Ortaköy

Ortaköy: (LtoR) Hakan, Donica, Alex, Nur (Hakan's mother), Özdan (Hakan's grandmother), Morgan, Hannah, and Kate.

After Topkapı Palace we met Hakan and his mum and grandma by the water for a dinner of potatoes baked in stands along the street. Hakan had spent the day getting stuff together to get his visa so he and Alex can go on their tour of Europe. As a result, we had to negotiate Istanbul sans guide (aka someone who understands/speaks Turkish) which we did fine with, until the cab rides to Ortaköy. Mom, Hannah, and Kate ended up in one cab for an hour (without traffic the ride takes maybe 15 minutes) with a long, broken debate about the tariff. Finally, they got out and walked a kilometer or so in residential Istanbul until they caught another cab, and an hour and a half or so later finally found the rest of the group.

After dinner we went to dessert at a place along the water and had profiteroles, banana splits, and "hard" ice cream which was ice cream... only hard so you had to cut it with a knife and chew it. Mmmm.