A friend just wrote me to ask for advice about things to do and see in Turkey, which reminded me of a long list of ideas posted on a blog by Nassim Assefi, a friend of a friend who is a medical doctor and novelist, and currently lives in Istanbul. You can click here to see her suggestions (look for her March 21, 2008 post). Her tastes seem more refined (and expensive) than mine, but she has some great ideas. I especially like her reading list -- (Birds Without Wings is one of my favorite novels ever), and I liked Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul -- and the suggestion of finding a rooftop restaurant to admire the city's views. My favorite in this category is the one at Hotel Arcadia, which is expensive, but when I went just for a cup of tea they did not seem to mind. The photo here is from their website.
Other favorites of mine are strolling Istiklal Street, the Homer Kitab Evi (Bookstore) which has a fantastic selection in English, having a fish sandwich underneath the Galata bridge, taking the ferry to just about any location and going for a walk. I'll keep thinking about this and perhaps post more ideas later, and I encourage other readers to comment here to add their own.
