Arrived in Turkey Otogar bus terminal at 5.30am in the morning.
There are many budget hostels around the neighbourhood called Sultanahmet where the Blue Mosqu, Topkap? Palace and Hagia Sofia are located. Took a metro to Aksary and then switched to a tram to Sultanahmet. They don’t have a day pass here so every section of the transportation is pay per use (1.50 TL ~ .70) and not including transfer.

Got to Istanbul Hostel and got a room with around 20 beds, (20TLR a night ~USD 13)

Met Juliana, a Brazilian who is also traveling alone at the hostel and we walked to the Topkapi Palace

and the Blue Mosque.

Basilica Cistern

Turkey Map with tourist attractions

Walked to Grand Bazaar which is one of the oldest and largest covered market in the world with around 3500 shops.
The Grand Bazaar

Selling guns in the bazaar

Took a tram to Kabatas then a funicular to Taksim, a famous street with shops and cafes with a few hostel mates.

Next day,

Visited Hagia Sofia with Kengo and Juliana. It cost 20TL, around 10 Euros each to get in to Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sofia so we picked only Hagia Sofia. Hagia Sofia was built in 532 AD during the Byzantine empire and was the largest cathedral for a thousand years before Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and turned the Hagia Sofia into a mosque.

Inside is huge, looks a little like Orthodox church

With the team

View from the window

Walked across the bridge to Beyoglu the north part. Fishing is a popular activity on the bridge.

Balik Empek (fish sandwich 3 TL) for lunch at the fish market

Climbed up a small hill and got to Galata Tower which is on the north side of the river.

Spice Market

Jimmy Carter, the ex president of US was in Istanbul too. We kept bumping into his group of VIP

and he was staying at the Four Seasons at Sultanahmet, just across our hostel.

Night view of Hagia Sophia

2 Responses to “Istanbul, Turkey”

1. Vi-Zanne says:

   November 1, 2009 at 6:11 pm

   i was there! i miss turkey so much 🙂

2. journey26 says:

   July 29, 2011 at 4:29 pm

   I don’t really remember the theme..lol