Boğazı

First day in Istanbul. Got in late last night, left Mary and they boys exhausted in the hotel while I prowled the streets for takeout. Followed my nose to the exquisite Erzurum Cağ Kebab. Unlike most döner, or revolving spit kebab, the Erzurum Cağ style features a horizontal spit, which they claim makes it more succulent. Who are we to argue? It was the best kebab I have ever tasted. In fact, it was the best lamb I have ever tasted. I already wonder if döner will ever again taste this good to me. We will go back for more Erzurum Cağ style döner, but can a subsequent tasting ever equal the exquisite sensations of that first serendipitous experience?

Caught the tram down to Sultanahmet station this morning, and walked about. Rather than tackle the major sites directly, as we know we will be back with the students tomorrow, we wound our way down to Kennedy Caddesi, which hugs the coast of the promontory. I'm guessing it was built with some US funding in the early ’60s, and is typical of that era of highway planning, an unbroken stretch of road on earthworks extending into the Bosphorous.  Not totally harmonious with the ancient waterfront, perhaps, but it does offer unparalleled views of the strait, and also of the old Roman and Ottoman walls, seen from the outside, with Topkapı and the Ayasofya (Hagia Sofia) rising majestically in the background. Much the perspective of Ottoman sailors returning from their conquests in the 17th century, leaving aside the roadway itself.

On the large gray rocks protecting the road from the surging Bosphorous, elderly, sturdy Turkish gents take the sun, reclining in all apparent comfort. Periodically they rise, pick their way down the rocks, and plunge into the strait, stroking powerfully but to little effect in the chop. Those wearing transparent plastic water shoes have an easier time scrambling out again.

The boys loved it, as well, scrambling along the rocks for nearly a mile until we came to the end of this stretch of seawall, and crossed the boulevard into the gardens below Topkapı, the regal Gülhane.