Tuzla Waterfront

Last week Tuesday our friend Keri arrived in Istanbul on her way to do research in Mardin for a few weeks. Funda and I met her at the airport (with Funda driving like a boss in Istanbul traffic!) and later that day, after dinner, we all went to Tuzla to walk along the waterfront. We weren’t the only ones with this idea… During Ramazan, many families break their fast (the iftar meal) with a picnic outside. Of course, in Tuzla, what better place to do that than in the public park on the waterfront? So, we arrived just as the sun set, had a little adventure with parking, and then entered the park that was overflowing with elaborate picnic setups—grills, little stoves for tea, blankets, and pillows. Children were playing and running everywhere, and there were cats—millions and billions and trillions of cats! Ege headed straight for the playground, and was not at all interested in walking along the waterfront, so Keri and I went ahead and made a vague plan to meet Tolga, Funda and Ege on the path a little later. (You can probably guess what happened…) We walked, talked, took some photos and then realized that we hadn’t seen the others yet. So began the “how do you find your friends in the dark when you don’t have a cell phone yet in a place you don’t know at all” part of this story. We went back to the park, we went back to the waterfront path, I stayed on the path and Keri went back to the park, and then… I saw them! Huzzah! In the end, we all had a very nice walk, separately. Finally, it was treat time for Ege, which meant going to Burger King for a milkshake. There, he found the kiddie play area, and firmly made his case for playing there. When we were on the road back home, we made some ambitious plans to make mercimek köftesi that same night, but everyone promptly collapsed into sleep once we got there.