Wednesday in Istanbul

Wednesday was my first full day in Istanbul, thus the first morning I got to have delicious hotel breakfast. The conference was at the Legacy Ottoman Hotel, and like I said, it's in a great location. It also has an excellent breakfast buffet, with all kinds of fruit, cheeses, pastries, hot food, sweets, drinks, on and on. It was just a huge buffet. I stuffed myself. And then I headed down for the conference opening and keynotes.



I attended the whole day of talks and such. They served us lunch at the hotel, which was pretty decent. The day ended with a cocktail reception at Marmara University, near the Blue Mosque. This is the scene from right outside.



Since they weren't doing dinner for us that night, I left with a bunch of the young German contingent, to join for dinner in the new district, in the Galata area. The street decorations and busy shopping atmosphere reminded me of London and Verona. A very European feel.



The restaurant we went to for dinner had four stories of dining area, with tourists and locals mixed in. We made it all the way up to the top story terrace, where it was a little chilly but gave a good view of the street. Most of us started with lentil soup, it's really the thing in Istanbul. I finally got to have ayran, a yogurt drink, much like a salty lassi.



We ate all kinds of mezze (starters). I didn't have it in me to have coffee so late at night, but Kai did and Rene told his fortune from the grounds!



One of the professor, Matthias, was kind enough to get dinner for all nine of us. It was a good meal with good company and atmosphere!