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| Hagia Sophia |
Istanbul is somewhere that has been on my bucket list for a while now so I was super excited for this leg of the trip! The city definitely didn't disappoint. I fell truly, madly and deeply in love with Istanbul straight away, hard and fast. I spent every day there in a state of complete and utter happiness and it pained me to have to part ways with such a spectacular city. Even now that I have returned home from my time abroad, Istanbul is always one of the places that I state as my absolute favourite when asked by family and friends (Prague and Morocco were my other faves).
This east-meets-west city was a clash of so many divergent things, being so different to anywhere that I had ever been before, yet reminding me so much of Vietnam, a country that my family are (obviously) from and one that I spent countless holidays in during my childhood. Istanbul is so breathtakingly gorgeous, albeit a little rough around the edges, but that's really what makes the city so charming. It's a city that still frequents my dreams and one that I will definitely make it back to one day.
As soon as we landed in Istanbul, it felt like we were in the amazing race. First, it began with the huge line at immigration and then Lauren's hiccup with her visa. She had accidentally gotten a visa for the wrong dates so had to purchase another one and then line up all over again! Next, there was a lack of working ATMs in the airport, resulting in us running around in search for a source of cash. Adrian and I also ended up madly sprinting through the underground metro station to sus out the train situation because we could not find a cab to fit all five of us, no matter how hard we tried.
We eventually just jumped into a four seater cab, squishing four of us into the three-seater back seat. The views on the drive to Taksim Square, the area we were staying in, were absolutely mind blowing. The city was enveloped by a layer of permanent smog that gave it a mysterious feel which made sense when seeing how congested the roads were. There were times where we were sat in the cab for long periods of time, not moving at all because traffic was so bad.
Trying to find our Airbnb apartment was
again another page from the amazing race, with us almost getting lost because we had to take so many turns within the small and steep streets of Taksim. We were all in complete shock when seeing our apartment for the first time. The place was decorated beautifully and our host was so lovely and helpful. She had even written us a guide book complete with places to visit, restaurants to try, foods to eat, foods not to trust,
everything! We also had a washing machine which was a luxury after going so long without one. Living out of a 33L backpack for three weeks isn't easy so it was so nice to finally be able to do some proper laundry.
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| Our Airbnb apartment |
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| Our Airbnb apartment |
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| Our Airbnb apartment |
For dinner, we met up with Nesh's friend, a local Istanbulian, who guided us through the busy pedestrian street off Taksim square, Istiklal Caddesi. The street was so packed that you could barely move! There was people everywhere and there was even a tram running down the middle of the road that everyone had to squeeze out of the way for.
For dinner, our new friend took us to a really secluded local restaurant on the sixth (and top) floor of a small building on a side street off Istiklal Caddesi. Having a local show you around is such an asset when traveling, you get introduced to places and restaurants that tourists usually wouldn't know about and can usually get a more authentic experience of a city. That night, I had one of the best meals that I had had in a
long time. The restaurant had a great vibe, being really small and cozy and with spectacular service. The Turkish in general are such hospitable people and that's a factor that makes me love Istanbul so much.
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| Istiklal Caddesi |
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| Turkish dinner |
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| The restaurant where we had dinner |
After dinner, we walked around the Taksim area and our friend took us to see Galata Tower, the tallest building structure during the time it was build. The area around the tower was busting with people; groups were just sitting around the tower with food and drinks enjoying the night. The city is so lively! It's obvious that Istanbul residents love the be outside.
We managed to fit in a Turkish ice cream on the way home. It wasn't the best ice cream that I'd had but the experience of buying it made it worthwhile. The vendor would play games with the customers, going tricks with the ice cream and pulling the ice cream away just as the customer would reach out to grab it!
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| Galata Tower |
We started our next day with a home cooked breakfast of eggs and toast cooked in our apartments kitchen. It was so nice having a simple home-cooked meal after two and a half weeks of traveling, even though it was only eggs on toast.
Our first stop for the day was the Basilica Cistern, an underground water reservoir that was the main water source for the area back in the day. Being underground was a nice break from the scorching sun and the heat of daytime Istanbul. The cistern was amazing! The fact that it is still intact after 2000 years is mind blowing and just proves how intelligent the ancient Romans were. It was dark and the numerous columns were lit up by spotlights which created a really mysterious feel to the place. The echoing of voices and the dripping of water made the place seem even more eerie. The only downside was the mobs of school and tour groups that passed through, making the cramped walkways almost impossible to walk through at times.
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| Basilica Cistern |
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| Basilica Cistern |
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| Medusa base column |
The Hagia Sophia was up next in our day's itinerary, and this was the place that we were all the most excited about it. This church-turned-mosque-turned-museum has an extraordinary history (look it up if you can be bothered, it's so interesting!) and the contrasting Islamic and Christian influenced interior decorations reflected the transformations that the church/mosque/museum went through over time. Although the entry was a little pricey, the Hagia Sophia was definitely a must-see in Istanbul.
It was a shame that a part of it was under construction (what in Europe isn't?) but it was still gorgeous nonetheless. We spent a solid hour in there just taking photos. I was absolutely obsessed with the low hanging chandelier lights.
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| Hagia Sophia |
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| Hagia Sophia interior |
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| Hagia Sophia interior |
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| Hagia Sophia interior |
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| Hagia Sophia interior |
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| Hagia Sophia |
The Blue Mosque was hands down my favourite part of our Istanbul visit. We got to the Blue Mosque just after 1.30pm when it opened but the line to enter was already so long that it curled around the corner twice! To make things worse, it started raining really heavily so we had to wait in the pouring rain. The wait was definitely worth it thought because the inside of the Blue Mosque was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. To enter, Lauren and I had to borrow head scarves because we had forgotten to bring our own.
The photos that I took do no justice to the inside of the Blue Mosque. The patterns were mesmerising and the tile work mosaics were so intricate that I was just in awe looking around the whole time. I kept taking photos but it did the place no justice. I could have stayed in there all day just looking at the patterns. I had been told before that the Blue Mosque was a jaw-dropping sight but nothing could have prepared me for the magnitude of the tile work and the beauty of it all. This is
definitely something you have to see in your lifetime.
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| The Blue Mosque |
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| The Blue Mosque |
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| The Blue Mosque |
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| The Blue Mosque's ceiling |
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| The Blue Mosque's ceiling |
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| The Blue Mosque's ceiling |
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| The Blue Mosque's ceiling and walls |
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| The Blue Mosque's interior |
Next, we walked to the grand bazaar. We got caught in the rain and hail on the way but ended up making it there alright, albeit with soaked shoes. The grand bazaar was
huge, being one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. I feel like we just saw a small part of it and barely made a dent into seeing the whole market. I could have spent all day in there and still be left unsatisfied! I managed to buy some small souvenirs but the stuff that I really wanted, such as the gorgeous Turkish lamps, were impossible to carry home.
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| Grand Bazaar |
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| Turkish lamps |
From the Grand Bazaar, we headed towards another market, the spice market. The spice market was so full of activity. I was bombarded by a plethora of people, noises, fragrances and colours. The market was hustling and bustling with so many people that it was almost impossible to get around some areas!
We spent most of our time in the spice market trying copious amounts of Turkish Delight. I was in heaven. The Turkish delight came in so many different and delicious flavours that I couldn't resist buying half a kilo to bring back to uni to snack on. Oops... From the spice market, we walked along the Bosphorus river to appreciate the views of Istanbul by dusk before taking the long and extremely inclined walk back to our apartment in the pouring rain.
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| Spice market |
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| Spice market |
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| Spice market |
We really lucked out during our time in Istanbul. The host of our Airbnb apartment happened to own the most exclusive club in town, the 360, and put us all on the guest list. Getting in was a bit of a struggle because the bouncer didn't believe that we were on the guest list and we definitely didn't look like the crowd that usually frequented the place. With a bit of persistence, we finally convinced him that we did in fact know Yeshim and we managed to avoid the 50 TL entrance fee and got in for free. The club was on the penthouse level of a 19 storey building in the heart of Taksim and was extremely pricey which was evident just by the price of coat check which came to 20 TL (that's $10 Australian)!
We definitely looked and felt out of place. Everyone there was at least ten years older than us and were dressed like they were about to go to a cocktail party. Us, on the other hand, looked like typical poor university students... This was definitely one of those classier places. The actual club itself wasn't particularly amazing as it was more of a chill bar venue. The views, however, were so spectacular. We had perfect 360 degree views of Istanbul by night and ended up spending almost all night standing on the balcony.
We didn't wake up until 12pm the next day because we had been out so late but that wasn't a problem because we had managed to see mostly everything the previous day anyway. After cooking breakfast again and getting ready, we were out the door by 1pm which is the latest that we had ever left during our trip.
Our only proper agenda for the day was to visit the Topkapi Palace. The grounds of the palace were
huge and surrounded by lush gardens. We were lucky enough to experience perfect weather for the day and had chosen the best day possible to visit the palace and gardens. From the gardens, there was a lookout point with amazing views over the Bosphorus.
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| Bosphorus River |
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| Bosphorus River |
We spent the rest of the day back at the Grand Bazaar and spice market as we had enjoyed them so much the day before. We tried Turkish tea while sitting in the grand bazaar and we, of course, got massively ripped off. We didn't even get our tea in one of those cool Turkish tea cups! By that point of the trip, we should have known not to have Turkish tea in such a touristy area.
At the spice market, I couldn't resist buying more Turkish Delight and we went on a mad hunt for the vendor that we had bought it off the day before. He actually remembered us from the day before! The extreme hospitality of the Turkish people still amazes me. If everyone was as hospitable as them, the world would be such a better place.
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| Chicken kebab |
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| Grand Bazaar |
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| Turkish coffee |
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| Grand Bazaar |
From the spice market, we wandered out to the bridge and Bosphorus river to take some photos and to try fish kebabs. My family friend had raved on about said fish kebabs when I told her about my upcoming Istanbul trip so we were definitely not leaving Istanbul without trying one.
Originally, we had planned to take a boat tour down the river in the early evening but since we had left the apartment so late that morning, it was getting dark quite fast and we decided to give it a miss as none of us were really feeling up to it.
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| Bosphorus River |
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| Fish being cooked on a boat |
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| Fish kebab |
My experience in Istanbul was perfectly surreal. It still amazes me that such a magical place exists in the world! We got so lucky, from having a local show us around the place to having such a welcoming and helpful host. My whole time in Istanbul felt like a dream and I hope that I get to return one day. I never felt unsafe in this city, like most people fear, and the locals are some of the nicest people that I have ever encountered.
I feel that everyone who visits Istanbul falls in love with the city before leaving it. It's impossible not to! The city itself is just so alive. There is always people out and about, talking, laughing and having a good time. There is never a dull moment in Istanbul.
I think what I loved most about Istanbul, though, was the little things. I love the abundance of evil eye trinkets littering the city. I love that you'll find at least one Turkish pretzel vendor no matter which street you turn down. I love the call to prayer, which rings out five times a day. I love the layer of smog that gives the city a certain mystique. I love Turkish hospitality. I love the smell of spices that invade your senses in the spice market. I love feeling like an adventurer every time I walked down the complicated, steep and windy back streets. I love the small hourglass shaped Turkish tea cups. I could go on forever...
I struggled a lot to write this post. I loved Istanbul so much that I wanted to do the city justice, yet I was so excited to share my experience of Istanbul with everyone that I wanted to finish the post as fast as I could and ended up rushing it a fair bit! Istanbul has given me an insatiable desire to travel throughout the rest of Turkey and there is nowhere that I would recommend visiting more (except maybe Morocco).
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