Shopping at the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar in Istanbul

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This is the eighth of eleven posts on Istanbul. Check out our other posts here:

I love Daniel Craig as James Bond. I mean, he’s no Sean Connery, but in my opinion, he is the next best James Bond. So, while in Istanbul, Mr. Selfish and I rewatched Skyfall, because the opening sequence is set in Istanbul. Although it didn’t seem quite geographically accurate, there is an awesome chase scene near the Grand Bazaar.

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Unfortunately, I didn’t spot James Bond on a motorcycle at the Grand Bazaar. Nevertheless, it is still quite epic. The Grand Bazaar is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. It is quite large with 61 covered streets and over 3,000 shops. I was pretty surprised as to how large it was.

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Suleymaniye Hamami: A Mixed Gender Turkish Bath

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This is the seventh of eleven posts on Istanbul. Check out our other posts here:

Since Mr. Selfish and I had a lovely hammam experience in Morocco, we figured we would try a Turkish bath while in Istanbul. There are tons of hammams all over Istanbul but we opted for a mixed gender hammam near the Süleymaniye Mosque. The hammam was called Suleymaniye Hamami, and you can make a reservation online.

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Turkish Food is Quite a Delight!

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This is the sixth of eleven posts on Istanbul. Check out our other posts here:

I already went over the delicious cheap eats we had while in Istanbul. This post will go over some of the “fancier” food we had.

Zubeyir: The Best Adana Kebabs Ever!

I know I said in the last post that Turkish food was much more than kebabs, but we had to sample some while we were in Istanbul. After some Internet research, I discovered that Zubeyir (located at Şht. Muhtar Mh., 34435 Beyoğlu) is reputed to have some of the best adana kebabs in Istanbul.

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When we walked in and saw the grill in the middle of the restaurant, I knew that we had made the right decision. Mr. Selfish and I usually order different things when going to a new restaurant in order to diversify and try more than one dish. We didn’t do that here. We both ordered the adana kebabs, and I’m glad we did.

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Istanbul’s Magnificent Mosques

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This is the fifth of eleven posts on Istanbul. Check out our other posts here:

One of the reasons I was excited to visit Istanbul was to check out the numerous mosques that dot the city. A thoroughly modern city, Istanbul is an excellent blend of contemporary conveniences and ancient architecture. Coming from the States, it’s utterly bizarre to walk past a Starbucks, turn a corner, and find yourself face to face with a 500 year old building.

It also helps that the mosques are stunning.

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Cheap Eats in Istanbul!

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This is the fourth of eleven posts on Istanbul. Check out our other posts here:

When I started researching the food in Istanbul, I was overwhelmed by all the different types of Turkish food of which I was unaware. Turkish food is so much more than just kebabs. Mr. Selfish and I knew that we had to try as much Turkish cuisine as possible.

This post will outline some of the cheap eats we had in Istanbul. Mr. Selfish and I sampled as much as possible from the street vendors and more economical restaurants.

Red and White Carts: Give Me Pastries!

The first thing I noted was the abundance of pastries available from street vendors in Istanbul. I loved seeing those little red and white carts, because I knew a tasty treat was in store for me.

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We especially loved simits, which are circular bread covered with sesame seeds. The sweet donut-like treats weren’t too shabby either. Each treat cost about 1 TL, which is about $.48 USD.

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Hagia Sophia: Church, Mosque, and Now Museum

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This is the third of eleven posts on Istanbul. Check out our other posts here:

When Mr. Selfish and I landed in Istanbul, one of the first things we did was take a taxi to the Hagia Sophia. I had been compulsively checking the weather forecast for Istanbul the week prior to our trip. Unfortunately, it was to be rainy and cloudy the majority of our stay in Istanbul – except for that first day. So despite our jetlag, we immediately left our hotel room and headed for the Hagia Sophia.

We weren’t disappointed. The sun was gloriously shining, and the view of the Hagia Sophia was amazing.

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There are several benches and even a fountain in front of the Hagia Sophia. You can just sit and enjoy the view.

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4 Nights at the Magnificent Park Hyatt Istanbul

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This is the second of eleven posts on Istanbul. Check out our other posts here:

After a grueling 2 connections and 20 hours of flying, Mrs. Selfish and I finally arrived in Istanbul. A good 10 hours ahead of our home time zone, Mrs. Selfish and I were pretty beat, but there were places to go, things to see, food to eat.

Having recently attained diamond status through the Hyatt Diamond challenge, I was pretty excited to check out the Park Hyatt Istanbul. Mrs. Selfish and I have stayed at the Park Hyatt Zurich, Sydney, and Tokyo (where we pumped iron with Arnold Schwarzenegger), so I was looking forward to seeing whether or not the Park Hyatt Istanbul lives up to those other fabulous hotels.

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Short  answer: it does.

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Introduction to Istanbul

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This is the first of eleven posts on Istanbul. Check out our other posts here:

After a holiday hiatus in the States, Mrs. Selfish and I started planning our next big international trip. Having only visited Morocco during our Selfish Year abroad, Mrs. Selfish and I decided an African safari trip in Tanzania was in order.

With the United devaluation looming, we burned our stash of United miles for two tickets to Africa in business class. Prior to February 2014, these tickets cost 120,000 miles each, but once February hit the price jumped to 140,000!

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120,000 UA miles in January, 140,000 miles in February.

Since United has a rather generous award policy, allowing for a stopover and an open jaw or two stopovers, we determined we should stop somewhere on the way to recover from jetlag. Having always been fascinated with Turkish food and architecture, Istanbul seemed like the perfect location.

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Ahhhh, Istanbul.

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The Selfish Guides to Australia and New Zealand are Up!

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I know it has been a while. I have no excuse, other than that we’ve been enjoying our time in SF. I assure you that Mr. Selfish and I are hard at work at our trip reports for Istanbul and Tanzania.

But in the meantime, we’ve finally finished our Selfish Guides for Australia and New Zealand.

Check out the Selfish Guide to Australia here.

This is the Bay of Fires in Tasmania, which was our favorite place to visit in Oz.

Check out the Selfish Guide to New Zealand here.

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This is Milford Sound near Queenstown. Take the private jet there. Trust me, do it.

Heading to Turkey and Tanzania!

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Mrs. Selfish and I have been enjoying our time in San Francisco. We’ve seen the Golden Gate bridge from just about every possible angle. We’ve day-tripped to Sonoma, and Napa. We’ve even taken a few short weekend trips to Carmel, San Luis Obispo, Vancouver, and San Diego (trip reports coming soon!).

But with the pending United devaluation coming up, I decided it was time to burn through our United stash and slash a couple more items off our bucket list. So a few weeks ago I booked tickets to Istanbul, and Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

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120,000 UA miles in business to Europe and Africa!

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Where’s the Wagyu Beef? At Maruni!

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During our first visit to Japan in 2009, Mr. Selfish and I feasted at Grill Miyata, which was located in Kyoto but is now closed, for the best wagyu beef ever. With the revelation that most “Kobe” or “wagyu” beef in the States is in fact just regular beef, we knew that we had to have it again while in Japan.

Wagyu is expensive, as it should be. The term refers to several breeds of cattle that are genetically predisposed to intense marbling and to producing a high percentage of unsaturated fat. This, of course, makes them extra tasty.

Mr. Selfish and I did some research online and decided to try Maruni (1-11-1, Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-0004). It is a small yakiniku restaurant where they grill the meat right in front of you.

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THIS IS THE FUTURE: Tokyo Robots

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During our last visit to Tokyo, Mrs. Selfish and I spent a fair amount of time checking out the weird bits of Japan. We drank at the bizarro-Japanese DisneySea. We chased after lolita girls in Harijuku. We wandered around super nerdy Akihabara, and ultra trendy Shibuya. We even found Godzilla.

Amidst all of our nerdy wanderings, however, we somehow neglected robots. It was time to set things right.

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Good Eats in Tokyo: Yuian Izakaya and Jinnan Curry

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I love Japanese food. During our travel during the selfish year, Japanese food is the one cuisine of which I never got tired. Considering that we spent over forty days in Japan, that is quite a feat. Here are two tasty restaurants that we discovered during our last time in Tokyo.

Yuian Izakaya: A Great View and Good Food

Although Mr. Selfish and I are quite partial to the 35 Steps in Shibuya, we decided to give another izakaya a try. We found rave reviews for Yuian Izakaya (2-6-1 Shinjuku Sumitomo Building 52F) online and booked it for our last night in Tokyo. It is located in Shinjuku on the 52nd floor of an office building, which makes for great views during dinner.

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Relaxing in Roppongi

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Mr. Selfish and I always love visiting Tokyo. We usually stay in the areas of Shinjuku, Shibuya, Akihabara, and Harajuku. This time, we decided to go to the expat area – Roppongi.

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Pumping Iron at the Park Hyatt Tokyo

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Mrs. Selfish and I were originally planning on skipping Tokyo altogether, having gone there twice before. Unfortunately, I had some difficulty finding a business award flight from Tokyo to San Francisco. Availability was limited at the time I booked our tickets, so I opted to book economy, with the hopes that 2 business class awards would open up closer to our travel date.

After checking back every day for two months, I finally found 2 business class awards. Unfortunately, they were 4 days after our connecting flight from Okinawa. Fortunately, we love Tokyo.

Having had a wonderful 5 night stay at the Park Hyatt Tokyo last May, I decided to book 3 nights at the Park Hyatt Tokyo. While I wasn’t surprised that the hotel was still amazing, I was surprised by who I ran into at the Park Hyatt’s gym – let me set the scene.

The Park Hyatt’s gym is small, especially the weight section, which can’t fit more than 6-8 people comfortably. Just check this puppy out:

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So it didn’t take me very long to realize that the hulking man doing bicep curls to my left was none other than the Governator himself, Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger. After a few awkward glances, I fell into my normal routine until the man left, without saying a word to him. After I told Mrs. Selfish what happened, she told me to wake up her up the following morning, should Arnold be at the gym a second time.

The second morning I woke up and bam!, there he was again. After a quick phone call, Mrs. Selfish arrived with camera in tow, so that we would have photographic evidence of our encounter with Mr. Schwarzenegger.

Behold!

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Mr. Schwarzenegger was in town promoting his new movie, Escape Plan, and was a guest at the Park Hyatt Tokyo. Though he seemed like he had a packed day, he still took the time to pose for a picture with us, which was pretty cool. Though I never saw him outside of the gym itself, I did see his Japanese bodyguard on several more occasions.

Anyway, back to the hotel itself.

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