Month: June 2017

Istanbul is the only city on two continents, so Tommy thought we should visit Asia as well as Europe. We walked down the hill past Aya Sofia to Eminonu to catch the ferry over the Bosphorus to Kadikoy. It is a 20-minute ride across, avoiding the container ship and tankers going between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It costs less than a quid, a real bargain for an interesting boat trip.

Our first stop was a disused railway station at Haydarpasa which was suggested in a misleading travel blog. The imposing Victorian building was closed for restoration so we couldn’t go inside. There was some kind of book fair going on, all the books were Turkish, so not much good for me!

Old Haydarpasa station

 

Close by was a bus station with cute little buses which look designed to appeal to 8-year-old girls, they should be called “My Little Bus”

So we walked into the town and after some hunting using Google maps, found a really vibrant district of markets and cafes. I ate a monster burger and chips for lunch, it was not Turkish but then neither am I. A shop selling second-hand albums kept Tommy happy, while Julie and I found an excellent bar playing good music and ordered an Efes Malt.

Mmm beer…

This is not a tourist district like Sultanahmet so it feels more authentic, I like it here. Walking down the hill towards the port we came across a very lively market full of stalls selling fruit, kitchen tools, nuts and glistening fresh fish. It’s the best market we have come across, all useful stuff, unlike the Grand Bazaar which just sells souvenirs.

This side of Istanbul doesn’t feel radically different to the European side, it is really one huge city of 14 million people.

I ate my own weight in meat at dinner on our last night in Istanbul, a huge mixed kebab.  I’m now farting so much I can hover like a helicopter. There are many restaurants in Sultanahmet, and few of them are really busy. The waiters stand out in the street trying to attract your attention, but there is a lot of competition and not enough tourists.

As we left our hotel this morning, the owner of the carpet shop next door asked us to go and see his kilims and carpets. Visitor numbers to Turkey have dropped by 40% so shop keepers are desperate to sell to the people who do visit. Tommy asked how much a kilim (about 80cm by 60cm) and the guy said £200, roughly ten times more than Tommy expected! There are many more carpet shops than buyers, all I have bought is a belt and a fridge magnet!

Topkapi Palace is only a half a mile from the hotel, close to Aya Sofia, and was the centre of power of the Ottoman Empire for 400 years. It’s a collection of buildings surrounded by a wall that was occupied by up to 10,000 people at a time. That included the Sultan, his extended family, the civil service, the eunochs and many other staff.  Up to 1300 people worked in the kitchen!

There are many buildings, but hardly any furniture apart from big beds. Most surfaces are covered in beautiful tiles or inlay made from coloured stone and mother of pearl. The styles are a mix of traditional Turkish, rococo and baroque, sometimes in the same room.

Large parts of the palace are being restored, so there are lots of hoardings closing off areas with banging going on behind.

The gardens are fragrant with roses, and there are wonderful views over the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus.

After Topkapi we went back to Sarnic to put our feet up for a while. Afterwards we walked round the lovely Gulhane Park, which was a garden of Topkapi until 1912.

Using a combination of the Lonely Planet guide and Google Maps we found the Lokum Cafe and had a big fat Efes beer. Walking through back streets we came across the Incir Limon cafe and ate delicious chicken kebabs with a mixed meze and beer, it was the perfect Turkish meal.

Everyone has been so polite and friendly here, the Turks are lovely people!

Firstly forgive me for typos, I’m writing this blog on a mobile phone and I have fat fingers. The new security rules mean that I can’t take my iPad Mini to Turkey unless I put it in a suitcase in the hold, which would cost another sixty quid.

Gradually we are getting Istanbul sussed out. Walking from our hotel this morning we discovered a street of good restaurants that we can go to later and made a booking for this evening at the Balikci Sabahattin which was recommended on TripAdvisor. So no more swearing from me about crappy food, hopefully.

We took one of the many excursion boat trips on offer from Eminonu near Galata bridge that take sightseers up the Bosphorus.

From the water there were splendid views of all the mosques we visited yesterday in Sultanahmet. The white stone and lead domes of the Suleymaniya looked fantastic against the vivid blue sky. The boat took us as far as the suspension bridge joining Europe to Asia.

A mosque and the Bosphorus bridge

Along the western bank of the Bosphorus is a mix of new development on reclaimed land, and 19th-century palaces and mansions.  Just before the Bosphorus bridge I saw a crowd of birds and then three or four dolphins arcing through the water! It was an unexpected and wonderful sight. A little later on Tommy shouted and there was a black porpoise swimming beside us. All that wildlife in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world is amazing.

Returning to Eminonu after 90 minutes we walked over Galata bridge and past the mighty Galata Tower, a relic of the occupation of that area by people from Genoa. Julie tracked down a cafe mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide, and I had chicken and chips followed by chocolate cake, bloody lovely. Man cannot live by kebab alone.

Tommy wanted to find a record shop in the area, and a friendly local lady gave us a lift in her car most of the way to Kontra Plan. He then spent 45 minutes talking to the owner and listening to Turkish rock music and emerged with three albums.

 

 

The road went uphill to Istikal Avenue, Istanbul’s own Oxford Street, with many familiar shops. It is a packed pedestrianised street that terminates with Taksim Square. Taksim is big but not beautiful, so from there we walked back to our hotel.

Today we walked eight miles around the city, up hill and down dale, so I’m ready for a shower and dinner.

We went to the fish restaurant Balikci Sabahattin that we found earlier. There were more waiters than customers, and the one we got was brusque, to say the least.  He behaved like we were spoiling his evening and we were in his way. We asked for calamari for three people and got six pieces! The grilled snapper was tasty, but can with half a tomato, a small spud and a piece of lettuce. They didn’t get a tip.

I had a proper Turkish breakfast today; boiled eggs, olives, bread, yoghurt and mysterious pink meat. The coffee was out of a machine and made with UHT milk, but it was strangely tasty. Underneath our dining room is a Roman era cistern, Sarnic means cistern in Turkish. There whole of Sultanahmet is full of archaeology, there is a huge amount of history in Byzantion/Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul.

History of Istanbul

The Blue Mosque is literally round the corner so we went their first. Julie put a scarf on her head and we all took our shoes off, so the beautiful mosque smelled of sweaty feet! The mosque is famous for the Iznik blue tiles that cover much of its interior.

 

 

Next stop was Aya Sofia, inaugurated by the Roman Emperor Justinian in 537, so it is almost 1500 years old! After the Ottoman conquest by Mehmet the Conqueror in 1453 it was converted into a mosque, and in 1936 it became a museum.

The original Christian gold mosaics were plastered over and minarets were constructed by the Ottomans, but some of the original features have now been exposed. The dome is 180 feet above the floor, it is an ancient and genuinely awesome building.

The security is tight, there are plenty of armed police around and scanners at the entrance to major buildings.

For lunch we had doner kebab sandwiches, simple and tasty. Following the tram route up the main road we found the Grand Bazaar, a huge covered market that was the Westfield of Ottoman Istanbul. Today it is a vast tourist market selling jewellery, Iznik pottery, tee shirts and all manner of tat. Tommy bought some colourful dishes for Chloe and a Tin Tin in Istanbul tee shirt for me!

Between the bazaar and the Golden Horn are more shopping streets which have stuff that you might want to buy. I got a nice brown leather belt for 20 lira, less than a fiver and it is holding up my trousers right now.

Next stop on our whirlwind tour of the Great Mosques of Istanbul was the Suleymaniya, built by the chief architect of Suliman the Magnificent, Sinan. It was competed in the mid 16th century and has been beautifully restored. It is full of light and is much less busy than the other mosques. The gardens have fabulous views over the Golden Horn to Galata.

Walking downhill and past the boats moored at Eminonu we started to cross the Galata Bridge, but we’re persuaded (very easily) to stop for a beer, which is was just what we needed.  The bridge has a road over the top and restaurants beneath it, with only a small section to allow tour boats to pass beneath.

Across the Golden Horn in Galata we once again failed to find a good place to eat and settled for mediocre meatballs. Tomorrow we are going to find somewhere better on TripAdvisor !

The BA flight from T5 LHR was only three quarters full and pleasingly uneventful.  BA had got over its recent IT cock-up and was operating without a hitch.  We arrived on time at Istanbul and got a taxi to the old quarter called Sultanahmet, the heart of ancient Constantinople.

The taxi driver was a master of multi-tasking with one hand. He kept his left hand planted on the roof of the car, and his right hand was used for steering, changing gear and operating his mobile phone for directions. He was a really cool guy, but I was a nervous passenger.

We are staying at the Sarnic, a cheap hotel in spitting distance of the Blue Mosque. It is clean and simple, but you won’t find it in any travel magazines.

Right now I’m sat on the roof terrace drinking an Efes beer. Looking one way I’m looking at the Sea of Marmara, the other way is the Blue Mosque. Between my terrace and the Blue Mosque is a partly demolished building, which takes the edge off the view, c’est la vie. The Sea of Marmara is connected to the Black Sea in the north by the Bosphorus and to the Mediterranian to the south by the Dardanelles. From the terrace, we could see at least fifty ships anchored and waiting to either enter the port or take the passage to the Black Sea.

We ate dinner at the New Season restaurant round the corner from the Sarnic. It was a mistake. I have had much better Turkish food at my local takeaway, and more of it! I was still hungry after and bought a corn on the cob from a stall.

After our disappointing first meal, we walked up the street and went past all the restaurants we should have gone to, Doh! But that’s what happens on your first night in a big city. This happens every time we visit a new city. For the first two days, you are disoriented and can’t find want you want and generally get annoyed. Then you figure out what the place is about, and start to relax and enjoy the place. After three or four days you really feel comfortable and can get around with ease and the local waiters wave at you like old friends.

We walked past the Blue Mosque at about 8.40 pm just as the muezzin announced that the Ramadan (Ramazan in Turkish) fast was over, very very loudly from a loudspeaker system. Everyone in the shops immediately ate their dinner, they had been fasting all day.

In the gardens between the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia, families ate picnics on the lawns by a fountain which was  lit by lights of changing colour’s.

We found a busy street with the tram line in it and a friendly waiter persuaded us to go to his rooftop bar in Pierre Loti Hotel. It had an amazing view of the great mosques and the Galatea Bridge over the Golden Horn. It was so good up there that I almost forgot about the lousy meal we ate earlier!