When we mentioned we’ve been to 40 countries, countless people have asked “Have you been to Istanbul?” We thought it was time to finally answer that question with a “yes.” We, along with our two friends John and Trudy, spent a long weekend in the beautiful country of Turkey.
We arrived late on a Thursday night. It was around midnight when we ended up checking into our hotel. We had a tour set up for the next morning at 9am so we wanted to get some sleep. Our guide met us at our hotel which luckily was within walking distance from most of the main sites. Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy in the morning but ended up completely stopping by noon. Our first stop of the day was to Topkapi Palace which used to be the main residence of Ottoman sultans but is now a huge museum. We stopped in countless buildings from weapons and jewelry to a library and mosque. It had it all! Our next stop of the day was Hagia Sofia, which at different points in history was used as a mosque and a Greek Orthodox Church, now turned museum. Built in 360 AD, it’s incredible inside and out and you can really see an influence of both Islam and Christianity. By then we had worked up an appetite so we stopped for lunch at a restaurant overlooking both Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, it was beautiful. After lunch we stopped at the Basilica Cistern which is located underneath the city of Istanbul. It was used to hold water for the people in the city but is now empty of water which makes it a great place to visit. The most interesting part of the cistern are the two Medusa heads that hold up part of the structure thought to have come from a nearby building. The fascinating part, is that neither of the heads are right side up, one is upside down and the other on its side. Apparently, it was put that way specifically because of the height needed to support the columns. Our last stop before the Grand Bazaar was to the Blue Mosque. Sadly for us, most of the inside was under renovations. We covered our heads, took off our shoes and headed inside. Even though it was mostly covered in scaffolding, it was still worth a stop inside. On our way to the Grand Bazaar, we stopped at a Turkish Delight store for a little spiel. We tried Turkish tea, Turkish delights, baklava, two kinds of nuts etc. We ended up spending way more than we wanted to but man, those nuts were just too good to pass up. When we arrived at the entrance to the Grand Bazaar, it wasn’t what we had expected. I thought it would be more like the Bazaar we visited in Cairo but the big difference was, this was completely indoors. With over 4,000 stalls, it’s one of the largest markets in the world. It was absolutely fascinating to see. Plus, they weren’t pushy at all (big difference from Egypt). We spent a while just wandering through the stalls, trying to decide what we wanted to buy. I ended up getting a few colorful, handmade bowls, an evil eye (defends against evil) and a shot glass for my collection. We were a bit tired after that, so we headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit. We had been walking for almost 7 hours by then so the hotel bar was the perfect place for a break. We then got ready and headed to dinner. Luckily, we had made reservations at this very popular restaurant because it was completely full. We decided to go with their famous chicken and beef dishes that come in clay pots. They make a fun show of bringing out the clay pots on fire, then hitting the top of the pots with a stick and pouring out the contents onto a plate. It was entertaining and delicious!
We got to sleep in a bit this morning but headed out early enough to get the most out of our day. It was a beautiful day, just needing a light jacket. We decided to check out the Spice Bazaar which was a treat for both the eyes and the nose. Alex decided to buy a package of Turkish Coffee to bring home. We wandered through the Spice Bazaar, through the local outside market then found ourselves again at the Grand Bazaar. I may or may not have bought another couple of colorful bowls (I love them!). Then Alex being Alex, wanted to find the fish market (he really loves fish markets). It was a bit of a sketchy route that we took and after thinking we would never find it, our noses led the way. It ended up being more interesting than I thought because there was a sword fish, a huge lobster and other weird ocean creatures to look at. By now, we were right by the water and could see the Asian side of Istanbul. We decided that that would be the next destination of the day. We took a tram under the water to the other side. Naively, we thought it would be calmer and quieter on this side. We were very wrong, it was super busy! We walked through the streets covered from side to side with bars and restaurants. We found a restaurant to try for lunch. Alex got lahmacun, Trudy and I enjoyed a falafel and John had a eggplant kebab, it was really good. We decided to stop at one of the local bars for a drink where we also ended up playing darts. Eventually, we decided to head back to the European side but not before stopping at the famous Starbucks with a rooftop terrace. This time we took a ferry to head back to the European side. It was beautiful to see Istanbul from the water around sunset. Once back on land, we had to walk over a bridge overflowing with fishing poles. Some men had buckets full of fish and others had nothing. Alex was particularly interested in the fishermen, stopping to check out the contents of each bucket. We slowly made our way back to the hotel to drop off our things and find a restaurant for dinner. The men found a good option but instead of speaking English to the waiter, we somehow ended up having to speak German the whole time. But it was one of the only restaurants nearby that served alcohol so that’s where we ended up.
The next morning we headed back to the airport. Alex and I were really excited when we both got upgraded to business class (all that flying really does pay off!) and had really comfortable seats, good food and all kinds of drinks. It was a great end to a great trip.
I’m so glad we made the trip to Istanbul. It was so worth it. We put a lot of miles on that weekend but we really feel like we got to see so much of what Istanbul has to offer. I had an idea in my head of what Istanbul would be like but it exceeded my expectations. It was more modern, friendlier people and much cleaner that expected. Thank you John and Trudy for coming with us! We had a blast. Enjoy those expensive nuts 🙂
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Sounds beautiful! Is that your last travel before returning ‘home’! It’ll be great seeing you both again!
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