Friday was our last full day in Istanbul; therefore, we decided to fully experience the neighbourhood we lived in, Kadiköy. It is a lively area on the Asian side with a lot of small shops and cafés. The neighbourhood is also by the water and has a lovely beach walk. Nora, Ketrin, and I ate lunch at a very cozy restaurant that served traditional vegan Turkish food. Ketrin and I had two different kinds of wraps and Nora had filled peppers. We also shared lahmacun, which is sort of a Turkish pizza with minced meat. While we were doing this, Ondrej and Lene tried traditional Turkish coffee. I saw pictures afterwards, and it looked amazing. We also bought nuts and dried fruits; so cheap and so much tastier compared to Sweden!
Thereafter, we took a taxi to Sultanbeyli to have a meeting with a refugee organization. This area is normally not advised for tourists to visit, but it was very interesting to see another part of the city. The refugee organisation offers many services; for instance, language classes, social services, and help with finding jobs. Now during Ramadan, they are also helping with food. Sultanbeyli is an area with mostly refugees from Syria, so that is why it is located there. They also talked about that they would open a new center on the European side, where mostly Afghan refugees live.
In the evening, we took a taxi to Göztepi Park. It was very beautiful with lots of flowers. After that, we walked back to our hotel and on the way we had our last dinner by the sea.
Hugs,
Cajsa
Written by: Cajsa Aronsson
