I ended up spending some time in Turkey because of a cheap plane ticket. I was in Romania trying to get to India and all the itineraries were really time consuming. Many of them stopped in Istanbul and when I saw low cost flights to Turkey I decided to just take one and figure it out from there (although I didn’t include the cost of the Turkish visa in my brilliant money-saving calculations). I’m happy it worked out that way and that I got to spend some time in Istanbul. It was not what I expected. It’s a very modern city with a nice public transportation system and, of course, incredible historical sites.
I stayed in the Taksim neighborhood, which was very modern and nice. It was a quick tram ride (easy once I bought a transport card from a kiosk) to the Sultanamet neighborhood which is the historic center where the Hagia Sophia is located. I took a walking tour there and learned about the Byzantine and Ottoman eras, seeing the site of the former Roman Hippodrome chariot racing arena where obelisks and columns placed in that era still stand.
The tour included the famous Spice Bazaar (aka Egyptian Bazaar). It’s a beautiful, if touristic, market. I was totally taken with the Turkish delight I bought there, especially the ‘traditional’ roasted pistachio version. I also later took the guide’s advice to try some Turkish ice cream which is delicious. They use goat milk and a flour made from an orchid that makes the texture kind of chewy and stretchy.
Exploring the city on my own, I visited several beautiful mosques including the famous blue mosque near the Hagia Sophia and the Suleymaniye Mosque which has a lovely graveyard with mausoleums housing the sarcophagi of sultans. The grounds have a view of the city.
I got to see a variety of mosques and prayer spaces. I’ve come to expect prayer rooms in airports, but was surprised to see one on the ferry I took to visit some nearby islands. I also visited Yeralti Camii (literally ‘underground mosque’) in an underground site formerly used as a fort and then for ammunition storage before being converted to a mosque.
The mosques around Istanbul are great, but the best thing about the city for me was the cats. I was told that the cats in Turkey are generally not owned by anyone, but are cared for by everyone. They are everywhere and they seem happy and friendly. There are even little shelters that people build and tuck away on the streets for them.
I visited some some historical locations put to interesting new use. There is a 6th century cistern which is now an art gallery. There is still water covering the bottom which adds to the atmosphere and influences the art.
I also saw the Sirkeci railroad station which was once the last stop on the Orient Express. My romantic fantasies of riding that line went poof when someone told me the price tag (it’s no longer truly in service, but apparently there are some restored cars that can be chartered). However, I did visit the still operational station which is beautiful. It houses a little one room railway museum with some fun relics on display.
I booked a day trip to Bursa to visit the nearby mountain town which was nice, although at the time I was there there was lots of snow and not much visibility. The trip included a cable car ride which I imagine can be quite scenic, but at that time there was nothing to see but gray. In the evening we got to see the green mosque and mausoleum which I thought was the best part.
Back in Istanbul, I went to see Dolmabahce Palace (a bit of a tram ride away from the other neighborhoods I’d been in), built as a Sultan’s home in the 19th century. The garden grounds and the building itself are gorgeous, but the inside is the real attraction. It’s incredibly opulent. No photos were allowed inside. I also went to Topkapi Palace (an older 15th century construction near Hagia Sophia), which is a complex of buildings serving as a museum with everything from jewelry to weapons on display. There was a lot to see and it was easy to get turned around.
The highlight of Istanbul for me was the Hagia Sophia. I chose to take an evening tour through Guruwalk (an app that connects you to free walking tours). Hagia Sophia is free for anyone to enter, but I was glad to have some guidance to provide context and to point out interesting things that I wouldn’t have known about. It has a rich history. It was built as an Eastern Orthodox church in the 6th century and since then it’s been a Catholic church, a mosque, a museum and now a mosque/museum (unfortunately they were working on the museum part which meant there were areas I didn’t get to see). The interior is beautiful and it felt surreal to me that I was inside. I’m always a little in awe any time I see something in real life that I’ve built as a wonder to advance my culture in the Civ video games.
For one of my days, I took a ferry to visit the Princes’ Islands. I actually only went to one island (Buyukada). It’s a beautiful place where no cars are allowed. They use little electric carts and buses to get around. I did some hiking, visiting the Aya Yorgi Church where I lit a candle and made a wish, as is apparently traditional there.
My main goal on the island was to find an abandoned building I’d read about. Construction started on it at the end of the 19th century and it was considered to be the biggest wooden building in Europe for over a century. It was supposed to be a hotel and casino, but the Sultan at the time didn’t approve of gambling. It never opened and eventually it became an orphanage. That closed in the 60s and the building has been more or less abandoned ever since.
After my Island day, I had a little more time in Istanbul and I arranged an appointment at the Hurrem Sultan Hammam (traditional Turkish bath) for a scrub down and massage. This hammam is a particularly historic (located next to the Hagia Sophia) and fancy one and it was quite a luxury experience! Much different than the rough rub down I had for my first hammam experience in Morocco.
On my last day in Istanbul, I visited the archeological museum. I didn’t take the time and money to travel to some of the archeological sites of Turkey in person, so I thought I should at least see the museum. They have beautiful things on display and it was well worth going there. I got a very Istanbul memory to take with me when I bought coffee and sat down on a bench in front of the museum to rest. A friendly cat immediately climbed in to my lap and curled up to take a nap.
Allium Walking 
Beautiful pix and a sweet post (the cats!)
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Perfect memory moment for you of coffee & cats!
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