Sampling Everything

In between the day of Anzac Day and then the following day when we visited the Anzac battlefields, our tour included a night’s stay in the nearest proper town across the Bosphorus channel, Canakkale (pronounced cha-na-ka-leh), which was a cute, very small little town right on the water.

Having spent the previous night sitting in a grandstand freezing our you-know-whats off (see here), we were sorely tempted to fall straight into bed at the hotel room, but we persevered, and are very glad that we did.

First stop was a coffee shop, to try proper Turkish coffee, and sample little truffles (at least that’s what they looked like). Honestly, Turkish coffee was a disappointment. It was very bitter, and almost the entire bottom half of the espresso-sized cups was filled with a gritty, murky, fairly dense slop, which we presume was actually the mushed up coffee beans. That part did not taste good at all.

Nevertheless, we certainly enjoyed feeling very European sitting outside in our coats and scarves sipping our little espressos.

We then moved closer to the water, where we found a lovely line of cafes and restaurants. Isn’t this view fantastic?

We decided we needed to continue working our way through Turkish drinks (and a very cold wind was cutting straight through me outside), so inside we went. Tom tried a beer, and I tried apple tea, which we had seen on virtually every drinks menu since arriving in Istanbul.

Like the coffee, the apple tea did not impress me (I sound really fussy don’t I??). It was basically like drinking hot apple juice. We learned later that the Turkish locals don’t usually drink it, it’s mainly offered for tourists. I’m not sure why.

We then walked a little further inland, and discovered the inevitable mosque minaret, which of course I snapped a picture of.

We actually spent ages trying to find a restaurant that would serve local Turkish food instead of the usual tourist fare of hamburgers, chips and toasted sandwiches. We eventually found a lovely little understated place that offered just what we were after. Keeping with our theme for the evening, we tried yet another Turkish drink (this time very much a local favourite), called Ayran. It’s essentially watered down yoghurt – the natural type, not the sweet type. It was interesting, but quite enjoyable, particularly when paired with seafood.

We finally called it a night then as I started nodding off at the table, and departed quite early the following morning for our battlefield tour.

On our way to the ferry back to the mainland I spotted the local clocktower and snapped a shot as we drove by. Sorry it’s blurry.

And that was Canakkale. A lovely little place on the Asian continent (but still in Turkey) for a short visit.