Istanbul, Day 6: Crossing the Golden Horn to Beyoglu and navigating by tram, the fish market.

We decided to cross the Golden Horn today and visit different and newer part of Istanbul, Beyoglu.  Trying to work out how to buy a travel card was a bit confusing until I asked for help from a local called Josef who turned out to have a shop in Chapel street, Prahran, be married to an English- Australian, and have lived in Australia for quite a while.  Once we got our cards, our fellow travellers helped us work out where to get on and off, and we emerged at Taksim Squre.  For the centre of the modern city, where so many demonstrations take place, it is pretty grubby with cracked paving.

 

 There is a park which is quite pleasant and obviously enjoyed as somewhere to relax for many of the locals.  After wandering around rather aimlessly, trying to decide what to do next, we decided to stroll down Tarlabasi Bul, which though unprepossessing at first view, turned out to be crowded and a very  popular and busy shopping precinct with some fine but decaying 18th century buildings and a mixture of upmarket shops and eateries, plus some less up market, but interesting stores.

 Buskers played on the side of the street,
 

icecream sellers put on their shows, digging out icecream with metal poles, clinging cowbells and teasing the customers with threats to drop the icecreams.

 

 
 The side streets proved to have interesting shops, arcades and eateries while the main thoroughfare changes character quite a few times, as well as changing names - to Refil Saydam Cad and then to Tersane Cad.

We turned into Karakoy Cad and set off to inspect the fish markets which were still busy in the late afternoon,

 

with the fish so fresh they were flipping on slabs and swimming in buckets.

The area is full of restaurants if you don't want to cook, all serving the same fresh fish.  We crossed the Galata bridge, walking past men hurling in their rods and catching sardines and slightly larger fish.  Then, we spied these three fancy boats on the Sultanhamet shore.

They turned out to be kitchens and the locals were queuing on the shore in front of them to buy freshly grilled fish which were stuffed into bread rolls with salad and sauce.

They often bought pickled vegetables to eat with the fish rolls.

 

 After that, many of them bought one of these sticky glazed donuts.

We caught the tram back up the hill with locals to our stop just outside the Blue Palace.  What an amazing day.  A local told us that 2 weeks was too long to spend in Istanbul.  I think I could stay here a month and not see all it has to offer.