Turkey - Istanbul - Lots of work and some food

It wasn’t easy getting up, but I managed and did my morning workout. I was proud of myself for having done that and after a shower had a nice breakfast. I wanted to do a video of breakfast, but there were many people around, so I just decided not to. Most of them seemed the business type. On my way back to the room, I did pick up a fig to eat.

Afterwards I got ready for work. That took up most of the day. However, one of the partners took us to lunch at this very nice restaurant. I visited it last June as well. It looks very unassuming, you wouldn’t think it’s anything special. However, the food is delicious. It’s called Madalyalı Koru Tesisleri and I wrote a review.

Review:

Oasis in the area

Madalyalı is a more traditional Turkish restaurant. It’s located in an area that is a mixture of industrial and residential. Definitely not the place where you see many tourists roaming around.

I’ve eaten twice in this restaurant, both times invited by partners who work near there. We ate in the shady more open area. There is small inner garden in there, with a pond that has frogs and turtles, though I would suggest adding fish. There is a cute waterfall. However, the waterfall does have a lot of limescale, which could use a clean-up. There did seem to be something going on with the little garden, so I hope that it’s what I suggested.

Both times I had a Turkish salad, which was very nice. I asked for a version without walnuts, as I’m allergic. If you have the same problem, then note that by default it does have walnuts. We also got some mushrooms with cheese, which looked very nice, though again, I can’t eat mushrooms. For main, I had a nice piece of meat with rice and lentils. They also brought some thin Turkish bread, which was nice. I do love the rice and lentils combo, and that’s something I’ll want to do at home.

I do recommend this restaurant. The flavours are good and simple. The atmosphere is comfortable, and even on a hot day very cool. It’s an oasis in a busy environment. For more on Istanbul, please visit my channel on YouTube, Izzy’s Travel Diaries.

After some more work, we headed back to the hotel, pretty tired. I had some free time, and the sun was shinning onto the balcony. I picked up that rolling desk-chair, a put it out onto the balcony. I had no bikini, so I rolled up my skirt and put on a workout bra. I first tried to work on my laptop, but the light was so strong. I opted for my Kindle instead. I stayed outside in spite of the loud street until I could get some sun.

I wasn’t very hungry, so we just had a light dinner at Mado. I had a lentil soup. I really love the traditional lentil soup in Turkey. I try to eat it more than once. They spiced it up a bit by adding some small mozzarella balls and crotons. The Mado near the hotel was very nice. They even shot down the fan when I asked. The air was moving fine on its own anyway. The waiter was a really attentive and fast-moving guy. I liked him a lot.

After dinner, I decided not to hit the sack yet and went down to do some video and buy a few things at the shop. My mum has a major sweet tooth, so I always try to take her some local chocolate. It was nice walking around at night. There were a lot of people about, also a couple of dogs. They seemed a lot livelier than during the day, when they mostly just lie about.