Istanbul is a fascinating, vibrant, big city. Actually it is the largest city in Turkey. It is an amazing place because there are so many things which you have to visit when you are there.
We used our Lonely Planet Istanbul city guide book, which was very helpful. It is a great book, because you can easily find everything important in it. Actually you can find Lonely Planet online too. The book contains walking tours which can help to plan your stay.
Where To Stay
We stayed in the Hilton Istanbul hotel located in the heart of European Istanbul. The hotel has great location it's 5 minutes from Taxim Square where you can take to subway to get down to the city center or you can just as easily walk down from the hill. We used our Hilton points to stay in this hotel which has excellent an view of the Bosporus Strait.
Top Picks
- Grand Bazaar
The Grand Bazaar is in the Bazaar district which is an really busy part of Istanbul. The bazaar is the heart of the city much more as a geographical sense and has been so for centuries with over 4000 shops and several kilometres of alleys as well as mosques, banks, police stations, restaurants and workshops.
This place was one of my favorites in Istanbul. If you like nice carpets, ceramics, jewelery, silk scarves, leather bags and spices you have to visit it. The prices are very high if you don't bargain hard but I really enjoyed doing it. It is like a game but you never know if you could have gotten a better price or not. My suggestion is to look for similar goods in several shops and ask for the prices but not making any counteroffers. When you have decided what to buy ask for the price and after the shop owner gives it to you respond with a price 25-50% of the original price. The owner will laugh at you and maybe mimic aggravation. If he doesn't counter with a different (lower than the original) offer than leave.
We bought a very pretty rug which was small enough to fit in the luggage for less than half the asking price.
- Spice Market
If you like spices, dried fruits, nuts, herbal teas, honey or olive-oil soaps you will find these products in the Spice Market. It is also a good spot to find some small souvenirs to bring them home as a gift or just to remind yourself about your stay in Istanbul.
- Aya Sophia
Aya Sophia is Istanbul's most famous monument and has a history as long as it is fascinating. What is amazing is that it was built from 532 until 1453, for almost 1000 years. Aya Sophia (Hagia Sophia) was once a Christian church, later a mosque and now a museum of the Turkish Republic.
It is fascinating how huge this museum is. Here are some details: its length is 82 m (269 ft), width 73 m (240 ft) and its height is 55 m (180 ft).
The mosaics in Aya Sophia are incredible. The Byzantine people gazed in amazement at the sense of air and space in the nave and the 30 million tesserae (gold mosaic tiles) that covered the dome's interior. These mosaics depicted Virgin Mary, Jesus, saints and emperors or empresses. During the fourth crusade in 1204, Latin Crusaders sacked many Byzantine
buildings including Hagia Sophia. Many beautiful mosaics were removed
and shipped to Venice. After the Ottoman occupation of Constantinople in
1453 with the transition of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, the mosaics were
covered, whitewashed or plastered. With the Fosatti brothers’ restoration in
1847, the mosaics got uncovered and were copied for record. But they
still remained covered until 1931 when a restoration and recovery
program began under the leadership of Thomas Whittemore.
You can visit the museum every day except Monday. I suggest you buy a ticket online (combined with one to the Topkapi Palace) because you will save a lot of time and avoid standing in line.
- Blue Mosque
Istanbul's Blue Mosque has six minarets and the courtyard is the
biggest of all of the Ottoman mosques. The interior has a similarly
grand scale as Aya Sophia: the blue tiles that give the building its unofficial name
number in the tens of thousands, there are 260 windows and the central
prayer space is huge.
- Topkapi Palace
This opulent palace complex is the subject of more colorful stories
than most of the world's royal residences put together. It was home to
Selim the Sot, who drowned after drinking too much champagne; İbrahim
the Mad, who lost his reason after being imprisoned for 22 years by his
brother Murat IV; and the malevolent Roxelana, a former concubine who
became the powerful consort of Süleyman the Magnificent. And they're
just three among a long progression of mad, sad and downright bad
Ottomans who lived here between 1453 and 1839.
The Topkapi Palace occupies a large area close to Aya Sophia. It will take approximately 2 hours to visit this interesting place. It has a many of parts which you can see such as the imperial gate, a lots of courtyard, harem, imperial council, tower of justice, gate of felicity, library, mosque of the Agas and gardens.
In one part of the palace is the Imperial Treasury where you can see beautiful jewelry, swords, thrones and crowns. They are absolutely gorgeous.
- Istiklal Caddesi
Istiklal Caddesi is located in the city's Beyoglu district on the European side which is Istanbul's most famous street. There are a lot of shops with famous brands such as Mango, H&M, Apple Store etc. There are many restaurants as well. This street also has a number of popular places of worship including the Aya Triada, a Greek Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Saint Mary and San Antonio di Padova churches, the Armenian Saint Mary Catholich Church as well as the Hüseyin Aga Mosque.
Our trip ended in this beautiful city. What I recognized after this trip is that it is always so good to travel with kids but sometimes we have to take a break and just enjoy seeing other places without them.
(3 days- 2013. May)
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