Time Zone: Eastern Europe Time, 10 hours ahead of San Francisco
Travel time from SF (one-way): ~16 hours (including connections)
Direct flights available: No
Length of trip: 3 days, plus travel time
Last visited: November 2008
hits & misses
Hits
+ Aya Sofya
+ Blue Mosque
+ Basilica Cistern
Misses
- Grand Bazaar
- Spice Bazaar
itinerary & thoughts
Ah, Istanbul. I'm actually sitting at the Istanbul airport as I type up this particular post. I'm so excited about this place that I can't wait. So for full disclosure, my whole trip was 5 days end-to-end, but in order to see the greatest hits, you can definitely do Istanbul in 3 days and still feel like you did the city justice. In fact, most of my sightseeing was done in a three-day span and the ends were used to rest and recuperate from the long flights. The maps and the bodies of water surrounding the city make it look really large, but an efficient tram/metro/ferry system can help you skip most of the traffic and get to where you're going quickly.
I love Istanbul. The people are nice (but not overbearingly so) and the city is beautiful. It's teeming with culture and yet progressively modern. The sights are beautiful, and the food is good (and cheap, too). What more could you want for three days?
I highly recommend staying at the W Istanbul, the first (and only for the moment) W Hotel in Europe. It's trendy, sexy, and not yet tired like any of the W's in the US. It's definitely a 5 star experience, if only lacking in a pool. It's also in a great area in Beşiktaş, and although it's right next to a bunch of high end shops, there are local street food places and a supermarket just around the corner.
Thursday
8:00am - Start off the day with a full Turkish breakfast or kahvaltı, which is a large assortment of goodies that usually includes cold cuts, cheese, olives, bread, honey, butter and more. The honey and olives are really good here! Wash it all down with some Turkish coffee, Türk kahvesi. I like mine az şekerli, which means with only a little sugar.
9:00am - Most of the "must-see" tourist attractions in Istanbul are in the Sultanhamet, or Old City area. If you're not staying in that area (I didn't), you might want to divide up your Sultanhamet sightseeing into two days so you don't overdose on it all in one day. Start with Aya Sofya, arguably the most impressive and gorgeous sight in Istanbul. The outside is pretty unassuming next to its neighbour the Blue Mosque, but if you read a bit of its history you'll understand why. Aya Sofya was first a church and then converted to a mosque, and then finally into its current form as a museum today. Its most beautiful feature is the large unsupported dome which is currently being restored. You can also go upstairs to the upper gallery to see beautiful mosaics of figures in Christianity. There's an odd juxtaposition that also perhaps is a metaphor for Istanbul's history -- in the area were you would expect the altar in a church, there is a large mosaic of the Virgin Mary overlooking the mihrab, which is a fixture in a mosque which indicates the direction of Mecca.
A curious side note: when you're upstairs, you'll find a lot of tourists on their tippy toes taking pictures out of a blurry window that they can't actually see out of. Stick your camera up there too, and you'll get an awesome shot of the tops of the domes of the Blue Mosque. ;)
11:30am - Head over to the Blue Mosque before the midday prayers so you can head inside and view the beautiful interiors of the mosque. Be prepared to remove your shoes, and women should cover their heads out of respect, even though they don't seem to require it as stringently for foreigners. The inside of the mosque is closed during all five of the daily prayer times, and it often takes quite a while for them to reopen it after each prayer session, so plan your time accordingly.
12:30pm - Just across from the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya is a small unsuspecting entrance to the Basilica Cistern. Even though it's a very simple place (an underground cistern with lots of magnificently lit columns), it's a great quick escape and I highly recommend it. They say it's also great in the summer since it's usually a lot cooler inside.
1:30pm - Grand Bazaar is about 10 minutes walk down the main tourist drag from Aya Sofya. It was definitely a miss for me since I wasn't looking to buy anything, but since it is a famous sightseeing spot, you might want to check it out for the experience. The vendors will call out to you actively, but are otherwise not outrageously aggressive if you don't reciprocate. We ended up grabbing some pides (pizza-like flatbread) from a street vendor for lunch.
3:00pm - From the Grand Bazaar, you can actually walk down the hill towards the Spice Bazaar in about 10 minutes. The road is windy and small, so if you're not good with a map, you might want to take the tram or catch a cab. Again, I thought the Spice Bazaar was underwhelming, but some might find it more interesting than I did.
4:00pm - After the Spice Market, you'll be right in the Eminönü area. You can easily stroll across the Galata Bridge and marvel at how many fisherman hang out on the bridge and fish there all day, or watch the sun set over Istanbul over a cup of tea at one of the touristy cafes under the bridge. (Touristy, but still fun.)
5:00pm - Take a cab to the Istanbul Modern across the Galata Bridge in the Beyoğlu district. It's free on Thursdays and open until 8pm! It's worth paying to visit anyway, but if you're there on a Thursday anyway, why not? Modern Turkish art is actually pretty impressive and I wish more of it would be shown outside their country.
8:00pm - Grab dinner in any one of the trendy trendy restaurants in Beyoğlu or Beşiktaş. Rest up for a full day of sightseeing tomorrow!
Friday
9:00am - Back to Sultanhamet and to the Topkapi Palace we go. The palace is huge, so make sure you set aside at least several hours for it, especially if you also visit the Harem. The Harem has a separate entrance fee and is located inside the Topkapi Palace, but I definitely recommend it.
1:00pm - Tram across the Galata Bridge, and transfer to the Tunel which takes you up the hill to Galata Tower and the start of Istiklal Cd, which is the main drag where tons of people come to (in my friend's words) "go shopping but don't buy anything". It's a bit more busy at night, but on a weekend, it's pretty much busy all day. It's really just one long street with shops (many of them such as Diesel, Starbucks, and Mavi have several stores) but it's good to hang out with all the young people in Istanbul for once. ;) There's also a Wagamama, KFC, and Pizza Hut in case you are feeling homesick for familiar (if not that healthy) food.
Saturday
10:00am - Sleep in, and then take the ferry across the river to the Asia side. The ride from Beşiktaş to Üsküdar takes only 15 minutes and costs less than a dollar, so you can pretty much ride back and forth as often as you wish. :) The other side isn't particularly exciting, but well, you know. At least you could say you did it. ;)
1:00pm - So truth be told, I spent most of the last day lounging around at a touristy cafe under the Galata Bridge drinking Turkish tea, smoking hookah, and watching the sun set over Istanbul with my friend. Are there other sights we could have seen? Sure. Could we have gone to a Turkish bath (hammam)? Of course. But would I traded that last afternoon for anything else? Nah. Take your time. Breathe. Relax. Drink some tea. That's how they do it in Turkey.
7:00pm - At the recommendation of our concierge, our last dinner in the city was at Park Fora. The service was attentive and the food excellent. We made our way through cold and hot meze before having fresh grilled local blue fish as our entree. Yummy! A perfect ending to a perfect 3 days in Istanbul.
the 411
stay:
- W Istanbul
- Street food (****) - Breakfast/lunch/dinner - just walk around and see where the locals eat. We ate the majority of our meals this way. Usually any doner or kebap place that locals are lining up for are pretty good. Avoid the mussels, rice & chick peas, and any fish sandwich place that doesn't have high turnover - casual
- Park Fora (****) - Dinner - seafood place in Ortakoy with really awesome fresh fish - dressy
- Spice Market (**) - Lunch/Dinner - dressy
- Cafe Nero (**) - Coffee - for a non-Starbucks hit of espresso - casual
- Wagamama (**) - Lunch/Dinner - "break open in case of homesick emergency" - casual
- Grand Bazaar
- Spice Bazaar
(Honestly didn't do any shopping while I was here, but if you want to bring home something kitschy or souvenir-ish, these two would be the places to find them.)
map: (coming soon)
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