After a fun last night in London, with some of our closest London friends, we were up early for a final bacon and egg breakfast and to finish our packing. We were out of London and on our way to Luton Airport in no time, we thought we had left heaps of time, but it still felt like a bit of a rush to make our 2pm flight.
We arrived about 7.30pm local time, in Asia! It wasn’t that easy, at the baggage claim we were waiting for Christine’s bag but it didn’t appear on the conveyer belt, even after everyone else had cleared out. Asking at lost and found, it is there with the oversize luggage as the zip holding the little pack onto the big pack had split and jammed. Unable to separate the two we leave it dangling off the back of her pack and head out to find a map.
The airport was a long bus ride from the city so we ended up sharing a taxi with Jake and Rachael, an English Couple we met at the airport. They were staying near us in Sultanahmet, and after the hassle with the bag we didn’t feel like taking several buses. We checked in to our hostels and then the English couple met us for a drink at our hostel in the rooftop bar. We then headed down the street and found a nice Kebab.
Our first morning in Istanbul we went for a wander around Sultanahmet (old town), to get our bearings. This is the part of town with most of the tourist attractions so we found the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and Ayasofya Muzesi without any problems.
Our first stop was a visit to the Basilica Cistern which is a 6th century Byzantine Cistern. It is beneath the city and has fine brick vaulting that is supported by 336 Corinthian Columns. It was dark inside with quite nice lighting. There was a photography exhibition inside which all the photos having a water theme. There are also two Medusa stone heads attached to two of the columns which were huge.
We enjoyed our first Turkish Coffee and Dips for lunch, sitting in beanbags in the sun. In the afternoon we checked out the Hippodrome, which is the site of an Ancient Roman Chariot Racing track. They are currently paving the oval track with bricks so it takes some imagination but it still has Obelisks in the middle. The most famous sight in Istanbul is the Blue Mosque. It is large and has decorations on the inside, although it was not as blue as the name suggests. As you enter you are violently struck by the smell of feet, everyone has to take their shoes off. 80% of the mosque is sectioned off for men to pray, the rest is divided between sections for women to pray and tourists to visit. 
In the evening we met up with Jake and Rachael for dinner and drinks again. They had found a nice restaurant nearby to try which was built into an old print works building. It had great food so we all headed home very happy. 
Struggling to get out of bed as early as we had hoped, we rushed breakfast and headed down to the Topkapi Palace. Not our favorite palace that we have seen (so spoiled) but it was nice and quite big, but had a lot of areas not open to public. There were lots of antiques, clothing, crowns and jewellery (gold, diamonds, jade, emeralds, ivory) etc. Christine was really impressed by some of the headdresses that were decorated by 50+ caret diamonds. The long queues and big crowds did not exactly enhance our palace experience. 
Walking through town and along sea front Damien had a fresh fish roll from the docks (4 lira!). We checked out the Spice market for a look, lots of spices, Turkish sweets, rugs, clothing, plates, handbags etc. The markets in the streets continued through the city all the way, to the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar was bigger but had similar goods, 4000 shops, 400 products! Lots of stalls with same products, bit more hassle from shop keepers. The Bazaar seemed to have more gold and jewellery than spice market, but no food or spices. 
We had hoped to visit Taksim, the main square in Istanbul for dinner, however we both fell asleep for an hour or so at the hostel, so ended up eating locally at Doy Doy, nice food and a bit cheaper than the touristy places near our hostel. 
Next morning we took a river cruise along the Bosphorus River. This passed a number of the local sights including the Galata Tower, Dolmabahce Palace (which has of 600m river frontage), Ortakoy Mosque, The Bosphorus Bridge, Beylerbeyi Palace (summer house sultan), fort and small towns. After about 1.5 hr we arrived in the town of Anadolukavagi. Here we had lunch in fish restaurant by the water and walked up a hill to Yoros castle (from the Roman Period). The walk up the hill took us through various shops and cafes, and past signs saying “castle this way, free entrance” however, when we got to the castle, there was a sign saying “Closed for restoration”. Luckily there was a nice view of the Black sea and the castle wasn’t unimpressive from the front. 
After taking the boat back into town we visited the Spice market again this time buying some Turkish delight and cushion covers. We then had to stop for Turkish coffee and Turkish delight! Continuing to walk we crossed the bridge and watched local fishermen. The Galata Tower was our next stop before finding another friendly local who was super keen to sell us dinner in small back street. 
After dinner we continued along a major shopping street to Taksim Square which is one of the main squares in Istanbul, before catching the tram home after a long day.
We had breakfast at our hostel (Antique Hostel) with our Mexican roommate David on the roof top bar/café. It had a great view over town and the water. It was a nice clean hostel, with quiet bar. The staff were very friendly especially once they heard we had some vegemite!
We only had half a day in Istanbul as we had our flight to Athens to catch in the afternoon. We headed for the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art. This was quite good with lots of stuff to look at with the highlights being a set of big wooden doors decorated with intricate metal work, small sculptures and ceiling to floor carpets. There was a very interesting ethnographic collection downstairs which showed how the nomadic tribes of Turkey live as well as how home life in Istanbul has changed over time.
After the Museum we headed to a cheap restaurant for lunch which ended up being expensive when Damien accidently ordered 2 mains. He wanted a bit of the chicken and a bit of the beef from the canteen style restaurant and ended up with a lot of both. So to sum up Turkey, the locals are very nice, when they are taking your money!
We headed back to the hostel to collect our bags and were then on our way to airport via the metro. We arrived at airport nice and early, since the flight to Athens was delayed 2 hours which just meant we could take full advantage of the free samples of Turkish Delight in the duty free shop.
We arrived about 7.30pm local time, in Asia! It wasn’t that easy, at the baggage claim we were waiting for Christine’s bag but it didn’t appear on the conveyer belt, even after everyone else had cleared out. Asking at lost and found, it is there with the oversize luggage as the zip holding the little pack onto the big pack had split and jammed. Unable to separate the two we leave it dangling off the back of her pack and head out to find a map.
The airport was a long bus ride from the city so we ended up sharing a taxi with Jake and Rachael, an English Couple we met at the airport. They were staying near us in Sultanahmet, and after the hassle with the bag we didn’t feel like taking several buses. We checked in to our hostels and then the English couple met us for a drink at our hostel in the rooftop bar. We then headed down the street and found a nice Kebab.
Our first morning in Istanbul we went for a wander around Sultanahmet (old town), to get our bearings. This is the part of town with most of the tourist attractions so we found the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and Ayasofya Muzesi without any problems.Our first stop was a visit to the Basilica Cistern which is a 6th century Byzantine Cistern. It is beneath the city and has fine brick vaulting that is supported by 336 Corinthian Columns. It was dark inside with quite nice lighting. There was a photography exhibition inside which all the photos having a water theme. There are also two Medusa stone heads attached to two of the columns which were huge.
We enjoyed our first Turkish Coffee and Dips for lunch, sitting in beanbags in the sun. In the afternoon we checked out the Hippodrome, which is the site of an Ancient Roman Chariot Racing track. They are currently paving the oval track with bricks so it takes some imagination but it still has Obelisks in the middle. The most famous sight in Istanbul is the Blue Mosque. It is large and has decorations on the inside, although it was not as blue as the name suggests. As you enter you are violently struck by the smell of feet, everyone has to take their shoes off. 80% of the mosque is sectioned off for men to pray, the rest is divided between sections for women to pray and tourists to visit. In the evening we met up with Jake and Rachael for dinner and drinks again. They had found a nice restaurant nearby to try which was built into an old print works building. It had great food so we all headed home very happy. Struggling to get out of bed as early as we had hoped, we rushed breakfast and headed down to the Topkapi Palace. Not our favorite palace that we have seen (so spoiled) but it was nice and quite big, but had a lot of areas not open to public. There were lots of antiques, clothing, crowns and jewellery (gold, diamonds, jade, emeralds, ivory) etc. Christine was really impressed by some of the headdresses that were decorated by 50+ caret diamonds. The long queues and big crowds did not exactly enhance our palace experience. Walking through town and along sea front Damien had a fresh fish roll from the docks (4 lira!). We checked out the Spice market for a look, lots of spices, Turkish sweets, rugs, clothing, plates, handbags etc. The markets in the streets continued through the city all the way, to the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar was bigger but had similar goods, 4000 shops, 400 products! Lots of stalls with same products, bit more hassle from shop keepers. The Bazaar seemed to have more gold and jewellery than spice market, but no food or spices. We had hoped to visit Taksim, the main square in Istanbul for dinner, however we both fell asleep for an hour or so at the hostel, so ended up eating locally at Doy Doy, nice food and a bit cheaper than the touristy places near our hostel. Next morning we took a river cruise along the Bosphorus River. This passed a number of the local sights including the Galata Tower, Dolmabahce Palace (which has of 600m river frontage), Ortakoy Mosque, The Bosphorus Bridge, Beylerbeyi Palace (summer house sultan), fort and small towns. After about 1.5 hr we arrived in the town of Anadolukavagi. Here we had lunch in fish restaurant by the water and walked up a hill to Yoros castle (from the Roman Period). The walk up the hill took us through various shops and cafes, and past signs saying “castle this way, free entrance” however, when we got to the castle, there was a sign saying “Closed for restoration”. Luckily there was a nice view of the Black sea and the castle wasn’t unimpressive from the front. After taking the boat back into town we visited the Spice market again this time buying some Turkish delight and cushion covers. We then had to stop for Turkish coffee and Turkish delight! Continuing to walk we crossed the bridge and watched local fishermen. The Galata Tower was our next stop before finding another friendly local who was super keen to sell us dinner in small back street. After dinner we continued along a major shopping street to Taksim Square which is one of the main squares in Istanbul, before catching the tram home after a long day.We had breakfast at our hostel (Antique Hostel) with our Mexican roommate David on the roof top bar/café. It had a great view over town and the water. It was a nice clean hostel, with quiet bar. The staff were very friendly especially once they heard we had some vegemite!
We only had half a day in Istanbul as we had our flight to Athens to catch in the afternoon. We headed for the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art. This was quite good with lots of stuff to look at with the highlights being a set of big wooden doors decorated with intricate metal work, small sculptures and ceiling to floor carpets. There was a very interesting ethnographic collection downstairs which showed how the nomadic tribes of Turkey live as well as how home life in Istanbul has changed over time.
After the Museum we headed to a cheap restaurant for lunch which ended up being expensive when Damien accidently ordered 2 mains. He wanted a bit of the chicken and a bit of the beef from the canteen style restaurant and ended up with a lot of both. So to sum up Turkey, the locals are very nice, when they are taking your money!
We headed back to the hostel to collect our bags and were then on our way to airport via the metro. We arrived at airport nice and early, since the flight to Athens was delayed 2 hours which just meant we could take full advantage of the free samples of Turkish Delight in the duty free shop.
No comments:
Post a Comment