You can find waffles all over Istanbul, but my personal favorite is Kemal Usta. One of the best things to do in the city is sit with friends and have a waffle. I prefer the original branch of Kemal Usta in the Moda district of Kadıköy.
One of the most important buildings in Kadıköy is the Haydarpaşa Railway Station (Haydarpaşa Garı). It has served as the busiest commuter station in Istanbul and connects Istanbul with other cities in Anatolia. Service has been temporarily suspended in order to upgrade the tracks to a high speed railway and for archaeological excavations (as of April 2023).
The seedier neighbor to Moda is Rasimpaşa. This area in Kadıköy, just steps away from one of Istanbul’s nicest neighborhoods, is much less visited for the simple fact that it doesn’t have as much to offer.
Central Kadıköy (Kadıköy Merkez) will be most people’s first look at the Kadıköy district of Istanbul. This small area near the ferry terminal has a few great restaurants, excellent cafés, and lively markets scattered throughout its bustling pedestrian streets. It’s a fun place to observe daily life in the city.
Kadıköy is a district on the Asian side of Istanbul. It was originally settled by the ancient Greeks as Chalcedon (Χαλκηδώνα) in 685 BC, almost 20 years before Byzantium (Constantinople).
The best time I had living in Istanbul was in the Moda neighborhood of Kadıköy. It has a phenomenal location near the sea and is cosmopolitan and open-minded.
In Istanbul, Martin and Gönül invited me to join them at the 2014 World Cup Qualifier between Turkey and Romania. It was a little difficult to find each other in the sea of everyone wearing red, but I met them outside of Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Kadıköy an hour before the game.