23rd oct day we arrived around 5pm. checked into our little hotel, which was very basic, but lovely friendly staff and in prime location and a great terrace with views of the blue mosque and hagia sofia ,3 mins walk from the blue mosque & hagia sofia, 6 mins walk to the topkapi palace and hippodrome and german fountain , columns & underground cisterns. met up with my mother and her partner, went for a walk to see our surrounding location and had a meal out , too late to sight see that day and we had few light showers.
24th oct, we went inside the blue mosque in the morning and underground cistern in the afternoon, grand bazaar early evening. the blue mosque was lovely with very ornate walls and arabic writing, we were amused by a sign that said please watch your handbags whilst praying
. the underground cisterns had huge columns and water with fish in it, this was made to keep fresh water in the war. my daughter has taken the istanbul book to school today so i dont know dates etc without looking but if anyone wants any extra info ill be happy to look it up.http://www.islamicity.com/culture/mosques/europe/TMp145a.htm
http://www.istanbultravelguide.net/undergroundcistern.htm
we walked to the grand bazarr which was about 15 mins walk from the blue mosque area, these were all in the sultanahmet district. the grand bazaar is something else and to be honest we couldnt cope with it longer than 30 mins, there were stalls selling everything, we bought a few bits and went for a cuppa lol. the 2 men waited whilst mam, ellie and i dared to go in a leather shop where i bought ellie a fab pink leather coat and got it at a good price . by this time we were exhausted, went back to the hotel, cleaned up and went for dinner
25th oct , today the rain started heavy so we couldnt do very much, went on a tram around the city and to the bosphorus. once it had stopped raining we went to the topkapi palace gardens, then rain started again, so we went back to the hotel and played the turkish game ok. oz and i went back to the grand bazaar as there was a couple things i wanted to buy, but it ws a quick trip going directly to the 1 stall i wanted lol .we went out for dinner to a restaurant that had a whirling dervish , how amazing these guys can spin for 10 mins and stand straight when finished . it was something i had wanted to see so was very pleased we had
26th oct, istanbul marathon, torrential rain, floods and huge amount of people and public transport closed made it difficult to do much. we visited the hagia sofia, wonderful ceilings, paintings of christ , windows, balconies, pulpits etc, amazing to see. we went back to our hotel as the rain was too bad to go anywhere far and with tram closed etc .
we decide to visit an indoor shopping centre, this was the only time we got ripped off, manager told us 13 lira approx, he told taxi driver where to take us etc, so when the meter went past 15 and we could see we were along the riverside with no centre insight we started asking him how far etc, he then went off on 1 saying he was professional and was taking us direct etc, the roads were flooded so we assumed he was either taking us the slightly long way or to another centre. when meter got to 25 i started questioning him saying the manager told us it was around 13 lira away, to that he turned off meter and muttered under his breath, we all had a bad feeling then, we eventually arrived for him asking for 36 lira, we queried it but were getting no where traffic was honking horns, roads flooded so we gave him 30 lira and werent very happy at all, and he knew it but didnt give a damn the shopping centre wasnt that great but at least dry lol
http://www.byzantines.net/epiphany/hagiasophia.htm
27th oct was my mothers birthday and again rain , she wanted to visit the topkapi palace. wow this place is amazing, its 20 lira to get in and 15 lira to visit the harem , we did both and were so glad we did as the harem was much bigger and more interesting than we expected. mind you we did have quite a few questions to answer from ellie , wanting to know the ins and outs of harems eunochs , the circumcision room etc
, but she took it sensibly and was very interested in the palace. there was so much to see in this palace , the mosaics, ceilings, paintings, fireplaces, doors, some furniture, bathrooms,windows etc were fantastic. we saw loads of rare ming vases, plates etc, the most valuable jewellery, priceless gifts, from huge solid gold 48 kilo candle stick holders to daggers encrusted with emeralds, diamonds etc. infact it was so busy and huge queues for the jewellery that was locked in glass cases etc that we didnt see it all as it would have taken too long, with lots of pushing and shoving . the palace is a whole day out so many parts of it to see, ie kitchens, stables, swimming pool, court yards, harem, circumcision room, queen mothers room, sultans quarters, truly amazing place. http://www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~history/Ext/palace.html
that evening we went out for a lovely meal about 5 mins walk from our hotel past the posh four seasons hotel that used to be a prison and is the top hotel in istanbul and was opposite our hotel, down the road and around a corner a bit we found a really cute row of bars, hotels and restaurants, very trendy and cute area, the meal here was fab
28th oct, ellie 9th birthday and she wanted to visit princes islands, weather was sunny so we caught a tram to the harbour and a boat that was only 2.8 lira to the princes islands it stops at about 5 islands and we got off at the last which is called the big island when translated into the english, this took nearly 1.5 hours each way. vey cute place , we had lunch and ellie wanted to go on a horse and cart . so we went off around the island for an hrs trip this was really lovely with fab views and big houses, we stopped at a cafe for 10 mins and there was donkey rides so she wanted to have a go on a donkey. we caught the boat back that arrived about 7 pm. went out for a meal and throughly enjoyed our day, nice and relaxing with sunshine
29th oct ,went to the dolmabahce palace but it was closed for republic day , we were very disappointed . we went on the boat across to the asian side and then onto the beautiful beylerbeyi palace, wow the candelabras here were amazing , this was a stunning palace, you have to go by guide only i think it was around 8 lira each to get in and 6 lira for your camera, if you dont want to take photos they take your camera off you , would really recommend this palace.
http://www.virtualistanbul.com/virtualistanbul/Beylerbeyi.htm
http://www.virtualistanbul.com/virtualistanbul/Dolmabahce.htm
once back to europe side we visited the galata bridge, gosh this was so busy it was madness, people everywhere, we had lunch here
http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/galeri/istanbul_winter/photopages/012.html
in the afternoon we went to the suyleman mosque ,sadly this was only 20% open due to restoration work, but we did see inside a small part and the tomb rooms including suyleman the magnificent
http://www.archiplanet.org/buildings/Suyleman_Mosque.html
we went down the the harbour area to see a firework display, then later that evening we walked passed the hippodrome ,columns and german fountain, not a lot to see but we took some pictures, this was right next to the blue mosque and found a cute chinese restaurant tucked away ,so that was a pleasant change
http://www.istanbulinfolink.com/the_city/monuments/hippodrome.htm
30th oct our last day . we went to the dolmabahce palace but again it was closed, such a shame as this was somewhere we wanted to visit as ataturk stayed there a lot and died there.
we caught a cab and went to chora church, this has the most amazing mosiacs that are so old its incredible most have survived. this is near the old walls so quite a far way out from our hotel, we spent a while there and then had to go back for our return to the uk , we were getting picked up at 1.
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Medieval/Arch/ChoraChurch.html
very sad to leave such a fab city and we will be back 1 day
You certainly packed plenty in to your visit!
