Dracula's Gay Brother and the Sultan

Here is a fascinating bit of history I learned while in Istanbul:


RADU THE FAIR:  This story is great and actual history.  It turns out that Vlad III, the historic and bloody Prince (king actually but called Prince) of Wallachia better known by his nickname of Dracula, had three brothers. When his Christian father made a pact with the Ottoman Sultan to gain his throne, Dracula's father sent young Vlad and his handsome young brother Radu to the Sultan's court as hostages. The two brothers were raised with the Sultan's son Mehmet. They studied together. Radu grew up to be very handsome and charismatic. He was nicknamed Radu the Fair, and Mehmet pursued him. They are said to have become lovers.  

The two brothers lives diverged. Vlad hated school at the court and rebelled often. So he was often punished severely. Radu converted to Islam and became a leader of the elite Ottoman Jainassary troops. Vlad eventually became Prince of Wallachia -renowned for torturing prisoners while he ate.  He switched sides and opposed the Ottomans.  When the Sultan sent in troops Vlad and his army slaughtered 20,000 Turkish men, women and children by impaling them and leaving a forest of their bodies to scare off the Turks. It worked in scaring off the Ottoman troops. So the Sultan called in Radu to take care of Dracula.  

The brothers battled and became known in Turkish legend as the Blood Brothers.  Radu drove out Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler) who fled to Hungary. Radu became Prince allied with the Ottomans and appears to have had a fairly prosperous reign until his untimely death around age 40.  He also assisted Mehmet in conquering Constantinople.  Thus is the story of Dracula's brother and Mehmet the Conqueror. 

The Children of Lilith

Our friend Javid told us an interesting piece of folklore I thought I would share:

LILITH:  You may have heard of Lilith, Adam's first wife in Jewish and later Christian and Muslim legend. Stories say she wouldn't submit to Adam and left him. Then God made Eve.  What I didn't know was that in Muslim legends Lilith has red hair and redheads are teased sometimes about being Lilith's descendants. 

Street Food in Istanbul

Istanbul is full of delicious street food. Here are some examples:

Vendors sell a variety of seasonal fruits. Besides apples and bananas, this one is selling cherries and fresh, green plums. These plums are tart and crisp. At first I thought they were small, green tomatoes. 

My favorite street food, however, comes from the food carts that sell freshly squeezed juices. Orange ("portakal") juice is common. My favorite though is pomegranite ("nar"). Typical prices are 1-5 Turkish lira (TL).  2 TL = $1. 

"Simit" is similar to a sesame bagel except it is thinner, drier, and less chewy. 

Food carts also sell roasted corn on the cob and roasted chestnuts. 

I don't have a photo of a guy selling "midye dolmas", but they are another common street food. These "mussel dolmas" are a cooked mixture of fresh mussels, rice, and spices served on a mussel shell. The other half of the shell is put on top. For days I thought these food carts were selling whole mussels in the shell until I had midye dolmas in a restaurant.  The midye dolmas are delicious and are normally eaten with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. So you'll see a stand of mussel shells and lemons. That will be the midye dolma stand. 

You may have noticed I referred to all the vendors as he. That is because I never saw a female food vendor and rarely any female shopkeepers. 

Lira Mania

Today we walked into a local neighborhood grocery where the shopkeeper wanted to change us 55 Turkish lira for a liter of Coke and a box of sugar cubes. That's about $27!  So we asked how much the Coke was. It was 2 TL. And the sugar was 35 TL. 35 is still outrageous plus 35+2 does not equal 55 when I last checked. So we bought the Coke and left.