Kebab
It was pouring when I arrived in Istanbul. Very strange after five weeks without having seen any raindrop. It didn’t stop raining for two days and unpleasantly limited my first visits to roofed places …
Coming from Syria and Lebanon I was shocked by the number of tourists. I could have known it, Istanbul is full of tourists and there is a good reason for it: It’s a fantastic city! Beautiful and lively! And there is so much to see: an impressive number of huge, spectacular mosques, mixed with beautiful monuments from the Byzantine area as well as modern buildings. All of this, its friendly people, culture and cuisine makes it a top ten destination for many travellers. But queuing to visit all the monuments, palaces, mosques and museums and paying high admission fees, partly destroyed the experience. Istanbul is definitely not a cheap destination!
First of all there is the suburb of Sultanahmet, which, with all its famous sights, can be almost considered a museum itself. It is also packed with hotels, restaurants and bars and most tourists stay here. You won’t find many local people and the ones you find are probably either working or visiting themselves. It is the place to start any visit to Istanbul and a place where you can easily spend a few days marveling at its main sides, which are Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Basilica Cistern and the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.
Even though there many other beautiful mosques worth visiting, the Blue Mosque is for good reasons the most famous and most impressive. It was built in 1606 to compete with the 1000 years older Aya Sofia and achieved by providing it with six minarets and a huge courtyard. While the Blue Mosque might be the more spectacular building from the outside, Aya Sofia, with its stunning dome, exceeds its interior beauty by far. Aya Sofia was originally built as a cathedral, later converted into a mosque and is a museum today. Both are facing each other in the center of Sultanahmet and are a must see! Besides those there are many more mosques in Istanbul well worth visiting, of which I recommend the New Mosque and especially the Suleymaniye Mosque.
Blue Mosque
Another must see is the spectacular Topkapi Palace. Once accustomed to thousands of people, queuing up to get in, one can start enjoying to explore this beautiful palaces with its fountains, pavilions, chambers and treasury. The collections of the objects made of gold, silver and jewellery it exhibits, is also quite impressive. For entering the Harem an additional fee has to be paid and therefore is avoided by many people. In my opinion it is the prettiest part of the palace with all its little corridors and chambers.
Even though very beautiful the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar disappointed me a little bit. Having seen the souqs of Damascus and Aleppo a few weeks ago, the famous Istanbul Bazaar lacks of authenticity, basically selling souvenirs to the tourist. A lot more interesting are the busy streets around the Grand Bazaar, bustling with local activities.
Galata Bridge
Crossing the Golden Horn from Sultanahmet over the Galata Bridge is the lively suburb of Beyoglu, packed with shops, restaurants and bars, especially the area around Taksim, is a good place to stroll around its nice streets, grab some food and have a few drinks at night with friends. On a clean and sunny day the tower of Galata provides a beautiful view of the city. The Galata Bridge, always occupied by hundreds of anglers is a good place for having a cheap fish sandwich and a beer in the evening, while listening to some live music. It’s an ugly bridge and quite touristy, but for some reason I’d liked it …
A boat trip on the Bosphorus is obligatory on a visit to Istanbul and there are many ways to do so. Ferries connecting different suburbs on the European side with the Asian side leave regularly all day around and are a good option to get on the water and escape the tourist areas of Sultanahment and the Bazaar District. There is also organized boat tours leaving to the famous Bosphorus Bridge or the Sea of Marmara. Both are recommendable.
Visiting the suburbs on the Asian side of Istanbul, Üsküdar and Kadiköy are nice destinations for seeing more local and less touristy areas. Besides visiting many more beautiful mosques there is not much to do, but pleasant walks around its streets and enjoying the atmosphere.
So what’s left to say? It’s a beautiful city, on a beautiful spot, with beautiful people and a great place to go …
Taksim
