Turkish Coffee at Grand Vezir (Istanbul, Turkey) and a Chance Meeting

In my travels, I have learned that in order to find cool places, I sometimes have to rely on my curiosity and spontaneity. I do read a lot of travel sites and blogs but it is sometimes difficult to follow everything and everyone, moreover, not everyone blogs in detail about their travels like I do. So I rely on my own first hand discovery and experience.

So in Istanbul, I discovered this really nice and cool café on Sultanahmet Park just beside the Blue Mosque. When I saw the café I knew right away that it is time for some Turkish Coffee.

The doorway you see is the entrance to the Blue Mosque. The two guys behind the plants were the young American lad and the retired Turkish man that I met.

Here at Grand Vezir Restaurant & Cafe they serve the Turkish Coffee with Turkish Delights and water. Turkish Coffee is quite similar to Greek Coffee and I quite like it.

At this café I met two gentlemen – a local man of age, he is retired, who lives in the Asian side of Istanbul and has travelled all over the world during his younger days and an American young lad from Buffalo, New York. They were sitting beside me with the plants in between us and it was the Turkish man who struck a conversation with me, not really letting the plants that divide us become a hindrance. Later into the conversation he said that he has to leave for an appointment and told the young American guy to move over to my table so it will be easier for us to talk.

The American guy said that it was weird to have met the Turkish man because he has lived on the same street where he grew up in Buffalo, New York (USA). He thought that it was a very strange coincidence. A chance meeting? Well, the world is smaller than we thought!

He also just came from Rotterdam as he has a sister living in the Netherlands. He also thought it was strange to meet another person, again (that is me), who lives from where he came from, well at least where he is based for this Europe visit. Lots of coincidences, haha. He said that the travel bug has bitten him and he is crazy about Europe. He is taking advantage of cheap flights, hostels and free stays from friends and his sister. He doesn’t really care much about culture and stuff, he just wants to visit a new place, walk around, bath in the sights and chill. He said that a friend of his told him about this cool café.

I told him that the café is beside the Blue Mosque and facing the Blue Mosque is the Hagia Sofia, a Christian Church that was built in the 5th century and served as the patriarchal seat of the Orthodox Christian Church in Constantinople (old name of Istanbul), which later was converted into an imperial mosque in the 15th century, and in the 20th century, it became a museum. As we parted ways, he said that although he is not into culture, I got him intrigued about the history so he will check both buildings, perhaps just on the outside.

I kind of like meeting people like this in my trips. Unplanned, no pressure to be friends and just passing type of affairs.

Sultanahmet Park, the view from my table at Grand Vezir.

Such a beautiful presentation of my Turkish Coffee and Turkish Delights. The American guy has not tasted a Turkish Delight so I urged him to take the other piece which he did.

That is the young American lad I met with the beard. Unfortunately, I do not have a clear picture of the local Turish man.

A really nice simple yet down to earth place to have local Turkish coffee or Turkish tea.

Travel Period: May 2015
Destination: Fatih, Istanbul (Marmara), Turkey

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