Istanbul

May 08, 2023

After two long flights and a 7 hour layover in Singapore, we arrived at our hotel around 10:00am Sunday. After dropping ours bags off we walked 2 minutes to the most historical part of Istanbul, the Hippodrome. The Hippodrome is a long mall where the Romans used to have chariot races. There are still several columns dating back as far as the 3rd Century standing in the middle.

Next to the Hippodrome is the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, Topkapi Palace and Basilica Cistern. We walked the gardens looking at each from the outside just soaking it in. All very pleasant, apart from having to refuse 6 offers to buy carpets in the space of about 15 minutes. The plan for today though was to wander the streets and get our bearings, so after strolling the gardens we headed up the hill towards the Grand Bazaar.

The main street was humming but when we turned off that, the shops in the side streets were closed - as was the Grand Bazaar. A bit disappointing but we were still basically exploring.

Found ourselves back at Topkapi Palace and decided to go in as the queue didn't seem too bad. 10 minutes to get through security (metal detectors) and then we went to a ticket machine using credit card. The queue to pay cash was another 10-15 it seemed like. We did also queue for about 20 to get a free audio guide. In the end we hardly listened, so probably won't bother with them in future.

Topkapi Palace is huge and is from around the 15th century. It has 3 courtyards, each containing different buildings and grounds. There were displays of religious artefacts, weaponry, outfits and rooms left in relatively original condition with stunning detail and colors on every wall and surface. Rooms included the Harem and Eunichs rooms, Circumcision room and kitchens. The church on the grounds, Hagia Irene, is from the 4th Century and is in relatively original condition. We spent several hours exploring everything as it was so extensive.

Finding food quite expensive and dinner of a chicken casserole and lamb casserole plus a couple of beers and small entree was $100. Most main courses seem to be in the $30-$35 range. Hoping we can find better value elsewhere.

Day 1 done and we had walked 19,591 steps.

After a huge breakfast, we went straight to the Blue Mosque. The queue at 8:45 was quite short and we were inside in no time. The space under the dome is huge and the name comes from the blue tiles and blue stained glass windows. We didn't think it was overly blue at the time, but comparing it to another Mosque we went into later in the day you can understand. This Mosque is still in use today, so we had to take shoes off and Trace wore a scarf.

From here we went to the Basilica Cistern which was part of a huge system built by the Romans to transport water to Istanbul in the 6th century. The system was nearly 600km long and this Cistern is the largest of several hundred under the city. The space is huge, and spectacular, with art installations dotted around, and colored lighting effects. There are over 300, mostly Corinthian, marble and granite columns holding up the roof.

Next stop was the Grand Bazaar. It was not as hectic or crowded as we were expecting and we walked up and down the many, many aisles. The first aisle had about 30 gold/jewellery shops and other aisles were also fairly repetitive with multiple carpet, lamp, clothing, shoes and trinket shops. Men were often rushing past holding trays with coffee or food on them, delivering to different store holders, and we were constantly asked to buy Turkish carpets again.

Last stop for the day was a roof top beer overlooking the Blue Mosque with expansive views of the city, Hagia Sophia, the river and the ocean. Apparently postcard photos of the Mosque are taken from here as it is such a complete view of this stunning building.