Traditional turkish dessert. Lokma.

The lokma - delicious Turkish dessert made from sugar, yeast and flour. The dessert usually served with the sugar syrup or honey.

You will never find the lokma in a sweet-shop, supermarket or cafe and restaurant. The lokma is a kind of street food. In Istanbul it sells open air and not everywhere.

Lokma

The lokma is very gooey, that`s why it is always served with a toothpicks. You should thread the lokma with a toothpick and put it to your mouth and enjoy the taste.

Lokma is very old traditional turkish dessert that is famous from The Ottoman Empire and popular till nowdays. 

How to cook The Lokma.

Ingredients:

For lokma.

1. 1,25 cup of warm water;
2. 1 teaspoon of sugar;
3. 1 teaspoon of yeast;
4. 1 teaspoon of salt;
5. oil;
6. 2,2 cup of flour.

 For the syrup.

1. 1,3 cup of water;
2. 3 cups of sugar;
3. 2 big spoon of lemon juice.

Put sugar and yeast to the warm water and mix it till sugar and yeast will melt. Leave it for 10 minutes. Put flour and salt to a bowl and mix. Add warm water with sugar and yeast and mix again. Cover it and leave it in a warm area for two hours. Then make small balls usung a spoon and hands.
Heat the oil and put balls into the oil and fright it two minutes on each side.

Mix all ingredients for the syrup and put hot, frighted balls into the syrup.

Bon appetite!

 

How to get from Sabiha Gokcen airport to Sultanahmet

Most of tourists wonder about how to get from Sabiha Gokcen airport to Sultanahmet area in Istanbul. 

These are few ways how to do that. If you have enough time you can use transfer (Havatas) to get from the Sabiha Gokcen airport to the Kadikoy ferry boat station and then go by ship to the Eminonu. In the Eminonu you will need to use the speedy tramway to get to the Sultanahmet station. All ships departure due to the timetable, and sometimes it can take time to wait for departure. In fine, your trip will take at least 2-2.5 hours.

However, if you want to save your time you can use undersea railway Marmaray. It will be the most faster way to reach the Sultanahmet area.

From Sabiha to Sultanahmet by Marmaray

• You should take a bus Havatas near the entrance of the Sabiha Gokcen airport. You can see it easily with a huge name on the bus "Havatas". That transfer will take you straight to the Kadikoy.

• Arriving from the Sabiha Gokcen to Kadikoy you will see a column with letter M. This is a metro station (M4 line). Use that line to get to the Ayrilikcesme station.

• When you will get to the Ayrilikcesme metro station, you will see the Marmaray railway with the same station name - Ayrilikcesme. This two stations (metro and Marmaray) are in the same area, so you can find it easily. 
• Use Marmaray railway to get to the Sirkeci station.
• Go out on the street from the Marmaray railway platform and find a tramway station in front of the entrance of the Marmaray.
• Get in to the T1 speedy tramway and get out on the Sultanahmet station.

Marmaray station on the right. In the left you can see the rails of speedy tramway.

To make your trip easier, I prepared for you the info-graphic chart that you can download, print and take with you to your trip from the Sabiha Gokcen airport to the Sultanahmet.

Please, mention that with Istanbulkard you can save more money and your trip from the Sabiha Gokcen airport to the Sultanahmet area will cost at least 2 times less. 

The Grand Bazaar Istanbul

The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul you can find in the historical central European part of Istanbul, not too far from the Egyptian Bazaar and the Eminonu ferry boat station.

Sometimes tourists mixed the Grand Bazaar with the Egyptian Bazaar. However, this is two different places, that are not in the same area.

An entrance to the Egyptian Bazaar is just in front of The New Mosque (Yeni Cami), on the Eminonu station. But, the Grand Bazaar is a little bit far.

You can take a tramway T1 to the Beyazit-Kapalicharsi station from Eminonu to get to the Grand Bazaar. It will take about 5-7 minutes.

The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the oldest and one of the biggest bazaar that was opened in 1894. Nowadays, it comprises about 4000 shops with different kind of goods. 

Inside the Grand Bazaar there are four fountains with a drinking water.

Strolling throgh the Grand Bazaar you should be very careful with your wallet. It is very crowded place and a lot of professional pickpockets are working there.

Also, you must bargain before buying something. Its a traditional "game" and absolutely necessary if you don`t want to pay 3 times more then it costs. ) 

Weather in Istanbul in December

If you are going to visit Istanbul in December and don`t know what is better to take with you, let me give you some advices.

Weather in Istanbul in December usually is not very cold and can reach about +12 degree in day time and drop down till +5 degree. You have to mention about it going to go out from home for an all day tour. It will be better, if you will take a coat and a sweater. Sweater you can put to your beg and to wear it at the evening, if weather will change. 

Some days in December in Istanbul are really sunny and warm, some are rainy and chill. So, will be nice to have am umbrella or a raincoat with a hood. 

December is nice to visit Istanbul. It is not hot and you can visit a lot of places without suffering of the hot weather, joasting in the crowd and stay in a lines to visit historical places. 

I am sure that weather in Istanbul in December will not disappoint you!

Weather in Istanbul in December