Istanbul

February 19-24, 2016

First day in Istanbul: we arrived my friend Laura and I in the beautiful Radisson hotel the previous night, discovered our beautiful big room and went directly to bed to wake up early the following day and enjoy the beautiful town of Istanbul as much as possible.

First of all we had an amazing breakfast and after figuring out how the metro lines work, we headed towards the sultanahmet quarter to go visit the beautiful blue mosque standing next to the Bosphore river.

We then headed to Aya Sofia beautiful monument where Christians and Muslims had mixed their story.

Last and breathtaking site: the Topkapi palace with its gorgeous tiles, harem and architecture.

Last visit of the day: the Bosphore bridge. Very impressive to cross from Europe to Asia in about 5 minutes while staying in the same country.

Second day: we went to the Egyptian/spice bazar and took first a few pictures of the new mosque. We fell first on the pet market before encountering the spice market and we’re surprised to discover that it seemed normal for Turkish people to use leaches as a medical treatment…

We then went for lunch on the top of a building where we had a beautiful panoramic view.

Next, we went to the beautiful quarter of Galata where we had some “salep” in a very cute coffee shop with a library with German books. It was a very agreeable moment. We then decided to go see the derwish show at 5pm which was really bewitching.

Later we went to eat in a Thai restaurant nearby and wandered in the animated streets of Galata.

Third day: we went directly to Galata one more time by taking the nostalgic tramway (that’s how it is called). We then headed down the streets of Galata and took a picture of what is apparently the first built tower of the worl.

We wanted to take the hop up bus again but waited more than our patience could stand so we decided instead to take a 1.5 hour ferry tour around the Bosphore river which was really beautiful. Flowing between Asia and Europe was really something.

We then headed to the grand bazaar (after having tried again to catch this touristic bus) where we spent the rest of the afternoon. Lots of fake brands but beautiful other materiel to see and buy too. We had a rose infusion tea in a little nice coffee shop with charmant barmen at our service who made us taste delicious lukums and other sweets.

Finally, we headed to our first hammam where a fat lady with an enormous breast washed us, scrubbed us, shampooed us and massaged us. We were exhausted after this but still had some strength to go back to our hotel to eat a delicious kebab and mezze made by our 21 year old chef working in our hotel. Delicious.

Fourth day:
We went back to Galata as we had really appreciated this part of the town, took the nostalgic tram again and discovered a little bit more the antique shops and fish market. I bought there beautiful silver earings and we bought a few other souvenirs.

We then headed once again to the grand bazar where we satisfied again our even stronger need for Istambul handcrafts. After having understood we should quickly go out of this alibaba cavern for the sake of our purse we headed out to go eat a “pide” and “lamahcun” and drink a delicious freshly squeezed pomegranate / orange juice.

We then went to the mosque of suleiman le magnifique after having walked next to the university of the grand bazaar quarter (security forbid us to enter the area).

After having talked a bit to a volunteering woman who was answering questions about the mosque and Islam and after having admired the beautiful designs we headed towards the mosque of Rustan Pacha. Its entrance was hidden inside the spice bazaar. There we discovered some of the most beautiful tiles we had ever seen in Istanbul. A sweet Turkish woman who had entered the mosque with us thanked us in French to still want to come visit their country besides the tensed situation. It was not the first time we had people give us such a comment. In the grand bazaar we were literally the only tourists going around and people were giving us incredibly cheap prices compared to a better season where tourists would be at a higher number. Besides the fact that it was an economic advantage for us, the situation is quite sad though for Turkish people… after thinking about the hop up bus, we were also always alone waiting for it…

Finally, I bought a beautiful authentic silk scarf that I fell in love with and after promising to my friend that this would be the last item I would buy during this trip we headed towards a metro weirdly situated on one of the bridges linking to the golden horn.

The sunset had put beautiful colours on the town of Istanbul.

Having understood that it was pick hour we finally headed back to our hotel and prepared ourselves for our last diner in Istanbul in “mama shelter” restaurant were we ate delicious fish and meat meals.