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Stuffed Mussels in Turkey: a Killing!
Impossible to miss when you walk around Istanbul: the sellers of stuffed mussels (midye dolma in Turkish).They are often proposed by street vendors, but also in the bouis-bouis where they are available and already laid out on your table. Even if I’m a big fan of discovering street food everywhere I go, at first, it was niet! Too afraid to get sick eating not fresh seafood.It was when I saw someone tasting them that I realized that these mussels were stuffed. At that moment, I decided to test it.And… it was a revelation, these stuffed mussels, which are eaten cold, are a killer! An explosion of flavor in the mouth.…
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Istanbul (Turkey) #5: Whirling Dervishes Ceremony at Silivrikapi Cultural Center (Silivrikapı Mevlana Culture Center)
As this was a religious ceremony to which we were fortunate enough to be invited, out of respect we preferred to be as discreet as possible and not to take pictures. The photos in the article are from the center’s website. As not all tourists have the same delicacy, you can find photos on Google Images and even videos on Youtube. If you would like to see a touring dervish show that is more “touristic” than the experience described below, you can book a tour on the Viator website. If the whirling dervishes are famous, I must say that before I found out, I didn’t really know what they were.…
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Attend a Basketball match in Istanbul (Turkey)
After attending several soccer games, I must discover basketball which is also very popular in Turkey. I have to say that I am much less of a basketball fan than a soccer fan but I appreciate the intensity of the matches and the fact that I regularly have intense suspense until the end of the game. That’s good, the Euroleague (the European Basketball Cup) has recently resumed. It isn’t easy to find information on how to buy tickets. I notice however that the match Fenerbhace – Khimki Moscow is available for sale on the Mobilet website. EDIT October 2019: The Mobilet site no longer seems functional. Tickets must now be…
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My criteria for choosing a cell phone
Small article which has as main interest to serve me as a reminder.Before I became a nomad, I used my cell phone very little, being behind my computer most of the time. I had a smartphone, like everyone else, but didn’t attach much importance to it.Since I’m nomadic, I’m outside much more often and need a better cell phone (I’m handicapped without Google Map).For a long time, I found it hard to accept paying a lot for a smartphone and ended up with cheap, slow phones with little memory space…I have a computer and an Apple tablet but for the phone, I still prefer an Android.After several failed attempts, here…
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Inventory of the unforgettable experiences of our trips
Travelling means constantly accumulating new experiences. Some of them are extraordinary. Others are much simpler but are local, authentic and enjoyable experiences. In order not to forget these magical moments, here is a non-exhaustive list, in chronological order, of experiences that we wish to engrave in our memory forever. The vast majority of these experiences start in June 2016 when we start our world tour but a few are from our previous trips. Enjoying salmon sashimi at the Sydney Fish Market in Australia Dinner in the restaurant “Jules Vernes” on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower Take a one-week cruise in the Norwegian fjords Attend the start of the…
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Behind the scenes of an Instagram photo in Göreme (Turkey)
For more than two years now that we have had the chance to travel, we have come across countless tourists ready to kill father and mother for a nice photo to share on Facebook or Instagram. Social networks have exacerbated our narcissism and for some, travel has become more of an excuse than anything else to be able to publish photos and show followers how cool we are. To be honest, it’s very difficult to escape the phenomenon completely and we also like to collect a lot of likes when we share a photo. However, we try to : remain authentic and do not give in to the temptation to…
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Getting shaved by a barber in Istanbul (Turkey)
When I discover a new country, I like to discover local experiences. Going to the barber shop is one of them. Authenticity guaranteed! So far, I have been generally disappointed with my experiences at the barber shop. With the exception of Khajuraho in India where I had been treated like a king in a filthy shop. Or in Osaka in Japan (which doesn’t really have a barber tradition…) where Japanese perfectionism makes the difference. But in Turkey, it is impossible not to go to the barber. Over there, the vast majority of the men are mustachioed or bearded. The regular passage to the barber is an institution. You can find…
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Attend a Fenerbahce match in Istanbul (Turkey)
To buy tickets for a Galatasaray match, you must have a Passolig card. I wrote a detailed article on the subject here: how to get a Passolig card. After attending a match of Galatasaray and one of Besiktas, I end my tour of the 3 mythical clubs of Istanbul with a match of Fenerbahce A special feature of this evening: it is a mini-derby. Fenerbahce indeed faces another Istanbul club: İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor (Istanbul BB) This match does not generate the same passion as the big derby between the 3 big ones: Galatasaray, Besiktas and Fenerbahce but the atmosphere promises to be warmer than the first two games I attended.…
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[story time] How did I get scammed in the souk of Tunis (Tunisia)?
It was March 2015, a little more than a year before our departure on our round-the-world trip, and I was still far from being the experienced traveler I have become since then. For the first time I was setting foot in the Maghreb and I was going to suffer (like so many tourists) a small scam, more vexing than truly detrimental. Souvenirs… It didn’t happen to me very often, but it was in the course of my work that I traveled. I was invited to speak at a conference in Tunis in my field of activity. I was very excited: first time I was going to set foot in Africa,…
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Discovery of the Turkish Baths (hammam) in Istanbul (Turkey)
What I particularly appreciate about traveling is trying to live authentic, typically local experiences. Traveling by public transportation, eating in dive bars where no tourist has ever set foot, getting a shave at the barbershop… or going to the public baths. I really liked the thermal baths in Budapest, appreciated the peculiarity of the sauna in Minsk, loved the onsens and sentos in Japan, a little less the Jjimjilbang in South Korea. In Turkey, it is impossible not to test the traditional hammams (or Turkish baths)! The tradition of the hammams is lost in Turkey. 100 years ago, there were 2500 Turkish baths in Istanbul. Since then the baths have…
