Sorry it has been a while... I've been slacking on catching up with my blog. Anyway, here we go again! This time, I'm going to talk about my four day trip to Istanbul, Turkey. It was the longest trip I've taken since being here (unfortunately, I have class M, T, Th, and F so it's tough to get away for too many extended vacations) and was also the most rewarding. Turkey was #1 on my list when I came to Europe, and I'm happy to have had the opportunity to visit!!
DAY 1
I traveled to Istanbul with my friend Joe, the other American at our university. He had a friend doing an exchange program in Jordan visiting, so our plan was to meet up with them. We left Brno around 9am on a bus to Vienna Airport, as it was the closest airport with cheap, direct flights. Once again, we used Student Agency for bus transportation... They are great! We flew out of Vienna airport sometime early afternoon on Turkish Airlines. Okay, me being an airplane nut, I must say... Turkish Airlines was GREAT!!!!! It was only a 2 hour flight, yet we were served a full meal with free drinks by awesome flight attendants. The round-trip flight cost us a little over $200. It was overall one of the best flight experiences I have ever had (and I've done a lot of traveling!). I would highly recommend Turkish Airlines to anyone looking to travel to Istanbul or anywhere else in that region!
We arrived into Istanbul around 5pm. It took us a while to get into the city... First, we had to secure a visitor's visa. In Turkey, everyone is required to have a visa. This is really easily obtainable, as you can just purchase one in the airport... Pretty nice! For Americans, the cost was $20 per visa. They are good for up to 90 days and include re-entry. After visa, we went through customs and passport control. There were quite a few people visiting Istanbul so this process took another half hour or so.
After getting out of the airport, we took public transportation to the city center, which took a good hour or so. The city is HUGE!!! We were told somewhere around 16 million people live there. This is where Istanbul's primary attractions are found: The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia. The hostel we stayed in was called Antique Hostel and located literally three minutes from the entrance to the Blue Mosque. Definitely highly recommended for visitors! A super friendly staff with nice, clean rooms and very affordable. We didn't do much that night as it was pretty late by the time we finally made it to our hostel.
View of the Blue Mosque at night.
View from our Hostel :)
View of Hagia Sofia at night, with some gorgeous fountains to go along with it!
Another shot of Hagia Sofia.
DAY 2
Our second day was filled by trips to Princes' Islands! These are about an hour and a half ferry ride from the center of Istanbul. It's pretty easy to find public transportation routes to where the ferries leave from, you'll just have to do a Google search to figure out the closest to you! I believe the ferry was like $2 one way, so not bad at all. We got a good night sleep and ended up departing sometime around 11am.
There are several islands that make up Princes' Islands, and four of them are stopped at along the ferry routes. All four have small cities, and they are all gorgeous! Automobiles are non-existent on the islands; the exceptions are for medical and construction vehicles. However it is extremely rare to see one. That was pretty cool for all of us!
For the cost of maybe $10, we rented bicycles for the entire day on the fourth and final island stopped at by the ferry. This is known as the actual "Princes' Island" and is the largest of them all. We biked around the entire island, getting a good workout in the process! We also embarked on our own little rock-climbing excursion at one point, climbing to one of the tallest points on the island so as to be able to see the entire city and surrounding sea. It was DEFINITELY worth it! Such an incredible view... Istanbul appears to stretch forever, despite being quite a ways away and looking tiny.
After spending several hours on the island, we returned to Istanbul. It was a pretty quiet night, involving some really good Turkish hookah and a cool hookah bar. Suggestion: If you go to Istanbul, you MUST go to Princes' Islands!! They were incredible and gave me an entirely different impression of Istanbul than that which I had before this trip. Here are a few pics of day #2:
View of one of the islands as we rode the ferry.
The food we ate on the island. It was seriously some of the best food I've ever had!!!
View from part-way up the island.
Street view of the town on Princes' Island. No cars!
DAY 3
We found ourselves visiting the Grand Bazaar, another Mosque, and Asia on Day 3! We started off by walking from our hostel to the Bazaar. From the Blue Mosque, it is only a 15-ish minute walk so no need to use public transit. We were blown away at the sheer size of the market! It consists of over 50 blocks of streets, all covered by roofing/canvas, with what seemed like millions of markets and goods. You can literally find anything in there.. Souvenirs, swords, authentic Turkish clothing, lamps, even Beats by Dre. Anything! We spend a couple hours just walking around and taking everything in. Joe bought himself a lamp.
Inside the Grand Bazaar.
After the Grand Bazaar, we started walking back towards where the ferries were docked. We were determined to go to Asia!! If you didn't know, Istanbul is situated on both European and Asian soil. 2/3rds of the city is in Europe, including all the main attractions, airport, etc. The other part of the city is across from the Bosphorus and technically in Asia. Along the way, we found another very impressive Mosque and decided to check it out. Its name is Süleymaniye Mosque and it was gorgeous! A little off the beaten path, there were fewer tourists around it than the larger two in the center. We checked it out for a good hour, then went on our way.
Süleymaniye Mosque interior.
The Asia side of Istanbul was still gorgeous, but there was nothing super special to see. We eventually ate food (naturally at McDonald's, just so we can all say we've eaten McD's in Asia!) and then went to a bar and hung out for a while. That night, I believe we went to Taxim, which is one of the busiest and craziest parts of Istanbul! Definitely worth checking out if you want to experience Istanbul night life.
Asia!
DAY 4
Final day in Istanbul!! Our flight left early afternoon, so we got as much done in the morning as possible. The first thing we did was actually go inside Hagia Sophia... Unbelievable!! Hagia Sophia is a legend in regards to architecture (for you architecture students/enthusiasts, you know that!) and definitely did not disappoint. The entrance fee was not too bad... Maybe $10 or $15, I honestly can't remember. There is so much history and stuff to see, you could be in there a while depending on how interested you are in the available information. It was a beautiful piece of work!
The second, and final thing we did prior to heading to the airport, was visit the Galata Tower. This tower gives you probably the best panoramic view of Istanbul!! It was maybe another $10 to go up it, but again, totally worth the price. The tower is quite old but has been renovated on the inside to include an elevator, as well as a restaurant and small club on the top floors. You have to check it out when visiting!!
On the second floor inside Hagia Sophia.
Panorama view of Istanbul from above the Galata Tower. The two large buildings you can see on the left are the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.
Final shot of the Blue Mosque from Istanbul... Until next time! And don't worry, because there will definitely be a next time :)
Well, hope you enjoyed my little tour I gave of Istanbul! We were there for two full days and two half days and saw a lot. However, it would be super easy to spend a couple weeks in the city and still not see everything. Things we didn't see that were on the list: The wall, the aquaducts, more of the nightlife, the northern part of the Bosphorus (there are supposedly some great ruins that you can see with guided tours), and others. It is also very easy to take tours to other Turkey attractions, including Troy and others, from Istanbul. It was one of my favorite places I've ever visited and I HIGHLY recommend it to other travel enthusiasts! :)
Until next time!
-Jake
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