Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople!

Sitting now at 34000 feet somewhere over the North Atlantic heading home after what has been a very busy, many miles traveled, activity filled 10 days.  

Starting with Easter weekend where in most European countries you get both Good Friday and the Monday after Easter off as holidays.  It feels a lot like Thanksgiving does at home where many take the whole week off and if not the whole week, then by Wednesday half the office is gone and things are quiet work wise.  Taking advantage of this 4 day weekend we decided it would be the perfect opportunity to visit Istanbul, Turkey which has been on our list for some time.  It’s about a 3 hour flight from Zurich so a bit long for just a weekend trip, not to mention it is a massive sized city with lots to see so 4 days was going to be a good start.  Istanbul did not disappoint!  

Traveling with our now defacto “travel buddies” Alex and Stacey we arrived late on Thursday night, late enough that by the time we got to the hotel it was bed time and let's get ready for an early start Friday morning.

Entrance to the Palace

First up Friday morning was the Topkapi Palace which sits up on a hill in the old part of town.  Really a giant complex of buildings and has served as a fortress and residence of the Ottoman empire.  Apparently the Sultans who lived there also felt they could gouge you for an extra $10 to see the Harem part of the complex which was one of the more interesting parts of the tour.  One tip for you as you plan your own little adventure someday to the Topkapi Palace, do not pay for the audio tour because you will basically be paying for a broken walkman from the early 90’s that requires you to push buttons in order to tell it where you are and it will then respond with 36 seconds of useless information.

That took up most of the morning before we left to find something to eat and 

Looking down a random street

then spent the afternoon more or less wandering around the streets, 
looking at the markets and exploring.  Always enjoy just walking the streets and seeing whatever you stumble upon which included narrow streets, shops and lots of places serving Doners, which we'll get to later.  

Eventually we wandered our way back near the hotel to the next main attraction called the “Blue Mosque”  also built during the Ottoman Empire which is quite picturesque from the outside and fairly impressive on the inside too.  One of those things where you walk in, take a few pictures, say you were there and head out.  This is when we went on to find one of the really cool things they have tons of in Istanbul – the rooftop terrace bar.  

About every 3^rd building has a rooftop bar where you can sit, have a drink, look out over the water, and given the very pleasant weather we had this really made for an enjoyable experience.  Grabbed dinner at this great restaurant then went out to one of the lively parts of town for nightlife called Nevizade street.  LOTS of people out, live music everywhere, really great fun atmosphere which we took in for a few hours before finally calling it a day.

Inside the Hagia Sophia

Up the next morning, powered up with a Doner for lunch, then off for some more sightseeing including the Hagia Sophia which according to Wikipedia is really old and originally a Christian Byzantine empire church before becoming a mosque during the Islamic Ottoman empire.  It was also really crowded which initially looked like a problem save for the random tour guide who asked us if we wanted to join his tour.  Extra cost = $10.  Never mind that with the added cost we got an actual tour AND we got to bypass the whole line and walk right in.  Great investment.  From the outside, not quite as impressive to look at as the Blue Mosque but from the inside it was really something to see.  A huge building with tile artwork from the building's history as both a Christian and Muslim church, a must do sight for sure.

The beginning of Doner Quest

Did some more wandering around after that and also began “Doner” quest 2012 to see how many Durum Doners we could eat since there are as mentioned stands everywhere selling them and had our second of the day.  (So good, would love to have one on this flight right now as I think about it.  Much better than that random chicken thing they just rolled down the aisle)  More walking, wandering, went to the Grand Bazaar which is basically a huge mall, and killed our day that way.  

Dinner that night was up the Bosphorus which is the waterway that runs from the Mediterranean sea up to the Black sea.  It is also about an hour taxi ride from where we were staying despite the distance of about 20 KM because traffic in this city is insane.  Bright side was that at least we got to see some other parts of the town during the trip and even got a short boat ride out to the actual restaurant.  We ate and by this point were pretty much wiped out and called it a night after a short and largely unsuccesful search for a night cap.

Our last day in town consisted of finding more Doners, and having a man exfoliate me with a wire scrub brush mit before dumping massive amounts of soap on me while I lay on a marble slab.  This was the famous “Hammam” or Turkish bath.  A strange experience, nothing like a relaxing spa especially when you consider other strangers are watching you undergo your “bath” like you're an animal at the circus.  It’s weird.  But it's also a worthwhile experience though not one I need to do again.  Then got another Doner.  The other unexpected experience I had was the Turkish barber which Alex had heard about and which we both checked out.  No special place, just found the barber shop down the street from the hotel and walked in for a haircut and shave.  A very thorough process which included a shoulder massage, having all the little hairs you get all over the place washed off, and also a lighter.  This is definitely something I would do again.  And oh by the way - half the price of a haircut in Zurich.

Last real sightseeing thing we did was a boat tour of the Bosphorus which took about an hour and a half round trip and just cruised along the water while we looked at various sights on the shore and enjoyed the sunshine.  Excellent dinner that night, found a local place near the hotel for a few drinks and traditional Hookah, and wrapped up 3 full days in Istanbul.  

Looking up the Bosphorus

All in all a wonderful, different, interesting, and lively city.  It’s truly a huge city with so much we didn’t get to see so I’d have to say a return trip is something I would love to do in the future.  We’ll see, so many places to see, so little time!  

Now stayed blogged in for what the other 6 days I mentioned were all about.....