Çiya Restaurant, Kadiköy, Istanbul

Last night, David and I went to Kadiköy with our friends Tayfun and Yasemin. There they introduced us to Çiya (pronounced Chiya), an amazing restaurant they had found. Çiya specialises in Turkish regional cuisine and, because their repertoire of dishes is so vast (more than 1,000), they have a different menu every day. Even then the choice is overwhelming, there are 50 different types of meat kebab alone!

Tayfun, Yasemin, Me and David, outside the restaurant.

Çiya's owner/chef, Musa Dağdeviren, travelled all over Turkey collecting his recipes, even going into people's homes to cook with them. The result is an extraordinary culinary experience. When we looked at the menu, we hardly knew where to start, as the food was unfamiliar to us. We finally decided to order a variety of dishes to share.

We began with stuffed, dried aubergine, vine leaves stuffed with cheese, lamb stew, spinach in yoghurt, and some small balls of mashed vegetables. This was eaten with puffed up pita bread and washed down with freshly squeezed mulberry juice, and was absolutely delicious. This was followed by a kebab dish, and then a wonderful selection of desserts, made from different candied fruits and vegetables. We will definitely include this restaurant as a special Turkish experience for future visitors.

Recently we were bothered by a very irritating noise. For ages we couldn't locate it. It turned out to be the extractor fan on the roof of the next-door building. No one else seemed bothered by the noise, but it was driving us crazy. I managed to get a message to the restaurant to which the extractor belonged, with the help of two friends, Gür and Onür. They responded quickly, as by then the whole structure was visibly shaking, and workmen soon arrived.

I never fail to be amazed at how nonchalant the Turkish workmen are (no sign of 'elf and safety here). I missed the best shot of them hauling up the new motor, freely dangling on a rope, as they leaned over the edge, but here they are happily walking about, with one of them perilously balanced, trying to free the housing on the old motor - not a safety harness in sight. I'm pleased to say that the mission was safely completed, albeit in the dark, and no one came to any harm.

The grinning workman on the right, posing for his photo, is leaning
on the new motor which they manhandled up into the casing,
after removing the old one.

Kadiköy and Şile, Istanbul, Turkey

Dick hard at work!

Exercise Turkish Style

After waving David off to work on Monday and having a leisurely breakfast, Marilyn, Dick and I walked down to the sea of Marmara and along the walkway. Although it was very hot, we stopped to play on the the machines in the exercise area before relaxing and watching the world go by from a nearby pavement café.

We then caught a bus to Kadiköy, a warren of pedestrian streets with lots of bars, shops and restaurants. One of Turkey's biggest fresh markets is there, and we saw wonderful array of fresh products, ranging from dozens of species of fresh fish and seafood to all kinds of fruit, vegetables and spices. An exotic sight! Our lunch was in a typical Turkish restaurant - very cheap and quite delicious!

On Tuesday we left David in Istanbul, while we went to Doğa Tatil Köyu - the company's resort. We arrived at 11 o'clock and immediately went to the pool as the weather was glorious. We almost had the whole pool to ourselves, there was only one couple there! Wednesday morning was also bright and sunny, but in the afternoon it began to cloud over so we went into Şile for a spot of sight-seeing and shopping. Although it began to rain, we found sanctuary in a restaurant with an amazing view and gorged ourselves on chocolate cake - such is life!

Marilyn and I had the whole pool to ourselves!

Overlooking the harbour in Şile

Now we are back in Istanbul and preparing to go to the Princes Islands for the weekend. More of that next week!