Playing Tourist:Galata & special museum

Wandered back over the Golden Horn again this evening. My plan was to head up Galata Tower for sunset and night lights, then over to the Museum of Innocence which is a museum curated by Orhan Pamuk the author of a book by the same name. The line up was long given it was Valentine's Day so I decided to switch it around.

The Museum of Innocence isn't too hard to find if you have a map, but there are some hills you'll have to walk up and down. The place isn't big, about 3 floors. It's basically displays of everyday items corresponding to the chapters in the book. I think you do need to either have read the book or get the audio guide. There's a few copies of the book around so that's how I came to the conclusion, though there probably isn't enough time to read and look at the displays. In the end, it was an interesting museum but a little disappointing given the admission price. I guess I was hoping it would be similar to the Museum of Broken Relationships in Croatia that I absolutely loved.

Back to the Galata Tower, the line had shrunken quite a bit and was moving fairly well. Outside the tower, there was a light show projecting hearts onto the wall as it was Valentine's Day. Couples were everywhere and it was a buzzing Thursday night. I made my way up to the tower and walked around outside for a beautiful 360 of Istanbul, do recommend if seeing a panorama and night lights are your thing, but otherwise, you could find a terrace restaurant or other viewpoints as well.

Walked back over the Galata Bridge in search for dinner. I was hoping to find a balik ekmek or fresh fish sandwich that I'd seen on an episode of Rick Steves. It's basically Turkish fast food that they were off a boat near the Galata Bridge. I didn't find one on my way there, but did when I came back. There are three boats on one end of the bridge. I simple picked the busies place as it was probably good there and the fish wouldn't have been sitting too long. Another yummy meal and called it a night.Read more