Love Your Summer: Istanbul: The Megacity is Mega-pretty

Istanbul is a city with roots that unfurl deep into history. The city's long and varied history simmers just below the surface, causing the ripples in its cobblestone paving and the twists and turns in its labyrinth of winding streets.

The only city in the world to straddle two continents has been home to Roman, Eastern Roman, Latin, and Ottoman Empires.

Dusk in the city.

A dear friend of mine, Jenn, put us in touch with a friend of hers, Kate - a British ex-pat who has been living in Istanbul for three years. Kate and her boyfriend (Shane and I shamefully admit we have forgotten his name - eek!), our kind and patient hosts, showed us a great night out and gave us their own personal edit of this epic city.

After they picked us up, they treated us to a mini-boat tour of the Bosphorus and then we rode on the oldest subway in the world (the original carts were pulled by horses).

Sunset cruise!

Next, a dinner so delicious it is going down as one of my top 5 dinners of all time.

Artichokes, I love 'em. Apparently Turks don't eat the "meat" off the leaves of the artichoke, which I've always done by scraping my teeth on the inner side. Fully embracing my inner tourist I chowed down on juicy roasted leaves of a stuffed artichoke first, before digging into the innards.

Other dinner highlights include: artichoke bottom with some kind of light cream sauce and veggies, red peppers stuffed with a spicy rice mixture, a red pepper/walnut paste (about the consistency of hummus), a variety of salads and roasted vegetables. I can't tell you the name of any of these dishes but I know they are all pronounced the same way "Mmmmmmmmmm."

During dinner, Shane underwent Raki initiation. Raki is a traditional Turkish alcohol (45%) flavoured with anise. Turks seems to be as particular about their Raki ritual as the British are about their tea.

First get a narrow glass and put ice in it. Then, pour in the clear Raki. Next, add water, which turns the clear alcohol a milky white.

Take a drink of the Raki and chase it with a mixer of your choice, which can include Salgam Suyu, a non-alcoholic fermented purple carrot drink that's quite salty, and tasted to me like juice from a pickle jar. I couldn't handle more then a few sips, but then again, I wasn't drinking the Raki.

Then came desert. Our hosts ordered three dishes and had us try and guess what they were. In North America this would have been no more difficult than determining cheesecake from pie, but in Turkey, it was a different story.

All the deserts were semi-translucent and sat in small pool of syrup. After many incorrect answer the truth was revealed.

They were: (drumroll please!) walnut (shell and all), tomato, and pumpkin. All three had been soaked at length in some kind of sweet honey-like syrup which disguised their taste and altered their texture. Delicious! I don't think Turks have a hard time getting their kids to eat their veggies if they taste like that (alright, alright, I know technically those are all fruits but you know what I mean)

Whooping it up in the big city after our walk through the bar-district.

Our pension in Istanbul was fabulous. We were in the Sultanahmet district, very close to the Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofia, and Blue Mosque. Our room had a great terrace overlooking the Marmara Sea, and we enjoyed a great introduction to Turkish breakfast. A big spread of cheeses, yogurt, veggies, fruit, breads, and olives. The olives make me think of my Mom every morning. No one would have loved these salty treasures at breakfast time (or really anytime) more than my Mom.

At night we walked along the seawall of the Marmara sea. People were fishing, picnicking on the rocks (imagine a nice big flat rock set up with a tablecloth, beer, and dinner - it was hard not to invite ourselves to the table).

Didn't pack a picnic? No problem.

Vendors were constantly roaming the seawall with corn on the cob, nuts, and watermelon.

Catch a fish? There are also makeshift restaurants set up to cook it for you. A simple grill, some prepared toppings, and a few plastic tables and stools.

Seawall at night. You can pay to shoot at the balloons.

Olives in the Bazaar.

Spicy times.

Chora Church/Kariye Müzesi was built by the Byzantines in the 4th century, then converted into a mosque by the Ottomans, and then finally in 1948 it became a museum. The church/mosque/museum is filled with frescoes and mosaics in various states of decay due to earthquakes and age.

Shane was particularly moved by the piece below. I don't know that I've ever seen him tear up in a church before.