Quiet Days

Because of the holiday at the end of Ramazan, known as Şeker Bayramı in Turkish and Eid al-Fitr in Arabic, I have had a couple of quiet days. Most people spend time with their families during the three day holiday, so museums, galleries, and other destinations are closed. Yesterday I really took it easy--my big accomplishment was doing laundry. Today I decided to get out and about. Aside from meeting a friend I knew from the Turkish conversation group at the UA for lunch, which was quite enjoyable, nothing I planned to do really worked out. The galleries were closed and the ticket line for the Bosphorus tour was insane. I was not prepared to elbow my way through that crowd, so I found a cafe and got some Turkish coffee. Then I took my usual ferry to Kadıköy to walk along the waterfront. From there I chatted with Alex for a while and then went to a bakery I like to get some good bread. (It's soooooooooo cheap! One lira is about 50 cents... You can't get a loaf of decent bread for 50 cents anywhere in the U.S. nohow, never!) I took the return ferry to Kabataş, climbed back up the hill to the apartment, and soon I'm going to have a simple dinner of cacık and bread, with plums for dessert.
Here are a few photos from the last couple of days:

Hanging out with the cats, Safran and Kimyon (Saffron and Cumin)

 Street musician and child

 Relaxing on the waterfront 

 Going back to Kabataş, past the former train station, Haydarpaşa