Having served as an imperial capital for centuries, Istanbul is well connected via road and air to the world. The city itself has great infrastructure, making it easy for visitors to commute to tourist spots via public transport – buses, metros and trams.
What we loved about Istanbul is its energy – great vibes, welcoming people, delicious food. It boasts some of the most beautiful mosques and churches.
What we did in Istanbul
We reached Istanbul on a Saturday afternoon. After collecting our checked in rucksacks, we enquired about bus services to Taksim square, from where our hostel was at a walking distance. We were directed downstairs for the bus stand. We got our Istanbulkart from the airport itself and loaded it with 50TLs, which included the card cost of 5TL. Istanbulkart comes in handy and is very convenient for anyone traveling around Istanbul. It is like an ordinary metro-card, used for all forms of commutation around Istanbul – metro, trams and buses. We took just one card for all 3 of us together (that’s all you require) and reloaded it as and when necessary.
SIM and data
We had pre-booked our accommodation in Ariya hostel for a night. After checking into the hostel and freshening up, we went to a conveyance store to buy a local sim for my friend; this cost us around 70 TL. I had activated the international roaming plan and made use of WiFi at public places and hostels, so did not buy one for myself.
Ferry ride in Bosphorus strait
Late that afternoon, we headed to take the ferry ride in Bosphorus strait. To reach there, we took a bus to Eminonu and paid using our Istanbulkart. If you have done some amount of research so far, you’d know that Bosphorus strait is a small strait that separates Asia and Europe. So, when you take this ferry ride, you will be right in between both these continents.The ferry ride lasts for at least 1.5 hours (we got bored after a while because the scenery outside is kind of monotonous – the water body and shores filled with buildings) and cost us 25TL per person. You will find a lot of seagulls on your ride – you can click some amazing pictures.
Spice bazaar
Post this ride, we hit the spice bazaar which was right across the street from the ferry ride entrance. It was here that we had our first encounter with Baklava – the very famous Turkish sweet. There were so many varieties of Baklava in the shops, and having read so much about it online, we had to try it immediately. We tried 2 of them and it cost us 7 TL. I must admit, I did not fall in love with it in the first bite, or the next, it was too sweet for me. Then we walked the lanes of spice bazaar the entire evening and walked long enough to reach the entrance of the Grand Bazaar and found it closed because, well it closes at 6 PM. We loved the energetic vibe around this place.
After quite a tiring day, we decided to enjoy the night-life in Istanbul, but unfortunately, we were at the wrong place, the realization came much later. We found so many beautiful hookah bars, but not alcohol.We finally found some alcohol in a bar called the Irish pub.
City tour
The next day, we wanted to leave Istanbul for Ankara. So after packing our bags and leaving it at the reception, we left to explore the city doing some touristy stuff. We had one friend named Abdul from the hostel join us for the day. We headed straight to the premises of Hagia Sophia and had our breakfast in a restaurant there. After breakfast, we took tickets to visit Haga Sophia, an architectural marvel, which was once a church, converted to a mosque and is currently a museum. Then we headed to a mosque, which we later learned was ‘Blue Mosque’. It was huge and had beautiful interiors.
Later, we walked to Topkapi Palace. Topkapi Palace is so huge that covering the entire palace left us tired. The palace offers a very pretty view of the Bosphorus strait and of the Bosphorus bridge connecting Asian and European parts of Turkey.
We then walked the streets of Istanbul and accidentally discovered the Galata tower, it was the best part of Istanbul. I fell in love with Istanbul for the first time then. Not just the tower, the streets leading to the tower, the small shops selling the prettiest of souvenirs along the sides of these streets, the pretty restaurants and of course the very beautifully lit Galata tower – were all worthy of falling in love with. We wanted to come back just to walk these streets again.
I did not want to leave Istanbul that day, but we had to, because we definitely did not want to miss out on the other places on the list. We anyway had our flight back to India from Istanbul, and we had a day in Istanbul before our flight. So we went back to the hostel, picked our bags, waved good-bye to the amazing hostel caretakers – one of whom was jailed in Nepal for possessing 6 passports with him, (and boy, did he seem to enjoy it!), clicked some great pictures, promised to post good reviews and took a bus to Esenler bus terminal.
Intercity commute
There were many bus operators, so each of us took a different section and started looking for buses. We checked for the cheapest option and got tickets in KamilKoch travels. Cheap tickets come with a cost, eh? We were about to start when the lady next to my friend had a problem sitting next to a guy. And I was FORCED to shift next to her.
When you are taking buses to a different city, you don’t have to worry much about the journey, except that the people are pretty conservative, so if you travel with a male friend, there are chances that they will move the two of you to different seats so that other single passengers find someone of the same gender to sit with. Otherwise, there was not much trouble, the rest stops had food and clean washrooms.
Last day in Istanbul
We came back to Istanbul after the rest of our Turkey trip. We reached at around 8AM on a Monday morning and booked our stay in a hotel. We had one full day as our flight back to Mumbai was not until 3 PM the next day. Our agenda was clear –
- Shop – We had not shopped much until then because we did not want to carry stuff around.
- Eat – It was our last day in Turkey, so we wanted to make sure we tried as many varieties of Turkish dishes as possible.
- Turkish Hamam – We had read a lot about Hamams, so we wanted to give this a shot.
- Visit Galata tower. Again. We had fallen in love with the place, so wanted to go back again and grab some drinks before we left Istanbul.
Turkish Hamam
After some rest and a good lunch, we walked to ‘Kadinlar Hamami’ for Hamam, which is a place for public bathing. Men and women were taken to different areas. We were given individual rooms to remove and store our clothes and other stuff. Multiple women are taken inside and given baths simultaneously by trained attendants. The bath includes being seated in a warm humid room for a while followed by scrubbing, massaging and washing of your body by the attendants. It was slightly weird for me as there were so many almost naked women around, but it was over quickly.
Relieved, we took a walk across the Bosphorus strait bridge from Asia to Europe. Then we headed to Galata tower, where we went to a couple of bars before settling down at one for the night. After a couple of drinks and spending some good time there, we took a cab back to our hotel.
Souvenirs
The next morning was reserved for shopping. We spent the entire day in Grand bazaar. God! is there anything you do not find there? We walked a lot, bought a lot of things. I’ll list down a few souvenirs you could buy from Istanbul:
- Turkish lanterns – they are so pretty and a must buy. But be sure to get them packed really well.They are available in a lot of price ranges, we bought a couple of cheap ones that cost us around 60TL per piece.
- Crockery – very beautiful hand painted or printed bowls and plates. Make sure you ask them if they are food-safe in case you intend to use them in the kitchen
- Fridge magnets. You find pretty fridge magnets everywhere in Istanbul – Grand bazaar, streets near Galata tower, near Haga Sophia, etc.
- Shot glasses – we buy them wherever we go.
- Carpets in all shapes and sizes. My friend bought a reasonably priced carpet from Grand bazaar.
- Turkish chai powder in multiple flavours. Some come along with beautiful chai glasses and spoons. We bought them from Grand bazaar.
- Yeni Raki. We got 2 bottles of these from the Istanbul airport.
Read the next post to know what Ankara had in store for us.
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