Dharma & Nita travel blog

Last day today in Istanbul, had a big late breakfast than final pack up, brought all luggage down to concierge, and completed the check out process. Now to browse the side streets of Taksim and spend the day just chillaxing!

Went through a few side streets and somehow ended back at the Istiklal Street. This truly seems to be the heart of Taksim.

Some more last minute shopping, then we decided to split and just roam about, and all meet together around 5pm.

For lunch we tried out the HOUSE Cafe, they served the best mushroom risotto.

Then it was more roaming about, finally off to Taksim Square to meet up with Jayesh & Priya.

All headed directly to Musafir Indian restaurant, wanted to have an early dinner. The chef “Momi Raja” cooked up a great Aloo Paratha and also provided the recipes to Nita & Priya (still waiting for the home version!). We were becoming regulars there, this was our third and FINAL visit.

(crew at Musafir Indian, Momi Raja – chef between Jayesh/Priya)

Bid our farewell, and headed back to the Hotel, quick freshen up and it was not long before our taxi was there to take us to the airport. Ride to the airport was met with heavy traffic, the half hour ride took over 1 hour – lucky we left early.

Nothing real flash about Istanbul airport, we had our last EFEs beer in the pub and than it was time to board. Unfortunately with the full flight, all four could not sit together. Flight departed on time @ 12:40 am, dinner service was quickly done which included the normal Turkish cuisine, Nita totally rejected it and I only had a small bit – lucky we had a big Indian dinner earlier.

Landed at Bangkok airport just past 2pm local time, bid farewell to Jayesh & Priya – they had to catch their flight in 5 hours, we had a 10 hour wait, so decided to head out and see Bangkok. We all shared a great holiday experience together and the memories will be cherished for a long long time.

Took a train from Bangkok airport to the Siam mall, which was massive and on a grand scale. Had a great Italian lunch, Nita was able to do some quick shopping – gifts for Mum and Tina. Then it was back at the airport, for a quick shower and a foot massage. Had a Thai meal at the airport around 9:30 pm, this was soooo nice & spicy, than around 11:10pm it was to the gates for our flight departing at 11:59pm.

Landed in Brisbane and jetlagged, Dad, Pooja and Veer came to receive us, Pooja was overjoyed at seeing us and even Veer was cracking up. Lunch & Dinner was at Mum’s, Nita was loving that – finally some good home food!

Slept in a fair bit, woke up the next day at 11:30 am, and then it was clean up time, Nita had lots of washing up to be done. Pooja was settling back in – sorting her dolls in her doll house. With me still in Istanbul mode, I refused to eat at home and ate out for lunch & dinner – it is always so good to just go out, order, eat and leave….. no making and cleanup mess!!!

Friday we were more settled, Nita was now back in action in here kitchen and cooked a full desi meal for lunch …. finishing off with rice and dhal. Around 12:30pm we got the confirmation call from in-laws in Fiji, Neha had been handed over to the airline crew as unaccompanied minor and was waiting for boarding – flight was delayed by 40 minutes and was now due to depart at 2:30pm (BNE time).
We got to the airport at around 6:40, just around when the flight landed, followed by the anxious wait, our baby was coming back.
After what seemed like an eternity, she finally emerged accompanied by the crew, Nita was already in tears, Pooja was just over joyed.

(Pooja waiting ….)

(Neha home after nearly 3 weeks in Fiji)

Headed home to mums place, lots of rejoicing…..

All good things must come to an end, this was the end of a great holiday for all of us, thanks to Jayesh & Priya for a being a great company and going along with my crazy jokes …….. till the next holiday “elvida” (goodbye in Turkish).

Today for breakfast we decided to try the iST cafe in Istiklal St (we had our first Taksim lunch here). Breakfast was good, but not to the buffet style variety of Titanic. Still they have the best milkshakes!
Plan today was to visit the Princess Islands, the ferry departs from Kabatas, so it was a short subway ride from Taksim. Reached the ferry piers around 11:30am, got on board the 12 pm ferry. Being Sunday, the ferry was packed with locals and tourists. Locals love their weekends and they love to travel.

(In the ferry, first stop Kadikoy (asian side) – the mass of people waiting to get onboard!!)

It was close to 1.5 hours before we reached the largest island in the group – “BUYUKSEHIR”. The islands are not that far from Istanbul, coastline is always visible during the 1.5 hours of sailing, not once did the coastline showed signs of open lands, the place is jam packed with apartments, and high rises for 100’s of miles…. it does house over 25 million!

Got off at Buyuksehir island..

(disembarking at Buyuksehir Island)

This is one busy island with lots of people, we did after all come on the busiest day – Sunday!! It did add to the atmosphere.

For lunch, the only option on the island seemed to be Turkish or Turkish, we found some Waffle shops putting together some amazing fruit, ice cream combinations and that seemed like what we needed for lunch …

(waffles for lunch)

Some more roaming about on the island, then there was not much else to see, well not much to keep us 4 interested. Decided to take the express 4pm ferry back to Kabatas.

 
(Buyuksehir pier, and making local friends)

(Turkish Tea time, looking onto Blue Mosque)

(Tired – on the way back to Taksim in subway from Kabatas)

Out of the Subway, decided to head directly to Musafir Indian restaurant, ladies needed some good food. The waffles just did not cut it.

Following a good dinner, headed back to the hotel for a quick freshen up then out and about to explore the night Istiklal Street.

Istiklal Street @ night.

Time for dessert & drinks

It had been a long night, and around midnight, we headed back to the hotel. Near our hotel, we passed a group of Indian boys, who we had seen previously at Musafir restaurant. In typical Indian style, they started rubbing their chest and singing “Tu pyar hai kise aur ka, tujhe cha ha ta koi aur hain”, the ladies were cracking up laughing and all me and Jayesh could think of was typical “BARUCH”. Ladies were why did you not sing back with a counter song……. what da!!!!

Great way to finish off the last night in Istanbul

Breakfast in Titanic hotel was much better than the Efendi offering. I guess it was more in line with what we were used to, had a big brunch!
Plan today was to visit the Gelata tower and its surrounding streets, for the evening we wanted to visit Ortakoy.

Walked to Taksim Square, and organised the tickets to ride the Nostalgic Tram – travels through Istiklal street – we could not walk the entire length of that street again today – just too much walking.

(ride on the Nostalgic Taksim Tram)

Got off at the end of Istiklal st (also the end of the tram line), and walked the alleyways to the tower.

(one of the alleyways lined with shops for musicians….)

(this is one lucky dude, a great view if he only would look up)

(now Nita’s turn; the guy offered Nita to put her feet there for a pic, cool dude )

(soap time …. Turkish version of Lush, and some bag browsing)

Finally arrived at the Gelata tower, it is not an imposing or gigantic structure, however it does standout as there aren’t many high rises around that place.

Made our way to the top of the tower, the view was very worth it…

(the Gelata bridge)

Walked back inside the tower from the viewing area outside, ladies got interested in the studio setup, where we could take pics dressed up as Sultans!

^{(the aussie Sultans)}

Out of the tower, we stopped by at the Kiva coffee shop for an afternoon snack – this was basically our lunch!

We continued our walk downhill, passing numerous other alleyways…

Finished our walk near the Gelata bridge, took a Tram to Kabatas, then switched to the cable subway that connects to Taksim Square. Got back to the hotel around 5pm, allowed ourselves an hour and half to refresh, then off to Ortakoy.

Hotel advised the best place to catch Taxi to Ortakoy was a block away – due to the street being oneway, took that short walk, along the way, Jayesh found a good spot for taking portraits for our lovely ones….. (could never get enough of that!!)

Grabbed a Taxi and it was not even 15 seconds and we were stuck in traffic, they say Istanbul traffic can be horrendous, this seemed to be just that. Took us over 15 minutes to travel 500 meters or less, reaching a major intersection the driver told us he was not prepared to go to Ortakoy, due to the very very bad traffic jams and it would be quicker for us to walk there, walk was estimated to be around 15 minutes …. cool, so not too bad. Got out and did just that, we were moving faster than the cars, which did feel good. Came across another palace, time for more photo shoots, why not!

After walking for around 20 minutes, Nita was getting blisters in her feet, and there was still no sign of Ortakoy, we asked a couple of people around, and we had answers from only 3 minutes to another 30 minutes!! By this time the traffic seemed a bit better, we hailed another Taxi, and again within only 10 seconds or so, another traffic jam, but this time we were not getting out at all, we were going to ride this traffic jam….. the driver was great, he cranked up some amazing turkish tunes, just grooving along till we reached our destination.
Finally at Ortakoy, now to choose where to eat, this place is lined with many many eateries…

Dinner and desserts were great, it was already close to midnight, and the place was buzzing. Near the piers, Nita & Priya decided to fly a couple of wish lanterns…

Then it was time for some target practising …. we all had a go,

(Ortakoy eateries)

Next was a pub with live band around the corner, great Turkish music!!

Time to head back to the hotel, ladies were super tired – lots of walking today.

Checkout day from the Efendi hotel, today we move to the new side, our next hotel is on the Taksim side.

Got our luggage packed and moved to the lobby, the plan was to go out for a last walk around Sultanahmet and also have another shave – for me & Jayesh.
Got out soon after breakfast, and headed out along the back streets to Divanyolu Street, the main street of Sultanahmet where the Trams travel. Headed on the outbound direction – this is an area we had not covered previously.

(it is very painful sitting on a bollard with two girls on your lap)
 

(lots of cats around)

Back at the Efendi Hotel, we awaited for our Taxi to transfer us to Taksim….

(Ladies with the owner, me & Jayesh with the reception staff, both super friendly and helpful)

Taxi arrived soon after, and we were checked in to Titanic city Taksim hotel around 1pm. Now to explore the new Istanbul side…

(ready to explore Taksim and Istiklal street)

We walked through the Taksim square where all the riots and protests had taken place only two months back, there was no signs of the unrests, things were back to normal – big change from the scenes shown on TV during the unrest.

Into Istiklal Street, wow, this is one crowded open area shopping street, reminded me of the street from Paris – Champs elysees, this was just like that, but only for pedestrians and Trams – well some cars did come through every now and then, but not a roadway as such.

First stop, ladies to touch-up their makeups!!

Into the street, we could not fathom the sheer number of people there, and equally the number of shops/restaurants, just totally mad, had never seen anything like this before….

Walking almost the length of the street we were quite buggered, decided to head back to the hotel. Passed through the Taksim square again.

(Taksim Square)

Got back to the hotel, time to rest, needed that with all the walking, evening’s plan was to go to a belly dancing show.

(all ready for the nite, awaiting our taxi)

It was a good nite, we were still a bit tired from walking the Istiklal street – that thing is a monster! all hit the bed early needed the rest.

Another small surprise today at breakfast, our friend Ahmet had apparently visited the hotel yesterday evening – luckily we were out!!! This guy was turning into a serial stalker…. !! He had left us two boxes of Turkish Delights with a long “love letter”!! Me and Jayesh were cracking up big time, the girls had invited this upon them. The only good thing out of this were the sweets.

Next stop was a visit to the Topkapi Palace, again a walking distance from our Hotel. We loved the location of our hotel – Efendi, so central.
The walk took us past the Blue Mosque, the central square was very crowded today, lots of tour buses were around – three cruise ships had docked, and it seemed most of their passengers were out an about.

Made our way through the Palace main gates to big open yards.

(Entrance to Topkapi Palace)

Got to the main entrance where everyone was being scanned and all bags were being x-rayed, it is there after all the queues we realised we needed tickets to get through!! Doh!! Me and Jayesh headed back to outside the entrance to purchase these, how did we miss that! Finally got them, we were now able to go inside without trespassing …. wooohooo !!

(inside Topkapi palace, and the amazing views of the Bosphorous from its Balcony)

Next was lunch, decided to have that at the Topkapi palace cafe, which had amazing views of the Bosphorous as well. With the limited number of tables, Nita reserved a seat for us, whilst the rest of us (3) went to get the lunches – it was a buffet system. In the queue we were stalked!!! our serial stalker Ahmet was back, and he wanted more, Priya could not believe her eyes when he tapped her ….. He started asking about how we had not turned up at his recommended restaurant, to which Priya came up with some interesting twisted stories… he had called the restaurant to confirm if we had turned up or not (this guy was real creepy). He soon left us alone in the queue, and we were like phew!!! On with our buffet and more laughs at Priya…… However this was not the end, he is no ordinary stalker, whilst we were in the queue, he somehow managed to find Nita, and got a seat right next to the one Nita was reserving for us. Nita during that time could not think straight at all, she was alone at this table and Ahmet was there asking her why they had not turned up at the restaurant… and Nita lied that we had!, ….. now we had two stories, even Ahmet was confused!! LOL . He grilled Nita on what we had done in the last few days and what our plans were going forward, all along Nita made some crap up and kept feeding that to him , apparently he was enjoying that story!! We were surprised to see him sitting there next to us, Priya chose a seat the furthest from him and all sat down totally ignoring him. It was only towards the end, we said some very very quick byes and thanked him for the sweets and left. That was the last we saw of Ahmet…. phew!!!

(on the way out of Topkapi Palace)

We then took some alleyways exploring our way to the river piers for the afternoon cruise. It was a nice long walk, passing some amazing tea houses.

(lots of cats around the place)

And some side street browsing….

We reached the pier around 3pm, and had a mass of tour guides trying to sell us the different cruises. Luckily we had read up on this, the smaller operators were just a reap off, and we could explore the same thing on the government operated cruises on much larger vessels. We even had some operators blatantly lying that the government vessels were cancelled etc…. some really good reasons coming up.

(cruise pier)

Finally we got on to the cruise and were off at 3:30 pm. The boat was big and nicely air-conditioned –which was a big plus, given the Istanbul afternoon heat. The cruise was very relaxing, with some very scenic sights going past us…

The cruise finished around 5:30pm, we walked back to the Sultanahmet area. The walk was at a leisurely pace. Reached the dinning precincts (opp Blue Mosque) and headed for Dubb Indian again! Girls were in no mood for Turkish cuisine.

We met their head chef, Vinod Chawhan, real nice guy and he made our last dinner in Sultanahmet very nice.

Called it an early nite, everyone was quite tired, last sleep in Sultanahmet, tomorrow we are off to the new Istanbul side – Taksim!

Plan today was to first visit Istanbul’s largest mall, following that, finish of 2 local sights close to the hotel.
Breakfast first, now getting used to the Turkish style morning foods and was loving their cake varieties. There was also a small surprise from our friend Ahmet this morning… he phoned in the hotel and the lady at the reception handed me the phone (good timing, we were all down for breakfast…how did he know), he was inquiring if we enjoyed the restaurant last night, having not really discussed much with him at all, decided to give the phone to Priya, after all the girls did make him friends, so they can do all the explaining! Priya then made a story of how nice it was and quickly ended the call. We were all a bit surprised at the call and how he had tracked us down, apparently the girls had told him about our hotel, so that explains.
(But this was not the last of Ahmet!!)…

On the way to finding a Taxi to Istinye mall, we came across a restaurant that offered some amazing views of Istanbul from the rooftop terrace. Decided to book that place for the evening…

(rooftop terrace)

Found a Taxi to Istinye, ride was just over 30 minutes. The place did look big, but not to the sizes we were expecting – when compared to Oz malls and what we had seen in Hong Kong.

(Istinye mall)

Nothing too exciting here, just another mall mainly catering to the high end markets. Were out of there early afternoon and headed back to Sultanahmet.

Quick pit stop at the hotel, then visit the Bascilica Cistern – an underground water cistern built in the 6th century. There are numerous cisterns around Istanbul, this seems to be one of the more famous ones and it is close to our hotel!

Spent over an hour inside the cistern, a great piece of engineering from the 6th century!

Out on the streets, headed to the Blue Mosque area, lots of people in the parkland square between the Blue mosque and Hagia Sophia, found a nice spot to watch Blue Mosque at dusk. Felt good to just relax and watch the afternoon slide away into the evening. Got to try some more street foods, unfortunately the guy from the previous nite making stuffed bread was not there…… that will just have to wait for another time. We sat there for over an hour, just watching the sights, the people and the place!!! The call of prayers echoed from the mosques, a very surreal experience.
It was so calm, peaceful, this is something I would recommend to anyone visiting this place. Seeing the highlights is one thing, experiencing it is totally different.

(street vendors making fresh juice)

(experiencing the evening call of prayers at Blue Mosque)

Headed to the rooftop terrace restaurant just around the corner that we had booked earlier today. Seemed liked not everyone was in favour of the menu and decided to ditch that. The major complaint for both the sisters was the lack of good spicy food. Asked around and were able to find the an Indian restaurant “Dubb” very close to where we were, seeing the name, the first thought that came to mind – our brisbane “dubba” mates!!!
The food turned out to be fantastic, after a few days of trying out the Turkish food varieties, this was a very welcome change.

Next stop was the Gelata bridge, quick stop first at the hotel to grab a jacket – nite was getting chilly. Took the Tram to the bridge, were there in under 5 minutes, however the ride was far from smooth, the driver was stopping and speeding randomly and it was a task for most on-board to hold on to the rails!!
Finally at the bridge, lots of people mingling around, tea houses lined the river banks, whilst the restaurants under the bridge were still busy – this was getting in around 10 pm. The bridge itself was lined on both sides with lots of fishermen – and yes the fishy smell was very pronounced!

Walking back to the tram, we caught some amazing views of the Bosphorous Suspension bridge, with the low moon adding a nice touch on a very clear night sky.

Cold and cloudy morning greeted us today with chances of rain. Decided to take the hop-on-hop-off tour buses going through regions of Istanbul and visiting major sights.

Bus departed at 10:30 from our area. Made our way the Gelata Bridge, famous for connecting the new and old parts of Euro Istanbul. The bridge has a lower level lined with Fish restuarants – we could all smell the “wechaat” fishy smell, not the most pleasant one.

(Gelata Bridge area, old Istanbul side, New mosque near the bridge)

Over the to the new side, things did not really look that much different, till we moved further in. This had a more euro feel to it, the bus stopped by at the famous Taksim Square – the place where just a couple of months back were scenes of riots and mass protests. There were no signs of protesters, however we could see some of the damage caused and the repair work going on.

Approaching the massive Suspension Bosphorus bridge, its size is only realised when viewed up close. It is over 60 meters above sea level and over 1.4 km long, this thing is big! Being so high, the gale force winds combined with the cold were not making things too comfortable in the open top section of the bus that we were in!!

Across the bridge, we entered the Asian side of Istanbul, the only stop here was the Beylerbeyi Palace. Got off there to explore that on the Asian side.

The Palace itself was not that great, the entrance on the other hand was nice….

(waiting for the Bus)

Caught the bus back, got off just after the Gelata Bridge on the old side. Good lunch place near by, grabbed Pizza and Sandwiches – we were opting for more non-turkish cuisines now.

 
(Lunch time @ Saray)

Lunch was good, now to explore some side streets.

Somehow we ended up at the Spice Bazaar, which was great, Nita & Priya were after some Saffron, time to explore that.

This place had lots of spice, food, sweet stalls. Found a place that seemed to offer good saffron, only to work out towards the end of the transaction that he was inflating the prices with crazy margins, luckily we walked out of there without buying anything and this was after he had offered us all the Turkish teas and sweets !!!

(Turkish tea time)

Moving on from there, we headed out of the bazaar taking one of the numerous alleyways leading out…. and these were crammed with people, walking through them was a task in itself. The alleyways were a bit strange, they were connected to the spice bazaar yet the shops were selling stuff from discount variety to water pumps/hardware and kitchen stoves, everything and anything was there!!

We emerged near the “New Mosque”, opp Gelata Bridge. Time for some Mosque visiting.

Finished off the Mosque sightseeing and decided on a walk to the hotel, we had to cover off so many streets. Ended up passing the street directly outside the Grand Bazaar and remembered the coffee/cake shop there, good time for a coffee break. The place had some very good chocolate and cake varieties.

Whilst there, the Priya & Nita  made friends with an elderly man, hoping to get some info on the sights to see and not to see, places to eat etc. His name was “Ahmet”, and he was very helpful in providing lots of information on all the good things to do and see, even booked a “good” dining place (according to him) for us! Also wanted to take us home for dinner, which the girls cordially declined – am so glad I am for that!
(Interesting things to follow with Ahmet in the next few days …. ). Thanked him and headed backed to the hotel, with the evening plan already sorted by Ahmet, it was one thing less to worry about.

After a quick pit stop at the hotel, took a Taxi to the Turkish restaurant in Aksaray that Ahmet recommended, it turned out to be just a fast food lunch time style place.
Decided against that and took a taxi back to Sultanahmet, there were far more better options there. Along the way we came across a street with some nice restaurants and pubs, told the driver to stop there – time to explore this area, which we had no idea of where it was. Took us a while to settle on which one we wanted to go to, all the while people trying to lure us in – always hard here to look at the menu and not be pressured to come in!!

Decided to go to “KLAS” restaurant one with live music. Food variety seemed good there, a bit of mexican, sandwiches and grills, we should be ok. Drinks were very good there, we had cocktails, gin/lemonade, Red wine and Beers, all worked out good. Food was also above average and to our liking.

(Evening at KLAS restaurant)

Music was starting to get louder by the time we were through our meals, and our table being located next to the dance floor was great had the best sounds and views. The live singers were putting an awesome show and it wasn’t long before we all jumped in. We did not understand any of the words, but whatever they were singing sounded and felt real good!!

Finished off way past midnight, it had been a great night.

Plan today was a visit to the famous Grand Bazaar, but first was a shave for me and Jayesh, Turkish style. The local barbers place was around the corner from our hotel – everything was so close.

Shaved and feeling good, we headed to the Grand Bazaar, which was another short walk , being central to all the major sights is soooo handy
Some sights en-route to Grand Bazaar…

Along the way were lots of Jewellery stores which the ladies could not resist. The short walk turned into a rather long one (well in duration atleast)!!

Finally made it to the Grand Bazaar, too many people all flooding in. The place is huge and busy, having over 4000 shops. It was the very first undercover shopping mall in the world.

Every store person was trying to lure us in, and bargaining was a must, prices were always 200 % or more.
All sorts of stores were there, specialising in Shoes, Bags, artefacts, Sweets, Jewellery and many more….. to many to list. Nita and Priya found some interesting beauties.

The place also had lots of eateries, all within the Grand Bazaar and tastefully decorated. We had lunch at the the Havuzlu Turkish restaurant, food was average, Turkish food in Istanbul has been a big let-down, were expecting much more than this!!

Then it was more browsing of the bazaar….. lots of and lots to see. At every stall/shop, people would guess where we are from in an attempt to lure us in to the shop (there is lots of cheapy salesman style talk going on here).

Too much walking = tired feet, remedy = coffee break. Around 4 pm everyone’s feet were tired – had been through too much walking, was time for a coffee break. Found a coffee shop, also inside the grand bazaar.

(coffee shop in Grand Bazaar)

Made our way to the exit and started for our hotel. Had found a shorter walk and passed through some very picturesque streets..

The shortcut route to the hotel was great, we made it in under 10 minutes of walk time. Time to freshen up, then head out for the evening, plan was to first go out for drinks then to dinner. To many options here!!

At every restaurant and bar, people again luring you in by tring all sorts of cheesy lines.
Finally settled at the LOKUM Pub,

(Nita & Priya being lured into the pub)

Finger foods were not too bad but nothing to rave about, however what I was really loving and getting very fond of, Efes Beer – this was sooo good when perfectly chilled. The Pub was good to just chill out and relax. Spent around an hour there, it was around 9:30 now and we still had to have dinner. Headed out to find something that was NON-turkish, we had enough of Turkish by now. Ended up at the Rumeli restaurant, ladies ordered Italian – which turned out excellent, Jayesh and I were on a liquid diet and carried on with that – Efes Beer was just fine!!

Ladies thoroughly enjoyed the pastas, much better than the local turkish cuisine. Our waiter was great and shared some amazing jokes with us.

Water pipes were next, only had to go across the street from Rumeli for this. We happen to sit next to a german lady accompanied by a local Turkish guy – who our ladies thought was OOOOOOMG!!! Quickly made friends with him, he introduced us to the local Turkish drink “RAKI”, this was not too bad at all – an aftertaste of liquorice. Ordered two Water Pipes, Apple Mint and Orange Mint flavours, both flavours were very good. All had a great time there. Shared some great laughs


(Emil and his girlfriend, great company)

It was past midnight before we finished. Time to head back.

Flight to Istanbul was long – 11.5 hours of flying time, but it did not feel that way at all, must be night flights, makes you sleep well.

Flight landed in Istanbul around 5am, before clearing immigration we had to get our VISAs sorted. The process was super quick, interesting was the lack of uniform for the VISA staff, everyone behind the counter were wearing casuals…..must be a very chillx’d place. Immigration was also quick, no forms to be filled out, just a simple check, stamp and thru. Got our luggage and getting out through the green zone was also a breeze, it was around 5:40am when we got out into the arrivals hall. First step was to withdraw some Turkish Lira, then found the Hotel info desk to check if our Hotel would have rooms available to accommodate us 2 days earlier than our booking. Got the green light, the person also sorted out a Taxi (mini van) for us.
Stepping out of the airport, we were hit by the COLD weather of Istanbul, what a difference it was from the HOT and HUMID HongKong weather.

Taxi ride took just over 30 minutes, along the way were numerous historic sites, some good initial sight seeing. Approaching our Hotel, we were starting to get nervous, the Taxi was going through the smallest lanes and the quietest streets, this hotel was supposed to be near all the major sights in Sultanahmet, yet seemed so quite. Hotel was small but clean, the receptionist was very good and polite. The rooms were not available till midday, so another half day to roam about. The receptionist offered us the buffet breakfast which was great, at around 7:30 am we headed out of the hotel to walk around the place – we had another 4.5 hours to kill.

First impression was the better comfort level due to the cooler weather, it felt so nice to be in the fresh cool temperatures rather than the hot humidity of HongKong. The cobblestone paths were very different to the concrete HK region. This place reminded us so much of Switzerland.

Unlike HK, lots of shops/bakery’s were already open, their window displays looked sooo yummy with all the local sweets and baked goodies….

Walking along, we caught the first glimpse of the magnificent Blue Mosque & Hagia Sophia Mosque, both very beautiful structures.

Did not go inside the Mosque, the ladies did not have their head scarves, left that for the evening visit.

Walked around the Mosques towards Topkapi Palace, got to see some amazing sights. Morning viewing was very good and a bonus not many people around. One slight problem, the cool morning breeze was a bit too cold for us. Asked around if there was a shopping centre etc nearby – we needed a place to escape the cold winds – an enclosed place.

We were told to go to Cevahir (pronounced “Jawarhir”) mall. We grabbed a Taxi and headed that way. The mall did not open till 10 am, we still had close to an hour to kill – headed to the Starbucks directly across the place. They had the best White Cholocate Mocha!

It was funny, we were in Starbucks having a coffee waiting for a mall to open so we could do something…… we were now among the crazy people who wait for malls to open then run in, kept joking about that!

Lunch was not that great…..Made our way back to the hotel and checked-in to our rooms around 2 pm. Quick siesta – very much needed, then back on the road at 6:30pm.

The streets that looked nice earlier today, were looking even better with the night lights….. it has a very different feel to it…. very Euro like…

Made our way to the blue mosque and Hagia Sophia…these imposing structures looked magnificent at night…

(blue mosque)

The Mosque did present a very peaceful environment, similar to what we felt in Amritsar @ the Golden Temple!

Stepped out and across the archways was the Hagia Sophia

Jayesh could not resist the street vendors cooking fresh bread with stuffed potatoes…. that bread was delicious, street food here is sooooo tasty,…….

Heading back to the restaurant areas,… well they are everywhere!, we were going to an area we had walked past earlier and liked, we (and everyone else) were being haggled by every store/restaurant person,  trying to pull in customers, people kept trying to guess where we were from, ….guessing India, Pakistan, Iraq, London!!! All getting surprised at the mention of Australia.
Being in Turkey, we had to try Turkish, again as per lunch food was average, nothing to rave on about, for some reason the LAMB in Turkey has a very strong taste to it, or it may be the marinade they use, something different which none of us were liking!

Post dinner, we headed down the streets, it was so much fun to just walk around the place…. stopped by at a traditional Turkish Ice Cream place, the serving process is a show in itself. Very entertaining and fun.

So far, other than the food, Istanbul is looking very promising for our next 8 nights!