This trip to Istanbul Turkey was thanks to our friend Cam, he posted there was a seat sale and after about 10 minutes of deliberation, Brad and I decided to snatch up the deal (Air Canada ~ $750 return). We had heard great things from Turkish friends and others who have visited Istanbul and after visiting the city, I have to agree with them. This is how Brad and I left Istanbul after four days feeling like we hit the major hot spots and saw a great deal of the city.
We arrived around 2pm local time and promptly picked up a SIM card from Vodafone. We hopped in a cab we were quick to learn why Istanbul is listed as the second worst city for traffic (Moscow is #1). We were told that the taxi ride should take about 30 minutes to get to our hotel, but it took 2.5 hours instead. One portion was almost standstill traffic for about an hour and a half with cars merging and honking everywhere.
The Park Hyatt was where we stayed the first two nights. A luxurious hotel with an amazing room: steam shower, beautiful bath (which I definitely took advantage of), all contained in a beautiful corner suite. No complaints here. The area where the hotel is situated is coined the "Rodeo Drive" of Istanbul. Definitely a high end shopping area.
Of course I took advantage of the tub and watched Veronica Mars... Two nights in a row.
The first night we went close to the hotel for a quick dinner at a place called Kirinti for some average food. Something quick and dirty after a very long day.
Today was the day that we managed to see almost everything that was touristy. We aren't ones for taking things slow. We get in, we get out, and this trip wasn't any different.
We headed up to Kariye Museum, an old church that was recommended by @pointsandtravel. The church was located just outside of the main tourist area so a tram and taxi ride away, but it was worth it. It was very pretty and allowed us to walk back along the Golden Horn, an inlet that divides the city, and see all the dirty water and jelly fish. Apparently jellyfish like the dirty water... Despite the floating bread and junk, the inlet is quite beautiful especially with the backdrop of the city.
Next stop was the spice market. We made our way through the throngs of people and tourists and we were happy to see that the market still served spices, treats and not ripped DVDs and fake purses. We picked up some dried fruit and nut treats for later.
Of course outside of the church I had to do a quick jumping shot. I was really happy that we decided to explore the streets down to the water. So neat to be walking through the neighbourhoods, seeing kids playing and people attending mosque.
We made a quick walk over the Galate bridge. A mixed use tram, car and pedestrian bridge we had come over when we first arrived. When I say mixed use, I really mean mixed use. Not only is the drawbridge for traffic, no matter what time of day the sidewalks are lined with fisherman. There is a lower level on each side of the bridge where the famous fish restaurants give you perfect water view dining.
The Grand Bazaar was the next stop which was conveniently close to the Spice Market. Small pedestrian streets lined with different goods, colourful lamps, scarves and here we found some fake luxury items. We were happy to see the bazaar wasn't seedy and was quite fun to explore. I'm not sure how some of these stores stay in business, for example there is street that is just store after store filled to the brim with scarves. Sure... Turkish women wear scarves, but how do they make money? I wonder if they actually live in the space above the store or maybe rent is just dirt cheap.
Coming up on 5pm we now had to head to Hammam for an amazing hour long scrub down, more on this in an upcoming post. After leaving the Hammam, we were right between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia at sunset. We quickly visited the Blue Mosque before closing. It was very grand inside but the hanging lights made it less breathtaking then it could have been if it were an open space.
I appreciate that shoes must be removed to enter the mosque, but in doing so, the smell of tourists' feet from walking around the city was hanging heavy in the air.
Even at 7 at night the rush hour traffic hadn't subsided. We took the crowded tram down the same corridor that we were stuck in a tax on, luckily the tram has it's own right of way. To get up to Taksim where we were going to eat dinner, we need to transfer from the tram to a funicular. Again, we were jam packed into the train and then had to wait 5 minutes for the train to even start moving. Seems the traffic and transit can be both cumbersome. Dinner was at a recommended restaurant called 5.Kat (5th floor) in Taksim near our hotel.
I love a good funicular. Really, it isn't a good city to visit if they don't have a funicular... right? Well this one sucked. Underground, no view, packed with people. I was disappointed.
Saturday started slow. We enjoyed the freezing cold pool at the Park Hyatt (which had just opened for the season the day before) and a lunch at the terrace restaurant. Our Amex reservation gave us $100 food and beverage credit we needed to use up, so we were more then happy to have a two course lunch.
We had to downgrade hotels this day to be more centrally located so we moved to the Marmara hotel right in Taksim Square. We met our friend Susan who just moved to Istanbul 3 months ago for some more city exploring.
We start by walking down a very long packed pedestrian street, Istiklal St, lined with local and global stores. Vendors of roasted chestnuts and sticky ice cream also peddled their wares. I tried roasted chestnuts later in the trip and I was sadly disappointed. Brad also tried the sticky ice cream, creatively served by a costumed man.
We headed to Galate tower but the line up didn't seem worth the wait. So we moved on to the tünel. The second oldest subway in the world. This 500m funicular was less busy than the day before thankfully and conveniently took us to the Galate bridge, the bridge with all the fisherman and restaurants.
We decided to walk to the Topkapi Palace where we were told there was to be a line. Everything we read told us to expect long lines and to go early in the morning. To our luck at 5pm there was no line up at all. And I'm glad that we didn't have to wait or come at 9am, it was underwhelming. It was pretty and quaint but the artifacts weren't something I was really interested in. We explored a bit but the rooms with the artifacts were crowded. It was fun to hear the guards yelling at people because they used their flash on their camera though.
I actually didn't take any pictures worth showing at the Palace. One thing that was nice is that it is on the banks of the Bosphorus and in the distance even though we were standing in Europe you can see Asia.
After the Palace, we continued to Hagia Sofia which was originally a huge church that was converted to a mosque. Now it is just simply a museum that used to be a mosque. It is quite pretty and grand from the inside and thankfully we got to keep our shoes on which contained the smell of tourist feet. Half of the inside was under construction but it was still fun to walk around and again, we lucked out with no line up!
With having done so much walking we were now ready to relax. We found a hookah bar just off a busy restaurant street. Brad and I had never done hookah so this was fun to try, especially in Istanbul. Hookah comes in different flavours, cappuccino, rose, mint, watermelon to name a few. We opted for strawberry and it was delicious. The flavour tobacco sits under some burning embers. The smoke is funnelled down into water that is contained in a glass vestibule at the bottom. The smoke is turned sweet and smooth and tastes delicious. You pass around the pipe and enjoy. The Turkish beer Efes also helped with the unwinding, followed by a BBQ dinner around the corner.
With all the big tourists sites out of the way we decided to visit Asia. Yes, Istanbul is the only city to straddle two continents. We went to Bakirköy where Susan showed us around where she lives, still in Istanbul but about a 20 minute Dolmus ride. A Dolmus is a van that acts like a bus but isn't a city run bus. They seem to be a lot quicker and more convenient to get to parts of the city that regular transit doesn't reach.
Normally Brad and I don't eat any complex carbs, bread, or wheats. But that is almost impossible to avoid in Istanbul. Especially since most of the meals include countless rolls and toasts. The Mediterranean breakfast this morning was no exception. Many little dishes: olives, a fried egg, honey with butter, tomatoes, cheeses, beef bacon and fried cheese, jam with clotted cream all to be scooped up by warm rolls. Delicious but definitely a carb overload.
The following ferry ride to the Asian side of Istanbul was the perfect time for a 30 minute nap to recover from breakfast. We walked around what is supposed to be like Chicago's Miracle mile but we must have walked the wrong direction as we couldn't find the popular shopping area. We opted to stop for ice cream and head back to the European side.
At this point I'm realizing just how damn big Istanbul is. The city has about 13 million people and is the second largest city in the world... Yes, there is a trend. Always second, never first.
Next stop after an express bus over one of their two large suspension bridges we were on our way to a mall called Sisli. Part of the transit adventure was that on the European side we had to get off the double long express bus and transfer to another. The number of people was madness as everyone stood curb side as more buses pulled up. We jammed onto a bus almost as packed as we were on the funicular. But two stops later we were off the bus and into the mall. The second largest in Europe. Yes, second, not first.
With the busy day coming to an end, we headed back to Taksim via subway to find some dinner. We went to a Turkish restaurant along Istiklal Road.
On our own for the last day in Istanbul, we wanted to explore more of the shopping centres. We headed to the first centre called Kanyon. A really cool partially outside mall with all the usual stores including Habitat and Harvey Nichol's. The highlight of the mall was actually the Wagamama restaurant that we have enjoyed in various countries except Canada.
The final mall we visited was actually probably the nicest mall. A new mall called Istinye Park. It was a massive new mall with all the local and global stores including an Audi dealership right in the mall (above the Starbucks). What made this mall unique was that the mall had all the usual luxury stores but there was a little village upstairs and second and third floors and entrances to those luxury stores. God forbid someone visiting a Louis Vuitton would want to walk through the mall to get to it when your Range Rover could be valeted right out front.
Now it was time for more relaxation, this time on the Bosphorus river. A taxi ride through Babek (an adorable little brunch area on the water) and we were at Ciragan Palace. A 5 star hotel where we sat next to the pool and had a lemon tart and apple tea.
To wrap up the trip I opted to have my second Hammam experience at the Four Seasons on the Bosphorus. We walked over from the Palace and I was yet again swept away by bubbles and scrubbing. Brad headed back to the hotel where I later met him for our last dinner in Istanbul.
Istanbul is a vibrant city and we never felt unsafe where we were. We feel that our whirlwind tour hit everything we wanted to see and that 4 days was enough to get a good mix of touristy sites and shopping time, plus at the price we got our airline tickets for, a good chance to up our airline miles. A big thanks to Susan for spending the two days tramping around the city in the beautiful spring sun.
