YOU KNOW YOU ARE LEARNING TURKISH WHEN….

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"The process that you have the fullest while living in Bath, all of our guests can benefit from avoiding this quiet and peaceful atmosphere and the high volume of noise inside and we ask you to take pleasure."

GLAMOUR HOTEL -- 3

SIRKECI, ISTANBUL

A Glamour Hotel single room is small -- about 150 square feet. The bathrooms are extremely small.

But you're not in one of the world's greatest cities to linger in the room.

You simply want clean, quiet, convenient, well-staffed and efficient.

Glamour gets at least 4.5 stars of 5 in each of those categories.

A stay during Ramazan was about $60 per night -- taxes and breakfast included.

The area is amazingly quiet -- and Istanbul is a pretty noisy city.

The bedding was excellent -- comfortable as a 5-star palace and 3-star prices.

The AC worked fine and there was an empty mini fridge, which came in handy for storing bottled water, soda and gourmet chocolate.

The best thing is the restaurants are far less expensive than the more touristy Sultanahmet or Beyoglu areas.

The food is even better and you will be eating among locals in Hocapasa Mahallesi.

I'd venture to say that locals outnumbered visitors 4 to 1 on the narrow, pedestrian streets around the Glamour Hotel.

http://www.glamourhotel.com/

GLAMOUR HOTEL - 2

SIRKECI, ISTANBUL

The Glamour Hotel is footsteps from the Sirkeci tram stop and very close to the Marmara Subway in the old Sirkeci Station that was the terminus for the famed Orient Express.

The Eminonu ferry docks are 5 minutes way.

The Glamour has a rooftop terrace with views of the Bosphorus and city.

The breakfast buffet, included with the room, is amazing.

Tons of breads, fruits, olives, cheeses, dips, salads, jams, pastries and more.

They actually have a real chef that oversees the 50+ item fresh buffet.

Wonderful Turkish tea is made to order. Juices and coffee also are included.

The front desk staff speaks excellent English and can give tips on what to pay for a taxi (so you don't get overly upcharged) and where to head on a rainy day.

Service is outstanding and rooms are spotless.

http://www.glamourhotel.com/

GLAMOUR HOTEL

SIRKECI, ISTANBUL

Sirkeci is one of my favorite places in Istanbul.

You can walk five minutes and be at the many terminals that launch ferries to the Asian Side, the Princes Islands, up the Golden Horn and to many ports along the Bosphorus, all the way to the edge of the Black Sea.

There must be nearly 100 small hotels, almost all 3 star, family-operated places that have clean, quiet, well-located rooms for about $50 USD per day including breakfast and taxes.

There is a tram stop in Sirkeci that will take you to Topkapi Palace, Sultanahmet Plaza and just about anywhere you want to be in the old city.

It also crosses the Galata Bridge and takes you as far as Kabatas in Beyoglu.

The subway line is close by as well.

Glamour Hotel is an excellent budget hotel in Sirkeci.

http://www.glamourhotel.com/

HOCAPASA PIDECISI -- 3

HOCAPASA SOKAK NO. 19, NEAR ANAKRA CADDESI

Hocapasa Pidecisi is a halal restaurant.

The sausage is made from beef.

There is no pepperoni, which is good because Pide really isn't simply Turkish Pizza.

The Pastirmali is my favorite, Turkish-style Pastrami. It tastes as good on pide crust out of a stone oven as it tasts on challah with mustard on a sandwich.

Most pides are 20 Turkish Lira or less. That's less than six bucks at the current exchange rate.

They are big enough to split during lunch. They come with pickles and peppers on the side.

The simple, basis Kasarli pides, a mild white and yellow cheese -- is very easy on the belly, say if you took in a little too much tobacco at the nargile (water bubble pipe) cafe.

The Kapali Pides -- available with special roasted or minced meats and in other varieties -- are, I guess to further bastardize a dish that is NOT Italian -- similar to a calzone or stromboli but without the grease and tomato sauce.

They are closed and maybe even more buttery (or is it fine olive oil) than the open-faced kind.

Kapali is an easy Turkish word to learn. It simply means covered.

The Grand Bazaar's real name is Kapalicarsi = covered market.

I ended up visiting five times during a two-week visit.

The last two times I left with a huge serving of special, homemade tahini helva.

It made me feel like family.

It made me feel warm and loved in a place very far from home.

It reinforced my lifelong respect for the Turkish approach to hospitality and the Muslim tradition of caring for visitors like family.

www.hocapasa.com.tr

HOCAPASA PIDECISI - 2

BEST PIDE IN ISTANBUL FOR HALF A CENTURY

I arrived at Hocapasa Pidecisi weary and bleary.

The owner saw the look in my eye.

Quickly, he scrambled to set up a tiny table for me right in the kitchen.

He spoke English to me and made me at home.

A simple chicken Pide and a Coke was all I wanted.

Even though he was incredibly busy, he came over to talk to me.

Very sadly, Americans and Western Europeans are not traveling to Turkey these days.

So I was kind of a novelty, but not treated as such.

From my kitchen vantage point, I could see a master pide maker create more than one dozen different varieties of the boat-shaped pies.

He could make each one, from dough to cheese to specialty toppings -- in less than a minute.

In no time, I was eating buttery dough from heaven with seasoned chicken on it.

When I asked about the Turkish Style pastrami, a load of it landed on my second half of pide, for my sampling.

People call pide Turkish Pizza. It's not the same, but since it has dough, usually but not always cheese and toppings and bakes in an oven -- it's hard to ignore the comparison.

The flavor and quality of mine was spectacular.

But it was the kindness of the host and the staff that really put things over the top.

www.hocapasa.com.tr

HOCAPASA PIDECISI

SIRKECI, ISTANBUL

I arrived spent, tired and cold in Istanbul.

I hadn't slept a wink on the 11-hour flight and it took nearly two hours to clear passport control.

To make matters worse, to save a buck, I took the subway -- meaning with sleep deprivation, I had to make an underground transfer from one line to another.

Then whey I arrived at Sirkeci Station, I had to ride three or four lengths of terrifyingly steep, seemed like football field length escalators -- all with bookbag on back and luggage in tow.

The early evening air was much cooler than I expected, with the nearby Golden Horn/Bosphorus bodies of water fueling the nippy breezes.

I was starving, but also felt like I could throw up.

One of the reasons I love Sirkeci is the wealth of local restaurants on little streets too narrow for a car to drive on,

Operators speak enough English to assist tourists, but the local trade drives the economy -- meaning prices are low and quality is high.

I had read about Hocapasa Pidecisi -- opened in 1964, the year I was born.

When I got to it, the outside tables were packed. It was sundown and an observant Muslim city was breaking the long daily fast in observance of Ramazan.

www.hocapasa.com.tr