So how did we decide to travel to Istanbul? Actually it’s a pretty fun story (especially for me), because the whole trip to Turkey was my birthday gift from Denis. What can I say, except that I was totally blown away when he handed over a trip plan (a real nice ‘presentation’ with photos & information about the places we’d go) and said we would be on our way in 10 days. Boy was I surprised! He had done it again, without me having a clue what he’d been up to…
The itinerary looked something like this: First
a stop in Istanbul, then flying to central Turkey and Cappadocia, and finally exploring the coast from
Fethiye till Antalya. In a nutshell, this was going to be our
route. Without a further ado- Selam Istanbul!
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* *
We had our first two nights booked very close
to all major attractions such as the Topkapi palace, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque (also known as the
Sultan Ahmed Mosque) etc.,
which made it very easy for us to go see them all. There is a whole lot of great
things to do and see in Istanbul, and we had four full days to get
to know the place. The first day we just shifted around like lost puppies, and
didn’t really start to understand the city at all. My first impression, aside from the famous monuments, was that it was a never-ending town
that had everything thrown together- beautiful old architecture with completely rundown buildings. But the more we got around, the better we felt about it. As
we strolled through the spice market (reminded me of Morocco), the general vibe of the town was starting
to transmit to us- the genuine friendliness of people.
We found one of our favorite spots, The Galata Bridge, later that day, and chilled
there till we caught a gorgeous sunset (I guess this is one of the best
places to get the sunset over the city line, particularly outlining the mosques).
The next day we visited the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia*. The BM has some certain hours one can get in, and HS has normally (unless you go really early) lines up to kilometres long. Nevertheless we got in to both and I must say it was well worth it. It was our first time to get into a mosque, and after removing our shoes, we stepped in to this gorgeous open space that surely felt very different than being in a church. We then continued to Hagia Sophia, which was like the royal of the monuments- inside out just majestic. We were thrilled to have seen both of them inside, queuing or not, these were must-sees. What lies also on top of all the experiences, is getting there during the night time to hear the call for prayer. A true moment of magic: the pitch dark sky along with the massive mosques all lit up and flocks of white birds circulating above the highest tower tops.
After the cultural intake, we were really up
for some good food. We got to this lovely restaurant called Amedros and had the
most delicious Turkish cuisine. It’s located in Sultanahmet district, which
makes it easy accessible from both- main sites and bazaar. Later we found out
the place’s on top of all the recommendations (even our own guide book), and
although unlikely from us, we just had to dine there the next day too. But
finding good bite or proper food is never an issue in Istanbul; the streets are full of all kinds of restaurants, kebab stands and little deli stores. We had some of the best
steals straight from street stands!
Now that we had done most of the 'necessary' sites, we could focus on the real places away from massive tourist groups. One of things I was really looking forward was to
get lost in the labyrinths of Bazaar, and surely to get
my hands on some souvenirs while at it. We had a pretty pleasant encounter with
one of the sellers as he invited us inside of his ‘magic lamp store’ and
offered us tea (turns out you’ll be offered tea all the time). We chatted away with him for over an hour and just
before leaving he made a great deal for one of those lamps I so desired. It so
happened that this Turkish guy, Salih, we had met earlier in January in Alhambra, Spain, co-owns a handbag store just around
the corner from Bazaar. So we went to see him next. Such a nice guy, he sat
down with us for good two hours to chat and drink tea (again!) and then, on top
of that, he let me choose some handbags… Now that's some souvenirs! All this tea drinking made me actually wonder where they got the
tea all the time; every time we were about to have some, a random guy just showed up carrying a set
of tea, any idea?
We had heard and seen a lot of interesting
stuff about the Asian side of the town. The locals seemed to consider it as the
cool, bohemian place to hang out. We
decided to take a stroll on its waterfront and ended up to this really chill
place along the Bosphorus; 400 meters of traditional lounge seats offering views across to the European side. A fantastic place to mingle with the locals and have some more of
that delicious tea. To get there was actually really simple. Without any tour
hassle, we hopped on one of the commuter boats (that leave the main harbour
every 10 min or so) and it brings you to the other side for something like 1€ a
way.
After the first two days, it was time to switch
to the newer side of Galata bridge and look for our next accommodation near Taksim Square. It turned out to be more
adventurous than just switching hotels: we ended up not finding the place we
had booked (Google maps took us to some really fishy quarter!) but instead we
had to go literally through all the hotels near Taksim to ask for vacancy. Hours
later we found a place (places were either booked out or too pricy), and could
finally ditch our bags we had been dragging along the whole time.
These couple of days of wandering around
Istanbul had formed us one opinion- or rather observation- above others; the total collision of oriental- and western
lifestyle and people. You might see a group of women dressed in all
covering niqab and the next moment trendy females sipping their margarita in a
modern lounge bar near Taksim. This, along to other similar details, makes this
city pretty unique the way it combines culture, religion and history. It’s
almost like a statement that no matter how different people are, they can all
co-exist and make each others life even richer- and this variety is probably
one of the reasons people fall in love with Istanbul.
On our last night we went out for some dinner
& drinks in Taksim’s endless bar district, which, to our surprise, was full
of people on Sunday night. We got invited to party with some locals we met in a
bar, and had a fun street dancing till the morning hours…Too bad our flight was
also early, so we only got a few hours rest before we had to get to the
airport. Güle güle Istanbul! Günaydin Kapadokya! To be continued...
TIPS & LINKS
Amedros restaurant
- one of the most memorable restaurants we've had in our travels to the date
- near Bazaar & major sites
- one of the most memorable restaurants we've had in our travels to the date
- near Bazaar & major sites
360° Bar, Lounge & Restaurant
- amazing terrace with views over Istanbul
- if you want to eat - make reservations , for drinks it's not necessary
- amazing terrace with views over Istanbul
- if you want to eat - make reservations , for drinks it's not necessary
* Did you know that Hagia Sophia was first a church, then a mosque and now a museum?
