Halal Travel Guide: Istanbul - Night Streets, Mosques and Muslim Travel
Reposted from the web
We flew from Almaty to Istanbul New Airport in the evening, took a one-hour airport bus to Taksim Square, and walked five minutes to reach Istiklal Avenue, the busiest street in Istanbul. At 11 p.m., Istiklal Avenue was buzzing with people, so we went straight into late-night snack mode. Istiklal Avenue is lined with various architectural styles from the late Ottoman period, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since the 19th century, it has been a hub for Ottoman intellectuals and Europeans, earning it the nickname 'Paris of the East'.
There are several rotating meat kebab (döner kebap) shops at the intersections of Istiklal Avenue, and they were all doing great business. We grabbed some kebab to satisfy our cravings and then bought some corn. A common belief is that the Turkish rotating kebab was invented in the mid-19th century during the Ottoman era by the İskender Efendi family in Bursa. It didn't become popular in Istanbul until a century later, and was eventually brought to the rest of the world by Turkish immigrants in the late 20th century.
We had the 'Sultan's Tray' (Sultan Tabağı) baklava dessert paired with Turkish black tea at the famous old Ottoman dessert shop, Hafiz Mustafa 1864. This branch on Istiklal Avenue is very lively. I bought several boxes of their desserts to take home as gifts during my last visit to Istanbul.
Hafiz Mustafa was founded in the old city of Istanbul in 1864 by Hadji İsmail Hakkı Bey and later taken over by his son, Hafiz Mustafa. It has been around for 159 years now. They started by producing traditional rock sugar, then expanded to various Turkish sweets including Turkish delight (lokum), flaky pastry (baklava), and pudding. They now have over a dozen branches and are very famous in Turkey.
Baklava originated in the imperial kitchens of Topkapi Palace during the Ottoman Empire. Every year on the 15th day of Ramadan, the Sultan would gift trays of baklava to the Janissaries, which is why the dessert we ordered is named 'Sultan's Tray' (Sultan Tabağı).
We turned into a small alley on the north side of Istiklal Avenue, which was packed with seafood restaurants. Istanbul has many such shops near the coast. We picked one and had pan-fried horse mackerel (istavrit) with yogurt drink (ayran). The fish was fried well, the bones were soft, and it tasted great with lemon and onions.
We had breakfast on the hotel rooftop in the morning. The view was excellent, looking across the Golden Horn toward the old city of Istanbul.
We specifically chose to stay near Taksim Square this time for easy access to the airport bus. Because it is near the pedestrian street, the rooms here are generally a bit small and can be noisy at night, but luckily it was quiet for us.
After breakfast, we took the airport bus to head to Lebanon. The architecture around Taksim Square really feels very European. I passed by the place where I ate rotisserie meat (xuanzhuan kaorou) last night and caught the chef using chains to hang the meat onto the oven piece by piece.
We flew from Almaty to Istanbul New Airport in the evening, took a one-hour airport bus to Taksim Square, and walked five minutes to reach Istiklal Avenue, the busiest street in Istanbul. At 11 p.m., Istiklal Avenue was buzzing with people, so we went straight into late-night snack mode. Istiklal Avenue is lined with various architectural styles from the late Ottoman period, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since the 19th century, it has been a hub for Ottoman intellectuals and Europeans, earning it the nickname 'Paris of the East'.
There are several rotating meat kebab (döner kebap) shops at the intersections of Istiklal Avenue, and they were all doing great business. We grabbed some kebab to satisfy our cravings and then bought some corn. A common belief is that the Turkish rotating kebab was invented in the mid-19th century during the Ottoman era by the İskender Efendi family in Bursa. It didn't become popular in Istanbul until a century later, and was eventually brought to the rest of the world by Turkish immigrants in the late 20th century.
We had the 'Sultan's Tray' (Sultan Tabağı) baklava dessert paired with Turkish black tea at the famous old Ottoman dessert shop, Hafiz Mustafa 1864. This branch on Istiklal Avenue is very lively. I bought several boxes of their desserts to take home as gifts during my last visit to Istanbul.
Hafiz Mustafa was founded in the old city of Istanbul in 1864 by Hadji İsmail Hakkı Bey and later taken over by his son, Hafiz Mustafa. It has been around for 159 years now. They started by producing traditional rock sugar, then expanded to various Turkish sweets including Turkish delight (lokum), flaky pastry (baklava), and pudding. They now have over a dozen branches and are very famous in Turkey.
Baklava originated in the imperial kitchens of Topkapi Palace during the Ottoman Empire. Every year on the 15th day of Ramadan, the Sultan would gift trays of baklava to the Janissaries, which is why the dessert we ordered is named 'Sultan's Tray' (Sultan Tabağı).
We turned into a small alley on the north side of Istiklal Avenue, which was packed with seafood restaurants. Istanbul has many such shops near the coast. We picked one and had pan-fried horse mackerel (istavrit) with yogurt drink (ayran). The fish was fried well, the bones were soft, and it tasted great with lemon and onions.
We had breakfast on the hotel rooftop in the morning. The view was excellent, looking across the Golden Horn toward the old city of Istanbul.
We specifically chose to stay near Taksim Square this time for easy access to the airport bus. Because it is near the pedestrian street, the rooms here are generally a bit small and can be noisy at night, but luckily it was quiet for us.
After breakfast, we took the airport bus to head to Lebanon. The architecture around Taksim Square really feels very European. I passed by the place where I ate rotisserie meat (xuanzhuan kaorou) last night and caught the chef using chains to hang the meat onto the oven piece by piece.
