Thomas Bärtl is a great Manager and also a bon vivant. As an Expat living in Istanbul he knows all about the city and where the right places to visit are. But first we took a shower and relaxed a bit in our HYMER mobile home before we met Thomas and went to hidden restaurant called Feraye in Beyoglu. The entrance in a side lane is not having any sign to indicate that this is a restaurant and you feel as you go in a private building to visit friends. In the second floor there is the little insider place and as soon as we arrived Thomas was already welcomed very cordially.

Thomas was in company with his charming Russian girl friend and we started a typical Turkish evening. We first got served mashed egg plants, a kind of Tzatziki, a spicy peppers ragout, stuffed grape leaves followed by different salads, fried anchovies, pan-fried liver, Kofta (meatballs) and roasted lamb. We drank Raki (anis-flavoured spirit) with water throughout the meal and listened to the traditional band playing old songs. As longer we stayed as more guests sang with the songs the atmosphere got hotter and one after the other started to dance to the oriental music. Midnight the birthday of one of the guests was celebrated by singing the birthday child songs and congratulated him cordially.

Shortly after midnight we went further to one of the hot spots of the city the Angelique Club at the Radisson Blu Bosphorus Hotel Istanbul. The ones who are fed up to listen to the boring stories about us should read further now. A little bit shy in such a chick surrounding Falko and I decided to sit down, relax and watch. At our table there was already a bottle of rum and vodka in a punch bowl, Red Bull, water and fruits. We got told to start to drink besides watching and had a Vodka/Red Bull and went on to the terrace of the club. Right at the Bosphorus you see the Bosphorus Bridge and the lights of the other continent on the other side.

After some time there were more and more people on the terrace and we learned to know people from France, Italy and certainly from Turkey. Some kind of being hungry to party after being in the country side for some time we were very happy to be in an international city and party, toasting with everybody and having a bit to much of alcohol at the end of the day.

We are usually drinking beer and wine, but with the additional Raki and vodka in the club our mood went up tremendously. I surprised myself dancing wild to Michael Jackson and Falko did some moon walking for the ladies. That we will get some attention, especially after Falko almost felt over a table and we stayed and partied until 4 am in the morning. A Taxi drove us safely to our HYMER mobile home and we slept like babies.

As usual, time was pressuring us, so we did not see as much as we wanted, but for us the quality was more important then the quantity and hope to be back soonest to discover more!!!

And here's a recipe for you