My beloved Istanbul
I visited Istanbul for the second time. Even for the first time, 6 years ago, this city conquered me... There was so much energy, life, color, history, soul in it. I can say that if I have the opportunity, I will gladly come there again. But now about my last visit.
Using a few holiday weekends in March (for International Women's Day), my husband and a couple of friends flew to Istanbul. UIA flew, everything was fine, the flight took about 1.5 hours. In Kyiv, the weather was cloudy and melancholic, and we were a little upset when we flew to Istanbul for lunch and found out that it had also rained here in the morning. But fortunately, all the following days were warm, sunny, we even took off our coats, the weather was so comfortable. I’ll make a reservation right away that we had a five-day trip.
So, having arrived in the afternoon, we immediately decided to buy an Istanbul card at the airport, this is a travel card for almost all types of public transport, which allows you to save a lot, besides, it could be used by two! The ticket cost 6 lira, it could be bought in numerous machines in the arrivals hall. However, the machines do not give change, so in order to buy an Istanbul card, we turned to a stall where transport tickets, cards, etc. were sold. There, the ticket cost 8 lire, but it was in a case (apparently, this was how the difference with the 6-lire ticket from the machine was shown). Having paid 20 lira, that is, having purchased a card and having a balance of 12 lira on it, we headed to the metro. The entrance to the metro is directly from the arrivals hall of Ataturk Airport. We downloaded the metro map for ourselves even before the trip, so it was not difficult to figure it out, even though we needed to transfer from the metro to the tram. The T1 tram line is perhaps the longest among the other lines and runs through the whole of Istanbul, as it seemed to us. We took the tram to the Sultanahmet stop, as our hotel was located nearby. After wandering through the ornate streets of the historical center of Istanbul for about 15 minutes, we found the Harmony Hotel. Separately speaking about the hotel, I would like to say a lot of warm words about it. Initially, when we booked this hotel, we had a lot of problems. We drank through booking. com, everything was fine, but after a couple of hours we got a message that the hotel could not accept our card. After sorting out both the hotel and the booking provider, we were able to get us to pay for the hotel upon arrival (to be honest, there was a fear that our reservation would be canceled and we would arrive without a place to stay for the night). Another incident happened on the day of departure to Istanbul, my friends received a message that they did not check in on time and their reservation was cancelled. Having dealt with the hotel again, we sighed calmly and moved to the airport.
The hotel is small but cozy. Initially, we were given a very cramped room overlooking the neighboring house, but the same evening we asked if it was possible to change the room to another one with a terrace (our friends got one), our request was granted and we moved. The rooms had an electric kettle and tea/coffee making facilities, all free of charge.
After arrival, we had a little rest, then went for a walk around the center. We went to have lunch at a restaurant nearby the hotel, it was empty and expensive, but a great view and delicious food. So we spent the evening, especially not going out too much, as we were tired after the road, and the days ahead promised to be busy.
The next day came. We tasted the hotel breakfast, ate to satiety. I can't say that this is the best breakfast I've had, but it was good and satisfying. On this day, we decided to go around almost all the sights of the Sultanahmet area, since we happened to live nearby. By the way, our friends who arrived in Istanbul a day earlier bought a Museum pass for each of us. This is a museum card, it costs 85 lira and gives free admission to many museums. As we later considered, it is really profitable and we saved a lot with it. Having reached the Hippodrome Square, we took a few photos near the obelisks and began to explore the museums. On this day, we visited the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern, Topkapi Palace, St. Irina. Everywhere, except for the Basilica, we entered for free, thanks to our museum card. All of the above is definitely worth a visit, everywhere is beautiful, beautiful views, everything is steeped in history, we were delighted! The only thing is, if you don’t take the Museum pass, but pay the entrance everywhere, it’s hardly worth visiting the Church of St. Irina, it is almost empty inside, the frescoes are little preserved and there is nothing special to look at. On the same Hippodrome square, we found an inexpensive Turkish cafe, where mostly Turks were visitors, it was quite authentic, there was Wi-Fi, and it was also tasty and cheap J
The next day we made a sortie a little further, and our first point was the Dolmabahce Palace. You can easily get there by tram T1, which we did. This is another MUST visit place (as, in fact, almost everything in Istanbul). The palace has a rather large territory, so at first we explored everything, met free-roaming roosters, hens and partridges, went into the glass room, and only then we began to wait in line for an excursion to the museum. You can’t walk around the museum on your own, only accompanied by a guide. The palace itself is also very beautiful and was really worthy of the sultans who lived in it. Directly from the palace there are several exits (covered with tape, but you can climb through) to the Bosphorus, the sight is amazing! Further, leaving the museum and going to the tram stop (there is also a pier) for 15 liras per person, we boarded a pleasure boat in order to enjoy the Bosphorus with might and main. On the boat, a cute Turkish grandfather served all the tourists a sandwich and fresh juice (and then you had to pay for it, as it turned out, although no one warned, so don’t be fooled). This incident marred our holiday a little, not at all because we were sorry for the money, although the amount for this small lunch was not much less than the walk itself, but because it was presented as a treat, although we were already full, having previously been strongly refreshed near the palace. Having gone ashore at the final point (in the same place where we sailed from), we decided to visit one more place - the Yildiz Palace. This is not the most popular tourist attraction, because getting there is not very convenient, but in vain! We did not regret at all, although the path was not close. According to the map, it seemed that it was not that far to go, so we decided to walk to Yildiz. In fact, we had to go uphill, at the entrance, which was closer to us, there were guards and they said that it was impossible to enter here, you need to go around a little to the official entrance. We walked down along the stone wall for a very long time, almost despaired and wanted to return, but then we still found the notorious small gate in the wall, after passing through which we found ourselves in a huge park adjacent to the palace. The park also deserves attention, a very pleasant and well-groomed place, but we were tired and just wanted to get to the goal. Now we had to go up through the park to get to the palace. Finally, we reached the palace, and it was also possible to enter only with a guide. Of course, Yildiz is inferior to Dolmabahce in pomposity, but it was also conceived not to receive foreign delegations, but simply as a summer residence. We really liked the inside, everything was done with taste and for convenience, we did not regret at all that it took so long to go to this place, it was definitely worth it!
On Monday we started our penultimate day with a visit to the Archaeological Museum. Unfortunately, most of the museum was closed for renovation, so, alas, we did not see much. But ahead of us there were enough other places, so without despair, we walked through the nice Gulkhane park, which is near the museum, and went to the tomb of Roksolana and the Suleymaniye mosque. You can’t enter the tombs themselves, they are houses with glass windows, where everyone looks in, and a covered coffin inside. The mosque also deserves attention, it is quite large and has very nice decorations inside. Near the mosque, there is a beautiful panoramic view of Istanbul, so it is definitely worth stopping there and taking some photos. After Suleymaniye, we went to the Galata Tower. There is nothing special there, at the top of the tower around the entire circumference stands (and moves in all directions) a crowd of people, trying to grab a piece of space for themselves in order to survey the panorama of the city. But despite all this, it is worth visiting the tower, because the views from there are amazing!
On the last day of our departure, we went to the Maritime Museum, which is not far from the Dolmabahce Palace, we were not particularly impressed by it, we expected a large scale, but you can visit it for general development. After that, we returned to the hotel, took our things and went by tram and metro to the airport. It was a little sad to say goodbye to such a friendly and pleasant city…
