Rumeli Kavagi and Dinner with Serdar/Sami/Ekber in Yenikoy

We left around 9:45 for Eminonu, took the bus to Kabatas, the tram to Eminonu, meeting one of the same students we had met the other day, at least one who had listened to our conversation. He was very pleasant and fun to talk to. We decided to get on the ferry boat early, about 45 minutes before it was to leave because it was already getting full and I had read about the crowded ferries, that we should get there early. It was a beautiful day, clear skies, not too warm, and we had good seats, so with chai and tost, we enjoyed the ride which took about one and a half hours. We had great view of the European side mostly, stopped in five different villages, ended up at Rumeli Kavagi, with its view of the Black Sea. We loved the village of Rumeli Kavagi, as it was not too big, with some character, though their were lots of fish restaurants on the water, though most were empty. We thought of calling Hasan to find out his faovrite restaurant but the phone was not working. We ended up eating at a little kiosk right on the water…had salty calamari but quite good hamsi or sardines. We then walked around the town, caught a mini bus to Sariyer, where we looked for a phone store but they could not help us. We then got on the bus, and it took almost an hour to get back to our village, with traffic terrible through various little towns, especailly Sariyer, Yenikoy, and Bebek. Hot and tired, we relaxed, took a walk and are now waiting for Ekber and Selmin to pick us up for dinner and take us to Yenikoy, a beautiful old yali invested village on the Bosphorus. We did get a walk in before showing, so we feel pretty good.

Because of terrible traffice, we waited for an hour for Ek ber to pick us up, so we did not get to the restaurant in Yenikoy until 8:30 alas. Sami and Selmin were waiting for us, then Serdar and his wife Zeynep came and, as usual, we had the typical Turkish dinner of mezze, followed by lufer, followed by dessert with, most certainly, sweets with kaymak, in this case sweetened pumpkin, but also pears, grapes, and quince…interesting with kamak. The amazing thing about the restaurant was the hundreds of fish, some as large as six or seven inches, swimming just below the window where we were eating. I guess it’s one of the draws of this particular restaurant, one of Yenikoy’s most famous, though it burned down a few years ago. These two couples and Sami have known each other for a long time but our coming has brought them together, which is kind of neat. Serdar is charming, has lived all over the world, seems to be doing very well in commodities as well as the importer of Vespas, from Italy. He knows Russia really well and feels as if it’s the key to the world…the US has a chance to work with Russia and will not be able to accomplish anything without it. He feels they are the most dominant force in Europe, perhaps the middle east because of their, Europes, dependence on Russia for oil and gas. He has houses in Istanbul, London, and Bodrum, where he goes each weekend and competes in sailing races. He desperately wants us to come visit…he is no doubt sincere and loves the area in the winter, when its cool, perhaps in the 30’s and no one else is there. He sounds like a kindred soul. His wife, Zeynep, knew Sami’s sister well, so he has known her forever. She is a marathoner, has run in NYC, Tokyo, Boston and London, though her knees are bad now, so she rides her bike everywhere, a health fanatic, I suppose but fun to talk to and very demonstrative. Once again we talked about the good old days at RC, Ekber’s divorces and how lucky he is to have found Selmin; Sami is very quiet on the matter and says little about his family. Selmin wants me to write a book about my experiences with Besiktas and in Istanbul in the good old days, but I don’t know how much I could remember, as I did not keep a journal and have only slides, which might trigger memories but who knows. It’s a thought. We are hoping to get together next Thursday with other RC graduates, which Serdar will arrange. Fortunately, when Sami drove us home, the traffic was not too bad. We are leaving for Cannakele and Avalik tomorrow at 9:00, will spend a night in a hotel in Ayvalik because Sami’s home is not finished, then head to Cesme where he has a home. We are going to see Muhararem on Tuesday, perhaps Sivan if he is not in jail.