Istanbul

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPnM7puMeZk

Most awesome city in the world. We ate at Mikla and it is the best restaurant I have ever been too.

In the middle of the football season Clive? I hope you've booked it during the break for internationals..

Do you know where you are staying?

I've been twice but Deniz (the lady friend) is from Turkey so here are her suggestions;

• Do the touristy stuff in Sultanahmet.
  
• Have a look around Nişantaşi (especially if you have read any Orhan Pamuk). We have a few friends who live there. It's the Chelsea of Istanbul. Nice for shopping and food.
  
• Have Fish at Cicek Pasaji when you are near Taksim.. I'd say Raki but you don't drink.
  
• Have dinner at a restuarant called leb-i derya, awesome views and a more european menu.
  
  

I'd say take a boat out from Ortakoy (middle-village) but it might be a bit nippy. There is a sea-view cycle path in Bostanci but that might suffer from the same problem.

Have fun mate.

Both Topkapı Palace and Dolmabahçe Palace are absolute musts.

get in a cab at night and travel about 100KPH on an empty road, pretty sure we got air time on every underpass

i was drunk so it was fun and really scary,

we didn't ask him to go 100KPH

Thanks for all your suggestions. We are staying here

http://www.sumahan.com/index.php/en/meetings.html

Which may well be in the wrong area but appears to be a lovely hotel albeit necessitating river taxis all the time.

Best city ever. Drink tea / cay in the Topkapi Palace gardens. It's a stunningly beautiful spot. Went there on our honeymoon last year, wonderful wonderful place. There's a restaurant in Sultenahmet that was out of this world. Not normally considered to be the best area to eat in due to volume of tourists, which seems fair, but this one place is PHENOMENAL. Get the patlacan kebab or the one with pistachios, both were incredible. I can't remember the name so i'll ask t'wife and get back to you. Highly recommended. And we eat tons of amazing turkish food in stokey all the time so had a fairly good comparison point.

^^^ the restaurant is Khorasani

http://www.khorasanirestaurant.com/

Don't miss getting a freshly caught mackerel sandwich from one of the stalls next to the bosphorous.

^ This. They are all kinds of awesome. Some of the best street food I've eaten. The stalls are by the ferry terminals, down by the spice market.

And do go to a Hammam for a rub down.

didnt want to start a new thread - but im off to southern turkey, Kalkan. Any one been ??? food recommendations, secret beaches????

round the coast from kalkan is Kas {cash}. some good restaurants there, including one on the corner in the square, one of many anatolian places. as ever, patlican kebap is phenomenal. there's a fanstastic hippy bar in Kas too. Follow the harbour road past the town square and up a hill. you'll see the bar on the right, it's on wooden stilts and is open air. tons of stray cats, but don't let that put you off. beautiful sunsets, a bar manager / dj that looks like the lawyer in carlito's way, and great folky hippy tunes / ice cold beer. if you're after something upmarket, try the lighthouse hotel on the peninsula. a very good restaurant with unbelievable views. we stayed there for our honeymoon last year, bliss.

FoieG. thanks nice recommendations, cant wait to get away.

Dredging this thread up.

It's looking increasingly likely that my girlfriend is going to be working in Istanbul for three months over winter, I'm freelance so I thought I may as well tag along.

Any good spots for road riding outside the city? I'm going to take my bike.

Take the ferry across to Asia, ride along the Bosphorous then take the ferry at the end over to Europe then cycle back along the Bosphorous.

Roads not always in great condition and likely to be cold in winter so wrap up well

This film had me falling in love with the city but not fast paced

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0346094/

Thanks, I was wondering about road surfaces and weather through November and December. Pretty exciting!

Not familiar with the film, I'll have to give it a look.

Is Karaköy a good choice for where to sleep?

Also, @Gustav, do you think that the infos from here are still more or less valid?

here

unfortunately i'm not in a good pace to comment on the recommendations as I haven't been there in 7 years...

Take the ferry over to Yalova, and head south towards Iznik Golu. Beautiful riding round there, tiny roads and decent hills.

I was hoping it would be good and hilly. I'm thinking about getting some 25mm tires if the road surfaces are going to be a bit sketchy and finally invest in good jacket as I hear it gets really cold.