Yes, we have iskender

WOW – I'm blaming let lag for Chris (OK me actually) not getting up until 12:30! I guess that's what a ultra soft bed and black out curtains will do.

It is a glorious day of about 28 degrees and a bit of humidity. We walk and walk along the Bosphorous stopping here and there where occasionally there are groups of cafes, restaurants and shops. This kind of reminds me of Miami along the water. We eventually stop for a drink at a very locals' spot where there are mostly men drinking tea and playing backgammon and no one speaks English. Eventually I have a serious hankering for iskender.

Iskender is a dish I discovered last year in Istanbul. Iskender is a thick flat bread topped with tomato sauce with doner meat on top of that and a yogurt sauce on the side – delicious! We finally stop at one of many places where the men stand outside the restaurants, menus in hand trying to persuade you to come to his place rather than the next which looks exactly the same and has pretty much the same menu. We're convinced that each of these places uses the same kitchen. We decide on a place after asking 'doner?" 'iskender?' 'yes, yes' we are told and of course we see that it is on the menu, but a few minutes after we order the guy comes out to tell us that 'doner done', 'iskender finished' and opens the menu up and places his thumb over the iskender. Crap…how do you have no doner?? It is on every street corner. We manage to find the one place in all of Istanbul with no iskender. I end up having nothing as I'm not that hungry for anything else, so I drink my beer and eat half of Chris' meal (not iskender!)