Istanbul

After a long day of travel, more than half of which was spent in taxis and walking through enormous airports (the flight itself was only 3 and a half hours), we arrived at our hotel in Istanbul and were welcomed by a spectacular view of the Blue Mosque at dusk. It was later than we expected to arrive, so we dropped our bags in our room and headed out into the busy Istanbul streets to find dinner. In Istanbul, it seems dinner finds you, with restaurant spruikers lining the streets at every turn, inviting you to come to their restaurant (which is serving much the same food as the one next door). We settled on the one the hotel guy recommended and ordered a few dishes and beer. A small Turkish feast arrived (after the complimentary Turkish bread), and as usual, we said we'd never eat it all and proceeded to gobble up the lot. The spice and simplicity of the food was a nice change from France. Who doesn't love cheese in filo, stuffed vine leaves, kebabs, and mince dumplings!

Adrian spent nine months in Istanbul 30 years ago, but it's my first time. First impressions of Istanbul were that the traffic is crazy; the spruikers are friendly yet persistent (they aren't just being friendly, they have a shop just around the corner, and if that's not what you are looking for, their brother has a shop!); the food is spicy and delicious; the beer is cheap; the streets are crowded but not just with tourists although there are plenty of those; there are minarets (mosque towers) everywhere you turn; and there is constant noise including the call to prayer 5 times a day from the minarets but so far we love it. It's Europe, but so different to the Europe we've been in, and the stark change of scenery has revived our tourism enthusiasm somewhat.

On our first full day, we headed to the Blue Mosque, which is not far from the hotel. You'd think we'd have the hang of it by now, but, in fact, the Blue Mosque does not open on Fridays until 2.30. Hagia Sophia/ Aya Sofya is nearby, so we headed there instead.

According to Lonely Planet "Commissioned by Emperor Justinian, consecrated as the Hagia Sophia (Church of Divine Wisdom) in 537, converted to a mosque by Sultan Mehmet II (Mehmet the Conqueror) in 1453, declared a museum by Atatürk in 1935, and reconverted into a working mosque in 2020; the Aya Sofya’s changing status mirrors the history of İstanbul." Because of its history, the beautiful interior has remnants of Christianity in its mosaics, but is mainly Muslim.

Next, we went to the Basilica Cistern, also nearby. It is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city and was built in the 6th century also during the reign of Byzantine emperor, Justinian I. It was a nice place to visit on my Dad's birthday. He had been there, and I can imagine him being beside himself about all the great photo opportunities with all the reflections.

After a brief pit stop at the hotel, we headed for the bazaars. First, we stopped off for some lunch, this time Turkish pizza (lamahcun) and chicken wings then headed into the crowds and bustle of first the Egyptian or Spice Bazaar and then The Grand Bazaar. The Spice Bazaar had stall after stall of colouful spices and dried fruits piled up out the front, I don't know how you'd choose if you were doing your household shop! The Grand Bazaar was a huge maze of stalls that sold everything from clothing to jewellery to ornate chess sets and, of course, rugs. We got into the spirit and did a bit of haggling and came away with some table runners from a rug shop and pashminas. Eventually, we found our way out of the maze of stalls and headed back to the hotel.

For dinner, we went to a pre-booked terrace restaurant with views over Istanbul. We had a lovely meal, mainly of seafood, followed by tiramisu to mark Dessert Day, a tradition we started last year to celebrate Dad's birthday! He would have enjoyed some tiramisu overlooking the Blue Mosque, I am sure!Read more