We’re just back from a week in Istanbul. It was amazing, complemented by some lovely sunny weather. The city itself is lovely, the people are kind and friendly and the food so varied and interesting. I can thoroughly recommend a trip. Istanbul is one of those cities which have always interested me, from the days when it was Constantinople and discussed in my history lessons. Exotic, tantalising – a gateway to different world.
Where We Stayed
As ever, it depends on what you are interested in! As we only had a week, we decided to prioritise when looking for our hotel. We selected the area near to the Blue Mosque because many of the main sights would be in easy walking distance. We normally try and stay away from the tourist hot spots, but as we had limited time, this would ultimately save us time. We stayed at the Hilton Double Tree Sirkeci because they had a great January offer which included Breakfast for Hilton Honors members. We were spoilt for choice, there are many hotels in this area.
What to See?
The main sites are pretty well documented, and many covered by the Museumpass (see below in Money Saving Tips). If you have the Museumpass, you also qualify for FastTrack, vastly reducing the waiting times. We bought the 185TL one, however we didnt bother paying extra for a guided tour. We felt we could do it ourselves easily enough, with the help of a guidebook, and there are many description boards in English to help you. The list below is far from exclusive…
- Topkapi Palace – quite apart from the palace itself, which you pay to visit, the gardens (Gulhane Park) surrounding it are lovely and well used by locals, particularly in the cool of an evening. We were delighted to find a literary museum, the Alay Pavilion at one of the entrances. So peaceful inside (no photographs allowed).
- Blue Mosque – Free. This was being renovated when we were there, so not as impressive as it might have been. Extremely busy, and prepare to cover up. They will provide you with scarves if needed.
- Haghia Sophia – well worth a visit. Originally a christian church built 537AD, the original Christian mosaics are stunning. It was converted into a mosque about 1453AD, and many of the mosaics were plastered over. However since it was converted into a museum in 1935, some of these have been uncovered.
- Church of St Saviour in Chora – This is a bit further away. We took a T1 tram to Tokpaki, then a T4 to Edirnekapi. The mosaics are really amazing. Considering they were done 1500 years ago, they are in superb condition. The picture below on the left is St Paul, and the one on the right is St Peter (if you look closely, you can see he is holding keys)
- Mosaic Museum – very near to the Blue Mosque. These Roman mosaics are out of this world. We were blown away by the quality of them. The quality of my camera work does not do them justice. Here are 2 leopards eating a deer or an antelope, even down to the blood spilling from the animal. The mosaic pieces are about 6mm square
- The bazaars. The Grand Bazaar is filled with so many shops. It is amazing and a maze! I got totally lost, fortunately my husband had a better sense of direction than me! A few days later we were back in the area seeing the Suleymaniye Mosque, and wandered by many of the shops surrounding the Bazaar, which were busy with locals rather than tourists. We also went to the Spice Bazaar, and were amazed at the amount of shops on the surrounding streets. So, so busy, vibrant and interesting.
- We found the Orient Express Railway museum (free) just a few metres from our hotel. It was interesting and part of the old original railway station at Sirkeci that has since been replaced. we just stumbled on it. The waiting room set up was traditional – a room for men only, and a room for families and women only. Men are only welcome if accompanying someone.
- We had most fun, just wandering round in the sun, stopping and saying – look at that. Getting to know they area around our hotel, and also choosing to find different routes back from the various sights and stopping for a coffee en route, watching the world go by. It is really what we enjoy most when on a trip. We are not one of those couples who feel we have to see everything, and be on the go day and night
What we didn’t really get time to explore
- The area around Taksim Square. We went one day, but unfortunately it rained heavily, so we didn’t stay too long. We had been told there were many things to do there, but they weren’t apparent
- There were many more mosques & churches with great artwork that we could have visited, but we only managed to see a few major ones. Also many different museums
- We chose not to visit any of the baths. They’re not our thing….
- Looking back at the guidebook, we really only scratched the surface!
Best ways of Getting Around
We used our feet, and we used the trams. The trams are easy to use, frequent, cheap and very clean. The T1, serves many of the main tourist spots. (See below in Money Saving Tips)
The traffic is pretty chaotic, so I wouldn’t recommend taking a taxi, unless you are going somewhere not reached by the trams.
All the sights are well signposted, and smaller things to look at usually have a 3 language white post next to them, explaining what you are looking at. There are many map-boards as well.
Some Money Saving Tips
Get an IstanbulKart. They are great value. A single journey on the tram costs about 2.5TL (30p). You can use the yellow machines located near the vast majority of tram stops, for 6TL (£1) or you can pay ~10TL in some shops, that show the Tram sign. We chose the latter 10TL for the card and we put 20TL on the card. It lasted us all week. About £4! More than one person can use the same card, but we decided to have one each. We were staying near a stop on the T1 line, and the tram seemed to run about every 10 minutes.
Your tram ticket works for the boat too. It is about a 20 minute ride across to the Asian side of Istanbul, so no expensive water cruise for us! A lovely short trip across, a wander around the shops. We bought some lovely Lokma, deep fried dough, soaked in sugar syrup. Full of calories, but well worth trying as a one-off. After about 6 of the wee balls, I gave up, but my husband manfully finished the box! It cost 5TL, about 75p.
Get a Museumpass. At 185TL (about £25), it lets you into the vast majority of the main sights. (each sight, once only). Most individual entrance fees are 40-60TL, so you easily make up the cost.
Food generally is pretty cheap, even eating out. Main courses are generally between 30TL and 60TL (£5 – £8), however alcohol is pretty expensive. Be prepared to pay £5-£7 for a pint of beer, and about £30 for a bottle of wine. Good for your liver, you definitely drink less!
Any Downsides / Things to watch out for?
- The morning call to prayers was about 5am when we were there. The first night we left the window open, and it woke us (as the call to prayers is designed to do!). However with the window closed, it wasn’t intrusive
- The traffic jams – seriously, I don’t know how the cars manage to get anywhere. It has the worst traffic jams of any place I have ever been in, even Rome was easy in comparison! We arrived on May 1st, and went to our hotel by taxi. But there were loads of unexpected road closures, resulting in an extremely interesting taxi drive!!
- The new international airport (opened April 2019) is miles out of the city. Not all the public links are in place yet, so taxi is really the only way to get there. You need to leave about 2 hours for the journey, although as it turned out, it took us about 45 minutes. It cost us about £25 in a yellow cab, and on the way home 50 euro by a pre-booked private taxi.
- Unless you are travelling Business class with Turkish Airlines, there are no airport lounges available to you (no Priority Pass, Dragonpass access etc). So if you have left plenty of time because of the traffic (see above..) , you have several hours to wait, and only a few seating areas. Plenty of shops though, mostly quite upmarket! (I’m not a shopper… We did find a nice restaurant (eventually). The airport is big – be prepared to walk lots.
- It is a Muslim country, so shorts, skimpy tops etc are not welcome. You are encouraged to dress modestly.
- There are a lot of stray dogs and cats. The dogs weren’t aggressive, but I was a bit wary of them.
- If like me, you like a beer or a glass of wine, be prepared to pay for it. The cost is very different in a small shop to a restaurant. A couple of times, we bought a bottle of wine in a small shop, and drank it in our hotel room in the evening…. (Cheap date!)
- There is a lot of refurbishment continually going on. e.g. the Archaeological Museum was undergoing a major refurbishment, so only a fraction of their stuff was on display. Much of teh Blue Mosque and Haghia Sophia were under wraps / scaffolding
- Don’t bother with the Hop-on Hop-off buses. You can do as well on the tram, at a huge saving. The same can be said for the guided tours unless you are very short of time. A lot of the commentary we overheard was pretty basic, and evidently came from a guidebook!
- Apparently we were quite fortunate with our exchange rate at 7TL to £1. Friends were there a few years ago and the rate was 3.5TL to £1. So our timing was good.
Summary
Istanbul is a lovely city, we would go back tomorrow. At no time did I feel intimidated, even when in a crowd. I felt perfectly safe, and although I kept a tight hold on my bag, I didn’t feel I needed to, as I have felt in some other European cities. The memory I will take away with me is the vast amount and variety of mosaics across the city.
If you would like to Pin this, and please do, just click the image below
