1st Day

On the first day, we took a ferry trip to Beşiktaş, European Side. On our way, I ordered Turkish coffee for my guests and looked at their fortunes.

Then, I gave my guests a trip of Barbaros Square, Beşiktaş. We studied the statue of Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa and his squad. The Rio team expressed their political views, saying that it looked like the colonial statues in their own country. I calmly expressed that Turkey is not Portugal or Brazil, to which they exclaimed, “Oh, you have a different history.” And then went on to tell me about the history of racism and slavery in Brazil, which was like a “sickness” the author Viviane Roux Bruno said.

We had quick beers and snacks at Joker No. 19, to display the guests a high quality yet popular and accessible youth locale.

Afterwards, we went to Taksim for dinner. I took my guests to Jash, an authentic Armenian meyhane in Cihangir. My Brazilian guests could enjoy the authentic Armenian cuisine and culture of Istanbul. Topik for example, is a dish which only exists in the Armenian community of Istanbul, not in the diaspora or Armenia.

I showed some Turkish belly dance moves and we all danced to the accordeonist Hayk’s tunes!