Hello friends,
...long time no see!
After a looong Winter full of work with not much free time, finally my favorite season has come and took the chance to celebrate Spring with a travel plan! Last week here in Greece we had the Easter holidays so we finally had some days off. We had planned to visit Istanbul some months ago with my man @knowhow92 and a friendly couple @dskiadaresis and @elef.simu.
To start with, we decided to travel by car cause it was the cheapest way for us who live so close to Turkey. The distance was about 11-12 hours driving with some stops to rest and also consider that we had passed the boarders in 15 minutes, cause there were only 3 cars before us. Propably the fastest boarder pass that I have experience so far, haha.
It was easy to navigate to Turkey and find our hotel, despite the fact that the driving situation at the city of Istanbul was quite crazy. We stayed at hotel really close to Taksim square and the owners were so kind and helpful people.
Istanbul is such a huge city, full of beautiful images. I loved the fact that you can see "underground" neighborhoods and at the same time the touristy ones. The most common things you see in Istanbul are countless magnificent mosques and street sellers with their barrows selling, corns, chestnuts, bagels and fresh mussels.
One of the most touristy pedestrian streets you can visit is Istiklal avenue that begins from Taksim square and run as far as Galata. It is an avenue full of shops, from food to clothing and souvenirs. I still remember the first night we arrived at this street and couldn't believe how many people were walking it. There is also a cute red tram you can take to ride you up and down of the Istiklal. You could usually see some local kids that were grabing from the poles outside of the tram an enjoy free rides hehe!
We were walking around 12-17 km per day in order to see and experience as much as we could in that city. The distances were long but there is also a very decent and cheap transportation system in Istanbul. You can use tram, metro or bus to reach every destination.
You can also visit some regions by the local ship transportation and the tickets are cheap as well. Also here is a tip about that, there are many tourist ships that offer cruises at Bosphorus to enjoy the view for 30€, but you can enjoy the same view and also visit a different aera with the local ship for 1-2€. We visited Kadıköy by ship which is a beautiful neighborhood full of artists and college students.
We walked many times the famous Galata bridge and the view was breathtaking every single time!
If you choose to cross the bridge above, you will see many local people fishing at Bosphorus sea during the day and night. It seems that is a casually hobby for many locals and is a very cool thing to see.
If you choose to cross the bridge from the dock, under the road there are many cafe-restaurants you can enjoy a meal of fish or a coffee/beer. But if you don't want to stop at the shops it is also a nice experience to just walk through the restaurants and talk with the very friendly people who working there and always welcoming you.
Reeaching the other side of Galata bridge, you can see a huge and well known mosque called Yeni Camii, next to a beautiful square where many people resting there and enjoyed their coffee or tea.
Istanbul is also known for their bazaars. In this area there and many covered marketplaces like Egyptian or spice Bazaar, Grand Bazaar and Mısır Çarşısı. You can find everything for shopping, from local spices, teas and different turkish delights to souvenirs, textiles and carpets.
Of course those covered bazaars don't offer you the best prices to shop, mainly because there are tourist attractions, but they totally worth a visit to experience all those colorful goods. Locals mainly shop outside of these covered bazaars, at the streets near there where the prices are much better.
Istanbul is the city of cats as well. You can see cats literaly everywhere! There are at the streets, inside every kind of shops, taking naps at restaurants...everywhere!
Of course I should also write about the food experience in Istanbul. I was searching for some photos but it turned out that we were just eating all day and didn't took any food photo hahahha. Well the food was really good, everything we tried was tastefull with many spices. Some of the must try and my favorite ones is totally the "Ekmem Balik" or "Durum Balik" which is fish, I think it's sea bass on bread or tortilla, filled with green salad, spices, pomegranate and sauce. Also "Doner" is a classic street food in Turkey which was very tasty. I don't eat lamp which was in many of their dishes, but my friends who like that kinf of meat said it was delicious! I ate mostly chicken which is an option for Doner and other meat plates. Their sweets are also very tasty we tried "Baklava" which is a common sweet for Greece and Turkey, and also another one called "Kunefe" which is filled with cheese and was amazing!
Istanbul is an amazing place to visit, I loved the vibe of the people and the city. Unfortunatelly a week was not enough to explore the city to the fullest cause it's so big but I am sure that I will go back again in the next years.
Thank you all for stopping by guys, I hope my post helped you travel with me to this amazing city!