This is part 3 of my trip to Uzbekistan. Using Turkish Airlines we had to go through Istanbul so thought we might as well spend a few days there. Back in 2009 my husband and I spent a week in this fantastic city and we both just loved it. My daughter is on this trip with me and had not been to Istanbul so that gave me an excuse to go back and for her to see it, hoping that she’d love it just as much as I do.
From Istanbul we carried on to Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Munich, which will be my next post, or posts, but I thought Istanbul deserved it’s own post because of it’s uniqueness. It is such a mix of east and west…..not quite like Uzbekistan and not like Europe either…..
June 5 Sun
R, A, R, C, Linds and I shared 2 taxis to the airport.
Rustam got up to make sure check out went smooth and to see us off. Because it was so early the hotel had prepared little boxed lunch/breakfast goodies for us, which was really nice! A sandwich, cookies and a banana.
We all got checked in for our flight to Istanbul, no issues with that or going thru immigration.
Turkish Airlines again. Great airline. Just over 4 hours back to Istanbul. Arrived around 12 noon and gained back two hours!
Said bye to the Haymans and Batstones as we all headed off …..they on to Italy and Linds and I into the city for 3 nights.
Grabbed a taxi into the city. Flat fee of 350 Turkish Lira or 20 E. Pretty reasonable considering the new airport is pretty well an hour out of the city.
Our hotel, Blue House Hotel, is in a good location in Sultanahmet, right across the street from the Arasta Bazaar. Nice little room, great view of the Blue Mosque. Rooftop terrace/restaurant with views in all directions, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara. (I booked thru Booking.com as their website is not in English)
We are going on a city walking tour tomorrow so just spent the afternoon wandering around Sultanahmet. Up to the square between the BM and HS, thru the bazaar. Great area to wander thru. Showed Linds the Ferman Hotel where we stayed the last time and a couple of restaurants that we ate at. So many great shops……spent forever looking at mosaic lamps trying to figure out how we’d bring a couple home. So many lovely craft shops…really nice kilim bags. A lot of touristy type shops too…many selling luggage! Some great restaurants. Heard the call to prayer a couple times….just love it.
Had gotten quite windy and was actually a bit chilly so we headed back to the hotel to get sweaters and decided we’d done enough for the day so just went up to the rooftop terrace to have dinner, hear the last call to prayer of the day and wait in anticipation of all the lights coming on. Sadly for us the Blue Mosque is NOT lit up, other than a couple of spot lights shining on it. It’s undergoing extensive renovations. How disappointing because I really wanted Linds to see it. Hagia Sofia was lit nicely though. Too bad because that is one of the main reasons we picked this hotel because of how lovely it was at night with both those buildings lit up…..loved the BM with the birds flying around the minarets at all hours of the night! Oh well, was not to be!! But still a great view. Decided to buy a bottle of wine…..they will keep whatever you don’t drink for the next day. Was cheaper than buying it by the glass. Dinner was pasta in a ragu sauce, was just OK. Bread was good!
Went for another little walk around and then back to do a bit of laundry and to bed. Another long day. Looking forward to our walking tour tomorrow and meeting up with James and Alli.
June 6 Mon
Slept OK-ish. Not the most comfy bed. Up with the first call to prayer. Got dressed and went down to the breakfast room hoping to find some coffee at least. Was only 6:30 and breakfast isn’t until 8. The hotel night guy was still on so asked if there was coffee anywhere. He said to go have a seat outside on the patio and he’d check. A few minutes later out he comes with a very hot and very strong cup of coffee for me. How nice was that!
The hotel patio faces the back of the Arasta Bazaar….it’s quite a narrow short street. What comes along but a HOHO bus!! I’m pretty sure we didn’t see them driving around these little old narrow streets the last time….maybe he was just relocating?? It barely made it around the corner….actually had to back up and make a second attempt.
Breakfast was the usual…..tomatoes, cucumbers, hard boiled eggs, cereal, yogurt and some OK pastries and very good coffee.
Off to our meeting point for the tour at 9. It’s across from Sultan Ahmet Park (not to be confused with Sultanahmet Square!!), which is now surrounded by gates and a check point if coming from the other direction. We just walked thru with no problem but they were checking bags of people coming into the park. Seemed sort of odd because if you walked around the block and came into the park from the same direction we came from there is no security checks….seemed sort of pointless but whatever.
Met up with Alli and James…..they arrived around 10 last night and are staying at the Pera Palace Hotel. James found this tour thru the Airbnb site. Good deal for a full day $46US. Our guide is Ozur.
First stop was the Hippodrome. Explained the history and the obelisk (Egyptian). There is a big museum right across from it but we didn’t go in. Normally we would have gone to the Blue Mosque but he said it is not worth it now while the renos are happening….too much scaffolding, areas blocked off etc. Was a little disappointed the Linds wouldn’t get to see it because it is pretty beautiful.
Hagia Sofia was next. I think this is the best building ever!! The sheer size of it is just overwhelming, inside and out. It’s now converted back to a mosque so head and knees have to be covered. We no longer had access to the second floor mezzanine which was disappointing too as that is where some of the great frescos were uncovered and the view looking down into the main area was great. Apparently they have left them because of the historical/archeological significance ….thank goodness!! During prayer they lower curtains over the mosaics. Ozur told us the history, built over 1600yrs ago in Byzantine times by Justinian as a Christian church (Greek Orthodox?). Over the centuries it’s been a church, a mosque, a museum and now back to a mosque (2020). There are no words to describe the inside of the building. Beautiful, huge marble columns with exquisitely carved capitals, looking up to the massive dome with light streaming in thru the windows, the lights, the artwork……it’s all amazing. There are just no words to describe this building!
Walked to the Grand Bazaar! Had a quick tour thru part of it and it’s history. Today it is basically the biggest “mall” in the world with over 4,000 shops. There are different areas….the spice market, the gold and jewelry shops, the carpet shops and basically everything else under the sun.
Leaving there we wandered thru the streets on the way to a bakery. The street scenes in Istanbul are fantastic. Each street seems to sell a specific product or service…..there is the electrical supplies and lights/lamps, the plumbing street, the hardware, housewares and so on….can easily spend hours just wandering up and down them. And the proverbial simit man walking up the street with them on a big tray or stacked on a stick. You can’t help but love it!
Bought goodies and snacks at the bakery to take with us to have on our tea break at a 300yr old tea house.. Cool little spot tucked away from the street. They offered us Turkish coffee or tea and a drink called the “Churchill”, which was a salty but very refreshing lemonade that was named after Winston Churchill as that is what he asked for when he visited. Lots of narghili pipes….everyone had a try. There were 8 of us on the tour so finally had a chance to chat with everyone.
After our break we walked to the Suleymaniye Mosque. Built on one of the seven hills of Istanbul. Very beautiful and almost as big as the Blue Mosque. Not quite as decorative inside but just as lovely. I had been in before and would have had to wear a cover up this time so I just waited outside and chatted with another tour guide…..who told me I need to go to Iran!! He said it’s very safe and very beautiful. Maybe one day! The view of the rest of the city across the Horn and to the Asian side.
The spice market was next….just a quick stop with history information.
We then bought tickets and took the tram up the horn to the “Old Jewish Quarter” an area now called Balat. Was up here in 2009 to explore a botanical garden run by the university/college or a mosque and there was little or nothing in the way of shops or restaurants….one little café with great views…most buildings were derelict with very few restored or livable …..how it has changed!!! For the better! It’s the new up and coming “hipster” area or as Ozur said it’s where all the cool people and the “tik tokers” come for pics. Many of the old ottoman buildings have been restored or rebuilt and painted in bright, lively colours, lots of shops and cafes, overflowing flower pots and vines, cobbled streets. Very hilly!! A great area that is now UNESCO protected.
Visited St Georges Greek Orthodox church. Very pretty from the outside. Inside the altar wall is embellished in gold! The whole thing is very ornate. There’s a piece of post on the wall that Jesus was supposedly tied too. If you touch it it will bring you good luck….we did, so we’ll see! Quite a few coffins (sealed) that hold the bodies of saints.
Wandered up and down all the pretty streets and alleys with Ozur pointing out various cafes, restored homes etc. Such a fun place.
Worked our way down to the waterfront park to catch the ferry back to Sultanahmet. Great views of the city skyline on both sides of the horn. Only a couple stops before we were back but enough time for a guy selling tea on the ferry ride!!
Could see one big cruise ship docked and another at anchor our in the straight.
Lots of walking but was a great tour. We went from 9AM until just after 4! James and Alli came back to the hotel for drinks on the roof top terrace and to enjoy the view….and the call to prayer! Then we all went to dinner at a café that Ozur had told us about Deraliye Ottoman Cuisine. Was really good.
J and A headed for the tram and Linds and I back to the terrace for night caps before bed.
What a great day…..long but very interesting especially Balat!!
June 7 Tues
Up early again….coffee on the terrace.
The original plan today was to take the tram up Istiklal Caddesi to Taksim Sq and have lunch at one of the cafeteria type places on the way back down. Ozur told us yesterday that area has changed! There aren’t that many left anymore and those that are are now mostly Syrian food….whatever that means?? That made me sad because that was one of the best days when we were here last time…..the main street was great with all the cafes and shops but it was down some of the side streets that we saw the best shops, produce stores and little family cafes. We moved it to the end of our to do list for today but now sorry we didn’t get there….ah well.
Decided that we’d go back and check out the spice market to get all the goodies we said we’d bring home for people (spices, coffee etc.).
First we went to the cisterns…..the Basilica Cistern are closed so tried the other one. Had to buy tickets for a specific time (11) so had time to wander a bit and grab coffee. The Cistern of Theodosius was NOT anything like the Basilica one. No information about it there at all. It’s 1600 yrs old and they put on a light show!! Which didn’t appear to have anything at all to do with the cistern. And much of the equipment for the light show is covering bases and columns so you can’t appreciate all the details on them. So that was a waste of time and money.
On to the spice market where we spent way too much time…..but so much too see!! Bought some Turkish delight and other little goodies to sample. Inside and outside….is wonderful. Inside the smells, the colours, the displays, the guys wanting to trade for camels LOL….outside there is the guy selling corn on the cob, umpteen different cheese stalls. Unless you are into gold and carpets this is the market to go to instead of the Grand Bazaar!
Thought we’d take a walk up to Topkapi Palace but long line ups to get in so passed on that and just found a nice little café for lunch. Spent a couple more hours just wending our way up and down streets and alleys. Many still use hand pulled carts for moving stuff from supply trucks on the main/wide roads to wherever up the narrow and windy streets. Found the textile district…..beautiful fabrics in a kaleidoscope of colours.
Thought we’d go to the Galata Tower and up to Taksim anyway. Walked across the top of the Galata bridge watching all the fisherman. Started heading up to the tower and decided that we’d had enough walking for a couple of days and we had bags to carry too so just headed back across the bridge on the bottom past the seafood restaurants.
Found a couple more nice little shops selling tapestry wallets and kilim bags. Finally made it back to the hotel around 7 and Linds was just done for the day. Went up to the terrace, had some appies and then just had dinner there too. Great evening….warm and no wind. Lots of ship traffic, freighters and a couple of cruise ships, tons sailboats out…so pretty. Got in our last call to prayer and the unlit Blue Mosque.
So glad we did that walking tour yesterday. Was great for Linds to see how beautiful this place is……I was hoping she’d like it as much as I do. Last time we spent a week here and still did not see all that we’d hoped see so was hopeless to make a dent in all the city has to offer in 2.5 days……you “see it” but you don’t really!!
To bed pretty early for us after repacking/organizing all our shopping. Have ordered a taxi to 5:30AM for the airport. Back to Frankfurt and on to Berlin!
I hope to get back to Istanbul again one day. We didn’t make a dent in what there is to see here. Last time we did the ferry trip up to the last town (Andaolu Kavagi) before the Black Sea, we visited Kumkapi for the seafood, Taksim Square, went to a dervish cafe….all worth doing again. I still have not been to Dolmabahce Palace, the Princes’ Islands or explored the Asian side of the city.
Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Munich next!
My Travel Journals 