Istanbul, Turkey

Days: 60-63
Miles Traveled: 29,907
Countries Visited: 13



If you read my previous post on Cairo, you know that I can't wait to go back...ha! I was a little afraid that Turkey would be similar, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. I loved Istanbul! It's absolutely beautiful with fantastic architecture everywhere, wonderfully friendly people and great food. I could easily spend a couple of weeks in Turkey (4-5 days in Istanbul and the balance of the time touring the rest of Turkey - I've heard it's just as beautiful).


I stayed at the Legacy Ottoman Hotel which was absolutely perfect. It's located in Sirkeci which is a couple of blocks from Sultanahmet (Old City). If you were to put a pin in a map that represents all that is Istanbul - you'd put it in Sultanahmet. As I was researching hotels, the Legacy Ottoman was about 50% less than those located directly in Sultanahmet and yet still a 5-Star hotel. I got lucky in that when I checked in, my room wasn't ready so I used my irresistible charm (stop laughing!) and they gave me the top floor corner suite with two balconies and a huge room (above "L" in the picture). If you go to Istanbul, I'd highly recommend this hotel.

The view from my room was also "picture perfect":


The first day that I arrive in most of the previous cities (I usually arrive late in the afternoon) I would spend an hour or two walking around to get my bearings, pick up a couple of things at the grocery store and scope out a couple of potential spots for breakfast or coffee the next morning. The same held true for my arrival into Istanbul (I arrived at 5:30pm), however at 11pm I found myself still walking around...it was that intriguing. People were everywhere (mostly tourists), shops were still open, street musicians still playing, and with the sun setting around 9pm it was easy to just keep walking!


The next morning I checked out Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia) which is a former orthodox patriarchal basilica (a fancy phrase for a very important cathedral - I had to look it up) back when the city was still Constantinople in 360AD, then briefly it was a


cathedral of the Latin empire in the 1200's, a Muslim mosque in the 1400's until the 1900's and then a museum in the 1930's to today. It's awesome to walk in a building that has so much history behind hit - with mosaics of Christ and the Virgin Mary next to images of the muslim faith. I'm not a religious expert - but I don't think these two religions got along all that well over the last 1700 years - and you can see that inside as they continue to restore the damage that was done over the previous millennium.







Not more than a "driver, wedge" away is the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque). Also a beautiful piece of architecture with blue roof tiles and therefore the nickname: Blue Mosque. This was built in the 1600's and is still used today for worship but also open to visitors. Apparently Pope Benedict visited this mosque in 2006, removed his shoes - as is customary in the muslim faith - and gave a silent prayer. This was only the second time in history a pope had visited a Muslim place of worship.




Just a few blocks away is Topkapi - the huge Turkish Palace that was the residence of the Ottoman Sultans for 400+ years. It's estimated to be about 700,000 square meters which to us Americans is about 7.5 million square feet! I wonder what that would rent for? The harem inside the palace housed 400+ people, mostly the sultan's concubines and the eunuch guards - I guess that's one way to keep the guards from messing with your concubines...make them all eunuchs!

Under the palace, I toured the Basilica Cistern which is where they stored the water for the Palace and Ayasofya.


It's interesting being under ground in a cavern that was originally built in the 3rd century - I'm hoping they've made a few structural improvements since then!




Also only a few blocks away is the Grand Bazaar which is absolutely enormous. It's about 60 streets that criss cross in a huge labyrinth of shops - 2,000 shops in all. Each one is no more than a 100-200 square feet selling everything from Turkish rugs, to jewelry, to pottery and clothing. It opened in 1461...so about 30 years BEFORE America was discovered. For my real estate readers: can someone run a 600 year pro forma on a retail shopping center?!? What do you think...10 cap?



One thing that was a little annoying about the Grand Bazaar was all the touts trying to get you into their shops. I had three separate salesmen ask me where I was from and when I said Colorado they responded with something to the effect of "I've been to Denver before - great city." The first time it happened to me I was impressed and stopped to talk to the guy for a minute - until he tried to get me in his shop "just around this corner." Later, when the second guy said he'd been to Denver I realized it was a common trick they used. By the third guy I started to wonder if they have all memorized one major city in each state in the US, and probably every country in the world so that regardless of what you say when they ask where you're from, they can say "oh really, I've been to such-and-such city before." Not a bad trick! I also can't remember ever being complimented as much as I was in the bazaar. "Like your shoes", "nice shirt", "where did you get those sunglasses" - anything to get you to stop and talk to them.



I ended up buying a Turkish rug (not at the Grand Bazaar - I had heard their prices are heavily marked up, but just down the street from Ayasofya.) I really didn't intend on buying a rug but after going into several shops I started to like what I was seeing and could see one of them fitting perfectly in my house. When I started getting specific as to the type/style/color of the rug I was looking for I all of sudden had 10-12 guys helping me. I was only speaking with one salesperson - Yusef - but 10 other guys were bringing in rugs and rolling them out for me, one guy was bringing me tea, another was bringing me sugar cubes, while yet another brought me water. It was a really cool experience and even the haggling over the price at the end was a lot of fun. Twice I walked out of the store saying "that's my final offer." The first time I was stopped at the door with a counter offer of 20% less than before, but the second time I had walked half way down the street before Yusef appeared and lowered the price again. It's funny because the first time he quoted me a price he gave a speech about how his shop doesn't haggle - they give their best price the first time and it's a take it or leave it price. Obviously not true as we ended up haggling for almost a full hour but ultimately I got it for half of his original "take it or leave it" price. I'm not a Turkish rug expert either (as you may have determined I'm not an expert at much!), but I truly think I got a good price - at least compared to what I would have paid for a similar rug in the US. And now I have the memory of buying a rug in Turkey!



Another cool area of town - across the Galata Bridge but on the same side of the Bosphorus (in other words on the European side not the Asian side of Istanbul) - is a street named Istiklal Caddesi. It's a 2+/- mile long pedestrian mall with shops and cafés along both sides and a tram running down the middle. What I really liked about it was that each alley coming off the main street was also filled with shops and cafés and would wind around for blocks. If you make it to Istanbul I'm sure this street will be on your list of spots to see, but be sure to venture off the beaten path and check out the side alleys.

Overall, I loved Istanbul and look forward to coming back some day. Next stop is Frankfurt, Germany. Frankfurt was not really on my list of "must see" cities, but it's the major hub of Lufthansa which is part of this "Round the World" airline ticket. My main purpose for going into Frankfurt is to figure out the next 60 days of travel around mainland Europe before my next RTW flight into Dublin in September. I've already purchased my Eurail Global Pass - which gives me free (or deeply discounted) tickets on just about any train in Europe for the next 2 months. I've listed all the cities I want to go to, but I haven't figured out the best route to trek all the way around the continent and avoid criss-crossing back and forth. It's a little overwhelming, but I'm sure I'll manage!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Hamidiye Cd 61 Istanbul Turkey 34112

View Larger Map