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Published: January 9th 2022
Istanbul - A City on 2 Continents
the Bosphorus connects with the Black SeaOur 90-day visa for staying in Turkey was almost up so it was time to leave. When looking at the schedules for flying back, we knew with the covid regulations constantly changing we would fly back on Turkish Airlines as didn’t know how much would change between the time of booking the flight and actually flying. There were 2 reasons for this – 1) on the international flight each passenger is allowed 2 checked pieces of luggage, each up to 23 kilos (50 lbs. each bag) and 2) more importantly this year, they have a direct flight from Istanbul to JFK so no need to deal with any other countries covid regulations while transiting through. The increased baggage limit is important to us when we go to the boat as we are always taking boat parts which weigh up quickly, but not when we are headed back to the US. The domestic flights only allow 1 suitcase each so that is all we planned on this time so we didn’t have to pay for excess. It worked to our advantage this year as we then were able to check our carry-on suitcase as checked luggage for the international flight freeing us
from having to deal with it at the Istanbul airport while you wait due to the need to be at the airport 3 hours early for any international flight. This time we decided to add another day to our stay in Istanbul and planned our arrival for Sunday afternoon and departure to the US on Thursday afternoon.
Our trip from the marina in Marmaris to the Dalaman airport went smoothly as well as the flight to Istanbul. In fact, we sat next to a wonderful gentleman from Turkey that has been living in the US for quite some time which gave us an opportunity to ask some of the questions we have been wanting to with someone that knows Turkey, but also could explain things very well in English. A nice bonus and a great interaction. As Bob says, I will talk to anyone close by, but I remind him that we learn so much that way as well as get to meet some wonderful people – a win/win in my book!
We decided to switch hotels from the one we stayed at last time, but still stayed in Sultanahmet District, near the major historic sites,
the same district as last year. Our trip to the Sayeban Hotel was uneventful, but reminded us of how glad we were not driving here! As we got into the historic area, the roads got narrower and narrower and filled with plenty of pedestrians, street vendors, and one-way streets. Even some of the two-way streets actually looked more like one-way streets causing some cars to have to back up to let other vehicles through. We have to give the drivers here lots of credit in getting around and not hitting anyone or anything!
I had read that a great place to view the sunsets while here was on the Galata Bridge, so that was on the agenda for our first afternoon and evening. Friends of ours had told us how easy the tram system was here in Istanbul. Last time we didn’t even look into it as everything that we wanted to see in the historic district was within easy walking distance. Now, we had the time to explore other areas of the city so our first stop was the tram station to buy tickets. There are vending machines to buy the tickets yourself (once you find out
Driving into Istanbul from Airport
lots of mist still, then first view of one of many mosque how to switch the instructions from Turkish to English it was easy!) If you do visit here, it is well worth using the tram as they run very frequently, give you quicker access to other areas so you can use your time to explore farther afield and very inexpensive! You can buy an individual ride ticket or a card that gives you 3 rides. The 3 ride ticket costs 17 TL which is less than $2 so needless to say with the number of days we were here we went through a few 3 ride tickets. Fortunately, when using google map to get around it provides the name of the tram station to go to as well as the station to get off at and the time of the next tram – it couldn’t be easier!
The write up for the hotel we booked mentioned how close it was to the tram station. We found it was definitely true, but we had forgotten that Istanbul was built on 7 hills and in our case the hotel was down a very steep hill from the tram station. That worked out fine, but we did find another route that actually worked
Glad We Weren't Driving! On our Way to Hotel
on "streets" that were full of people and very narrow! out better on subsequent days as it wasn’t straight UP and still convenient to the tram station!
It was too early for the sunset so we decided to head across the Golden Horn on the tram to see the Galata Tower. It is visible from quite a distance, but we wanted to take a closer look at the tower and the area itself. We had heard that there was funicular up to it, but we decided to climb UP instead. Once we got started, we weren’t sure it was our best decision, but always great exercise! As Bob noted as we were walking up it appeared that we were fighting the flow of things as 99% of the people we came across were going DOWN – even the taxis were all headed down. As soon as we rounded the last curve in the road you see the tower ahead of you – quite impressive to see it up close. There was quite a crowd at the base of it as you can go up to a restaurant and a viewing area it to get a view of the city, but we decided against doing that and were happy just
Yes, We Always Opt for Traditional Tea
but there are a few fast food places here too wandering around the streets in this area that we hadn’t been to before. The Galata Tower was first built in 528 but the current tower that you see today was built in 1348. The first one was demolished by the Latin Crusaders, but when re-built it was part of the fortification system. It then was used as a prison in the 16
th C., and a fire tower in the 19
th C. The area around the base of the Tower is filled with plenty of shops and restaurants to cater to the many that come to this area.
We kept tabs on our time as we wanted to walk down the hill to be able to be on the Galata Bridge to take in the sunset and it did not disappoint! Anyone that has followed our blog knows how we are with sunsets and sunrises so got plenty of shots of this one (and on a few other days as well). Adding water to the views of sunsets and sunrises always is a plus!
We had heard that people like to fish off this bridge, but we didn’t realize how many did – the bridge was full all away
across with people of all ages fishing. We did see that a few that were successful by the fish in their buckets, but it appears that many are there for the pure enjoyment. It was obvious by their provisions, chairs, coolers and overall setups that many spend a good part of the day at this location – not a bad place to be. There is a lower level to the bridge which is filled with restaurants that naturally specialize in fish – it was packed with people as well – we weren’t ready for dinner yet, so didn’t try any of them, but by the look of the crowds eating many of the places were very popular.
We were feeling less pressure this time in Istanbul to take in all the important historical sites and wonderful mosques as we did that last time, we were here in 2019. With that in mind and knowing that we would be checking out the use of the tram this year, in looking up things to do and see in Istanbul, I was able to find a few new places to check out. A lesser-known museum that actually wasn’t that far of a
walk from our hotel, but sounded interesting was on the agenda for the next day. The Great Palace Mosaic Museum was one we thoroughly enjoyed. It has an extensive display of mosaics that decorated the pavement of the court of the Great Palace of Constantinople. They date back to the Byzantine period of Emperor Justinian I who reigned from 527-565. Thankfully they were uncovered by archeologist during excavations in 1935-38 and 1951-54. This area encompasses 1872 sq meters (6,141 sq ft) covered in mosaics. The detail and the color are spectacular and fortunately the museum has wonderful signage explaining the representations of the mosaics, how the mosaics were installed up through and including descriptions of how the restoration work has been done. It was fascinating and fortunately with very view visitors it was easy to get lost in there for a few hours. As with other places where we have seen mosaics, it is interesting to see the subject matter of these as they were used as a way to communicate to those that did not read as well as a way to decorate and show the wealth of the residents. Many showed scenes of daily life, others gave an
insight into the flora and fauna of the times and still others had representations of mystical creatures.
The museum is actually in a small bazaar which we enjoyed browsing through afterwards as it had shops with many unique items that we hadn’t seen in other areas. As in so many tourist areas in many countries it sometimes gets to the point where the items in many of the shops are identical – here that was not the case so spent a little time browsing the very artfully made and unique items. As much as Bob kept saying he was never going to enter a carpet shop again as we already bought 2 the last time we were in Turkey, we did step inside one just long enough for Bob to find a cap. He also likes to get hats wherever we travel and with the cooler weather, having one made of wool was a bonus. We even found a whirling dervish made from felt that will be perfect as a new decoration for our Christmas tree.
Another thing on “our to do list” while in Istanbul was to take a cruise on the Bosphorus. For those of you
Being Careful of Carpet Shops This Time!
Admiring the carpets from across the street that are not familiar, Istanbul actually is a city on two continents – Europe and Asia. The division between the two is the Bosphorus, therefore you can view both continents when on the cruise. There are numerous choices of cruises – all day, half day, dinner cruises and 90-minute cruises. With the cool temperatures and reading through the information of what the tours would encompass, we decided on a 90-minute cruise that would start at 4PM so we could see the sunset from the river as well. With early December not being a high tourist season, it worked out well as the boat was not very crowded. We were to have an audio guide which was provided, but unfortunately with the sound of the engine and the volume of the recording which was as loud as it could go, we could not hear too much of what was being said. That was unfortunate, but I had also downloaded a guide for the cruise on my phone so that gave us enough information on what the various buildings and sights were that we were passing.
The Bosphorus connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. One of the fortifications
seen here was the Rumeli Fortress built in 1452 with a smaller fortress on the other shore. In this case, it was not to protect Constantinople, but built on the orders of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II as he prepared to siege the Byzantine ruled (Eastern Roman Empire) city. The fortress was designed so that the city could not bring in help from other areas. The Sultan was successful in this and Constantinople came under Ottoman rule in 1453. We found it interesting that the fortress was not to protect city of Constantinople, but to help in conquering it.
The Dolmabahce Palace built between 1844 – 1855, was the home of the Sultans from the mid-19
th C. to the end of the Ottoman Empire, is an impressive building sitting on the banks of the Bosphorus. We had thought of visiting the Palace this time, but as the weather wasn’t too bad, we decided to continue to do outside activities and save that for another trip to Istanbul as we know we will be back. Everywhere you looked there were impressive historic buildings such as the Kuleli Military School dating from the 1860’s, numerous palaces: the Beylerbeyi Palace built
between 1861-1865 and the Ciragan Palace built in 1871 in the Baroque and Rococo style, the impressive Mecidiye Mosque located close to one of the bridges across the Bosphorus. The views also include numerous wooden homes that are being renovated and restored, numerous neighborhoods complete with waterside cafes and hotels and you can also see many of the modern buildings of the city away from the shoreline. As we had hoped, when the boat had turned around (unfortunately before we could get a glimpse of the Black Sea) and were heading back to the dock, we had wonderful seats for viewing a spectacular sunset that changed with every minute – quite a wonderful ending to the trip that day.
We decided to wander around near our hotel to see what we could find in a restaurant for dinner. As our hotel was not that far from the water, we stumbled across a wonderful area that was full of restaurants specializing in fish. There were plenty to choose from and there were people out front of each one trying to get you to decide on their place. We decided one and it turned out to be a good choice. Not
only was our meal wonderful, but the service was great as well. Part way through our dinner a band arrived and started to play traditional music which was enjoyable. When they finished their first song, we automatically clapped to show our appreciation. Guess that is not commonly done here as we were the only ones that did it! The band members definitely noticed and nodded their appreciation. After another song, two of the 4 musicians wandered over to our table and played for us which was quite the treat. When we finished the meal, we were pleasantly surprised by a plate of fruit very nicely presented with warm semolina halva – a wonderful ending to the day with only a short walk back to the hotel.
The next day was sunny so we wanted to do something outside again – this time we decided to head over to Taksim Square area of the city. You must cross the Golden Horn to get to this area so first took a tram which goes across the bridge, this time we found the funicular up the hill to Taksim Square which we decided to take. Other funiculars we have taken in other
cities we have been in have provided nice views so we had our camera ready, but we found that this one actually goes through a tunnel the whole way so nothing to see this time. When you get out at the top, you enter into the area with the impressive Republic Monument erected in 1928 to commemorate the formation of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Portrayed in the statutes are the founders of the Republic with prominence given to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, an important secular leader of the country.
Located next to the Republic Monument is a newly opened mosque (2021) erected on the request of President Erdogan. There is irony in the fact that the location Erdogan chose for this mosque to be built is next to a monument dedicated to the secular leader of Turkey. Erdogan stated that he felt that there wasn’t a place for Moslems to pray in this area, therefore the mosque needed to be built. He also wanted to be sure that this mosque was the largest in Istanbul, even larger than the Hagia Sophia. Later we found out from our guide, that even though Erdogan claims that is true, in fact, it
is not and the Hagia Sophia still has that distinction. Erdogan definitely wanted to put a stamp of religious identity on this area that had always been a tribute to a very important secular leader, Ataturk.
From what we had read the Taksim Square area of Istanbul is one of the busiest in the city, as well as where any protest that may occur would be typically held. We had arrived at the Square in the morning and it was actually quite empty of people which was nice for walking around. This is known for being a very modern section of the city center, a busy shopping district and has a vibrant night life scene. Our timing was such that we did not see much of this except near the end of our time up here as the streets started to fill in with shoppers. One of the more popular tourist attractions here is the historic street trolley which still runs here regularly. You can catch a ride on it or as we saw many people do, hang off of it or climb up on the steps to get the iconic tourist photo of yourself on the trolley. We
decided to forego this selfie, but saw plenty of others getting there photo here.
The main street, Istiklal Avenue (Independence Avenue) here is a pedestrian street which we read attracts nearly 3 million people in a single day on weekends. Sure glad that was not the case the day we were there, but am sure it would definitely give it a different “vibe” from the one we had that day. As we walked down the street we saw the French, Greek, Dutch, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and British consulates all located here as well as the many shops and restaurants. If you enjoy various architectural styles, you will see Neo-Classical, Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Neo-Gothic and a few more modern styles as well. We had read that 19
th C. travelers used to refer to Constantinople as the Paris of the East which brought back memories of when we walked down the Champs-Elysees.
On our walk we saw a Catholic Church that was lower than street level. There were numerous people visiting it so we took a look at Santa Maria Italian Church. It first started here in 1584 but had been damaged by numerous fires. The building you
see today is from 1678. We learned later that it is still officiated by Franciscan monks with the mass being given in Italian and Spanish, not Turkish. By reading up on the areas that we wander into, we found that there was a building that would be interesting to enter which is labelled Cite de Pera. We didn’t know what we would find, but as you enter you see that it actually was a passageway that takes you past a few restaurants and connects to another small alleyway. It is a covered passageway with an impressive arched ceiling and some of the original roadway complete with drainage ditch running through it. You never know what you may find by opening a doorway, so always glad to read up on areas that we are visiting as much as possible to find these “gems”. While walking the street, we saw a woman and a camera person walking up to quite a few people and talking. Surprisingly, she turned to us (noticing Bob’s new hat!) and asked if we were willing to talk. Anyone knowing us, realizes the answer was yes. We had no idea what she was doing it for as we
forgot to ask, but thought maybe it was for a school project. When we returned to the US, we got a message from the tour guide that we had for 2 days when traveling around in the Cappadocia area. He said he had stumbled across a YouTube video and we were in it! He shared it with us so had a chance to see it – funny how we get interviewed in various countries that we have traveled!
Just as we were getting back to the hotel that afternoon, the rain started so we took our computers up to the “breakfast room” on the top floor of the hotel as we could sit at a table and still enjoy the view. Shortly after being there, the daughter of the owner that always did the cooking in the morning stopped up with a glass of hot tea and a serving of baklava – how wonderful a treat that was! It really is nice to stay at a hotel that is family owned as they definitely put their all into making sure you have a wonderful stay. They also hire great staff as no matter who we dealt with at the
Sights Seens Up Near the Galata Tower
quite a busy area with plenty of tourists desk, they were very helpful indeed. When we were first planning our trip to Istanbul, the regulation was that we would have to get a covid test 3 days before our flight, but fortunately some of our friends and family informed us that had changed. It took us a while to find confirmation of that on the US Embassy and other official sites as we needed to know if it had changed to 24 hours or 1 day ahead. Fortunately, it was only the day ahead. I had made an appointment with a lab in Istanbul to get the test done but it was across town. The hotel informed us that they could set it up for a technician to meet us at the hotel to do it so that was what was done. We set it up for the morning so we would have the rest of the day to continue our explorations as well as give more time for us to get our results before leaving for the airport the next morning. In the end, we didn’t get the results back until after midnight, but at least we were now sure it was OK to get onboard the
plane the next day.
Last, but not least by any means was spending time to visit the Hagia Sophia. When we were in Istanbul in 2019, it had been a very popular museum with very long lines. With our time being full with other sights, we figured we would take it in the next time in Istanbul. Since that time, the high courts with President Erdogan approving, changed the status from a museum to a mosque. We knew that we had been able to visit other mosque as long as it wasn’t at prayer time, so we headed over to that area. Near the entrance we were asked by a guide if we would like to hire him to show us inside the mosque. After talking to him for a minute or two which clearly told us that we could easily understand his English which was important to us both. He had also been a guide when it had been a museum and after hearing the price he quoted, we decided to say yes. It was one of the best decisions we made. He told us that it would be about an hour or a little more if we
Wonderful Mosaics and Lots to Learn
at the Mosaics of Great Palaces Musuem were still interested in listening to him. We told him that we had the rest of the day free so that would work. It turned out to be better than we could have anticipated as he is a long-term resident of Istanbul and was a student of history and languages. The depth of knowledge that he had about the various architectural and design details gave a much better understanding of the long history of the Hagia Sophia. At the end of the tour, we looked at our watch and realized that we had been together with him for a little more than 3 hours – it was so fascinating and it seemed as if he enjoyed having people that were interested in learning. Needless to say, we paid him and tipped him quite well. When he looked at what we had paid, he quickly reminded us of the price he quoted to be sure we clearly understood. We told him we had but that the tip was to show how much we appreciated his time and the sharing of his knowledge. It was money well spent in our estimation based on what we learned.
If I was to go
Daily Scenes Showing the Feeding of Animals
and also defending against some seen in the mosaics into the details of what he shared, this blog entry would be more of a book than it usually is, but one of the most fascinating things we learned was the symbolism that is in the Hagia Sophia from Christianity (it did start as a Church), the Moslem religion, the Star of David from the Jewish faith as a result of those that helped to build the interior, and the Masonic symbolism. He was able to point out all of these for us which we definitely would not have known about or how they came to be there. For those that don’t know the building of the Hagia Sophia started in 532 and was completed in only 5 years. It was the largest Eastern Roman Church in the world and at the time and stayed with that distinction until the Seville Cathedral was built in 1532. It had been destroyed numerous times by either earthquake in 546 and 557 or by the looting of the Crusaders and Venetians in 1204.
This space was used as an Eastern Roman Church until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire when Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror converted it to his imperial mosque
Numerous Mosaics on the Floors and Walls
showing the details with plenty of color still vivid in 1453. He had the well-known architect of his time, Sinan, make major improvements with one of the most important, that of adding buttresses to the dome. Since that time there have been numerous earthquakes, but the dome has never collapsed since. It was interesting to learn that the dome structure of the Byzantine form became the model for all Orthodox church forms of the future. It was also emulated by mosques of the Ottoman Empire as well. Interesting that the architectural design of this building stood as the icon that both Christian, Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox religions patterned their own buildings after. When it was converted to a mosque, the mosaics that depicted Christian iconology were either destroyed or fortunately for us now, most were plastered over which in fact is what has preserved them so well. When the Hagia Sophia was converted into a museum in 1935 due to the fact that the Republic of Turkey was now a secular nation, many of the mosaics were uncovered for all to learn from and enjoy.
In July 2020, the Hagia Sophia was transformed back to a mosque again under the direction of the top court of Turkey. There
were definitely mixed feelings about this decision. Our guide was one that clearly wishes that it returns to the status of a museum in order to share all of its history and beauty with all. As he states, people can still enter the mosque as we were doing that day, but so much of the history is not known by those that just quickly come in for a look. As it is now a mosque, any of the Christian symbolism that is located about the prayer area are now covered by white material so those can not be viewed. The guide mentioned that even with it being a mosque in a very central location, it does not have many that come to pray here as there are numerous other mosques in the area. He has the feeling that it may revert back to a museum as the country is also losing lots of tourist dollars as they can not charge for entering a mosque, like there were able to when it was a museum. Time will tell. All we know is that we were very glad to have found a wonderful guide that was willing to share his knowledge with
Fishing Is Very Popular on the Galata Bridge
and plenty of fish restaurants on the lower level us. He provided so much interesting information that I would love to be able to share more of the details that we learned – hopefully the few photos that I have posted will give you at least a window into what we saw.
We were very pleased that we planned a little longer time in Istanbul this time around. Even though we now have been in this city for a combined 7 days between the two trips here, we already have a list of places that we want to see the next time we pass through here.
The next day we left the hotel at 10AM for the one hour drive to the airport, then the 3 hour wait at the airport which was taken up with going through 4 security check points (yes, you read that correctly – 4) 3 of these were those that you had to put your luggage on the belt, walk through the “machine” which now my new bionic hip sets off and have our hand luggage opened as Bob was bringing back an alternator to get repaired back in the US and they needed to take a look. We were actually surprised
that there was even one where it was old school in that we had to remove belts, shoes and watches before moving through the line. Fortunately, we made it through all of these and then once at the gate you have one more to go through which was the 4
th and final. We definitely don’t have a problem with security, but this number of check points seemed a little over the top – at least we had the time for them!
The flight back to the US was a full one with a few young children that were definitely not happy. With the flight being so full we were happy when we found out that our 11-hour flight turned into a 10-hour flight – thanking the tailwind for that! We landed at JFK, all our luggage arrived and we made it to the car rental location for our drive back to Greenwich. With it being a night drive on a Thursday night we lucked out without a lot of traffic and made it to our house by 1AM. A very long day remembering that there is an 8-hour time difference so we got quite a bit of sleep the
Plenty of Ferries Taking People Across Here Too
but we enjoyed the walk across the Galata Bridge next day before dealing with any of our unpacking. A long trip back, but one will provide us with great memories of our 3 months in Turkey to get us through the winter!
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Mark Ruggiero
non-member comment
Head Coverings
I wonder did you wear the scarf to keep your ears warm Janice, or was it required in the mosque? I will say that Bob looks downright native in his wool hat. Another great post. Merry/Happy to you both from SWFL