1hughes is not a nvery happy person and prefers to stay that way during his travels according to his posts here on fodors.

he does not understand about different cuisines much either, calling food in istanbul, "blah Middle Eastern" when there are probably not more than five or six Middle eastern restaurants in a city of 15 million.

Ciya Sofrasi is one of only two examples of Southeastern Turkish and Mesopotamian Orthodox or Catholic Soryani sect cuisine restaurants in istanbul. It is different. Some love it, some don't. It is cheap, has no great service and no ambience. Some interesting dishes combine sour plums or apples with lamb and red hot pepper for example. I have no idea why it is mentioned in this post.

I doubt that he checked to find out about good versus tourist restauarants and probably ended up eating at places like Turkish version of TGIF and Gino's, Denny's, IHOP, etc.

I also have to correct a misunderstanding, There is no such thing as Turkish Ice Cream. There is a very milky, sticky vanilla like ice cream which bears the trade mark of a small town in Southeastern turkey, and it is called "Maras Dondurma" mostly in istanbul and there is a chain which originated there called "Mado".

Otherwise, commercially we have French, Swiss, and Turkish brands and also pastry shops producing their own with gelato machines usually imported from Italy.

calling arcades with thousands of shops, some of which holding possibly hundreds of thousands USD of gold and precious stones, flea markets shows either very poor eye sight or bad intensions or a lack of knowledge. neither have I ever seen flea markets anywhere in the world where spices, nuts, pilgrimage paraphernelia, wedding dresses, party accessories, Christmas decorations, good coffee beans, hand made crates and metal objects, gold scales, silver, the heart of the national free FX market, wholesale stationary, watches, batteries, jewellery shop accessories, bed covers and sheets, table covers, haberdashery, hobby items, gardening tools, leather goods, carpets, guns, glassware, porcelain, plastic ware, etc, sold in small area of possibly 20 arcades and 100 narrow streets and hundreds of years old buildings with interesting courtyards, which also hold interesting small restaurants.

There is a district near Istiklal with buildings constructed in 1452-53 for the builders of the flotilla Mehmet II had built in the Golden Horn for the siege of Constantinople.

There are the diplomatic missions of the major European governments and empires of the 17-19th centuries in and around istiklal and Taksim, as well as some interesting architecture.

Places like Nisantasi, Cihangir, Ortakoy, besiktas, bebek, Kuzguncuk, beylerbeyi, Yenikoy, ll may be considered to have a charm of their own for those who are interested in being charmed and who can be charming themselves.

it is a matter of curiosity, enjoying one's own life and that of others', trying to understand people and cultures and life styles and appreciating diversity even in poverty,

I have never visited any place which bored me and also never visited any place where I thought any amount of time was too long unless it was an isolated all inclusive resort where I had no laptop, kindle, IPad or book.

Ataturk's Mausoleum in Ankara sits on top of my pile of must-see places in Turkey...

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attract...ir-Ankara.html

Followed by a trip down Bar Street.

I'm surprised more visitors don't make the effort to visit Ankara.

LancasterLad, consider visiting Eskisehir also. Your mention of Bar Street brought that to my mind. Eskisehir has a great bar street. It may be the only real university city in Turkey with both modern and old sites and of'course proximity to interestin Phrygian sites. It also boasts of the most successful mayor we have ever witnessed in Turkey in the last 50 years.

Also, There is a fast train from Ankara to Eskisehir and the Istanbul-Ankara train route has traditionally been through eskisehir.

"I have never visited any place which bored me and also never visited any place where I thought any amount of time was too long unless it was an isolated all inclusive resort where I had no laptop, kindle, IPad or book."

How very true Other, I concur wholeheartedly! But even with my laptop and book I still chafed during my stay at an all-inclusive in Belek last Oct, I'd much rather have been elsewhere, though since DH was at a conference I didn't have a choice

I have never visited any place that bored me either. I also love Turkish food even if I do not like the so called ice cream (and the silly tourist routine that goes with it) or Turkish delight.

There is a bus from Taksim to Sabitha Gochen airport. Yes it is far away, but it may be a lot cheaper if you fly Pegasus.

Istanbul is one of the world's great cities (even with the 5:00am alarm clock known as the call to prayer). I never dreamed I would go once. I did--on a home exchange. When I got a chance to return, I took the apartment near the Galata Tower (and, yes, a noisy mosque) immediately. There is much to see and do. I found the Black Sea cruise to be very relaxing and plan to do it again. I also was amazed by the Chora Church--which should be on everyone's list.

Turkey is truly a wonderful country and has some of the best--and wholesome--food I've ever eaten. Can't wait to have gozleme for breakfast when I home exchange in Istanbul in July.