day or two. Once again, we are overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of Turks, in this case Faruk and Aydan. He took care of everything, the buffet, the tee shirts, and wants us to come to Nisantas sometime next week to eat ‘real iskender kebab.’ He was the youngest on our team, a real charmer, a playboy, and often silly and he remains quite funny, fun to be with. He has been all over the states on business, really seems to have liked it, and may come to the US in late January or early February, to see New York city and LA for sure. His wife, Aydan, is a music teacher in a Turkish school, about the same age as Beth. She seems very nice and they seem to get along well. She is either Faruk’s second or third wife, Ates is not sure since they hardly see each other. My coming to Istanbul has prompted the reconnection of many of my teammates which is kind of neat. We are getting addresses from everyone, as well as phone numbers and emails and are giving ours out as well. We would love to see any of our Turkish friends when they come to the states but are a bit worried about how to entertain them in a style they are used to. For example, if Faruk and Aydan came to the lake in February, it would be cold and snowy with little to do or see other than going to the Seezurn for lunch or dinner, unless they enjoy walking or cross country skiing. We will worry about that when we have visitors.