A weekend in Istanbul

With Easter holidays, it has become a tradition of ours to plan a weekend trip to a city we've never been before, and this years choice was - Istanbul, Turkey. 

As it was a weekend trip after all, I want to keep this post to the point, and just touch upon the things we've seen and done. 

The plan was to start with the old town, Sultanahmet on the European side, then do the the relatively new part of the town called Beyoglu and Taksim, which is also still on the European side, and afterwards, board some local ferries and see the city of from the water and eventually go to the Asian side. 

As Istanbul's two main "must see places" - Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque were just 300 meters from our hotel, that's where we started. They are situated directly opposite each other with a little park in between.
This one is Hagia Sophia, which is a Christian church turned mosque, turned museum. It was also the only place that had a waiting line, and Dima refused to wait, so we skipped going in.

The Blue Mosque, on the other hand had no waiting line at all and we could going in without delays. 

I read somewhere that the best way to experience the Blue Mosque is to enter through the Northern gate, because then you can see how the mosque reveals itself. 

First you just see the first layer of the domes...

Then, as you walk in, you the next layers of domes appear...

Until you are all the way in and you can see all of them staggering one on top of the other.  

Inside, unless you came to pray, you are only allowed into a small, fenced part of the mosque.It's a pity, because you can't really see the tiles up close, but the grandness of the interior is quite impressive.

It's called Blue Mosque because of the blue tiles.

Another 100 meters down the street from Blue Mosque is Basilica Cistern, an underground water storage that looks more like a hidden palace. 

Apparently, at some point people forgot it existed, until one of the foreigners visiting Istanbul, noticed that the locals where getting water by dropping a bucket in the holes on the floor of the their houses. He got curious, and found several huge ancients cisterns that were supplying water to the nearby palace.  

The place was cleaned up and lights were installed to see the columns and the ceiling. One of the James Bond movies (I think it was "From Russia with love") used it as a location. 

Most of the columns are the same, except for this one, it's called a Crying column, because the drops on it looks like tears. 

A wishing head of Medusa. 

Our next destination was Grand Bazaar, which is an easy walk from the Cistern, if you follow the tram lines. In Istanbul, in the old town, they have super modern trams, while in the newer town they have a super old, 100-years old, tram. Why not the other way around??

And the old town is actually not that old. Along the main streets there are relatively new buildings.  

It's always nice to know where your home is :-)

One of the 20 something entrances to the Grand Bazaar is just the beginning of a complex maze of hallways. 

The Bazaar, is actually a very old building, that was re-built and extended many times over, and now it covers a really huge territory. You can still see parts of the original roof and decorations. 

 The Bazaar is 99% tourist shops, selling all kind of stuff. 

I like lamps the most. Not that I would buy one, wouldn't know where to use it. 

The tea is being carried around on a tray, in small plain glasses. I've seen the same way of drinking tea in Baku, only there they use crystal glasses (even got a set of 6 glasses at home, as present from a friend in Baku).   

After walking around a little, we got lost, made a couple of circles, and finally found our way to one of the side streets. Here, we found the real Grand Bazaar - for the locals. 

Same stuff as at the official Grand Bazaar, but then 10 times cheaper. 

Lucky for us, the street we ended up at was the street we needed to follow to get to the Egyptian Spice Bazaar. 

Ah, I love the smell of spices and tea here :-)

Unfortunately, the Spice Bazaar is slowly being taken over by the souvenirs and other touristy stuff, so there not many spice shops left. 
There are also plenty of sweets here, both modern and traditional.

Outside the Spice Bazaar, there is a huge mosque, just as big as the Blue one, called Yeni Cami, and almost as old. 

Some people recommend to visit this one to have a closer look at the tiles. 

In Sultanahmet, there are plenty of mosques at a close proximity to each other, but one, called Suleyman Mosque, is situated on top of the hill and offers a great view of this part of town. 

It's not far, just a short walk through some busy back streets. 

Nice, when the street is loved and people make an effort to create something special. 

The Suleyman Mosque is relatively new, although it looks almost exactly like the other old ones. 

The interior is not spectacular, but interesting to see how the prayer places are assigned on the carpet. 

Because of the stupidly huge low-hanging lamps in every mosque, it's almost impossible to make a descent photo of the dome, without tonnes of cables in it. 

But what really awesome here is the view, and in sunny weather, the pics would have been gorgeous. Unfortunately, we were not that lucky, but still a great view. 

Next place was Galata bridge, with a large choice of food-courts underneath.  

Here, there are two things that you can do: eat a fish sandwich and stare at the fishermen, we did both. 

The fish is being grilled on the boats and passed on to the shore, where it's sold and consumed at the spot. 

The fish sandwich is washed down with a local drink (on the guy's tray). 

When the weather is nice, it gets really crowded, and sitting places are quickly filled. 

There are plenty of fishermen on the Galata bridge, and I was wondering if they sell their fish to the boats bellow... I hope not :-) 

By the way, swimming here is not recommended, as the water is full off jellyfish of all sizes.

Back in Sultanahmet, we still wanted to see the Sultan's palace, called Topkapi Sarayi, which is just behind Hagia Sophia. 

The palace has several courtyards, the first of which is free, but the rest of them are not. 

Even if you don't want to go inside, you can still enjoy a very nice park in front. 

Once inside the palace, it's recommended to go to the Harem first. We didn't and went last. It turned out that the exit from the Harem is at the far end of the gardens, and we had to walk everything twice((. So if you go to the palace, go to the Harem first!

Besides, it's quite interesting. 

Too bad not many have seen these rooms when the place was still and actual palace, just the wives and eunuchs. 

From the Harem, you get into the palace's park and other buildings, which are not very interesting. 

And finally, you arrive to the viewing points, where you can see the city from every angle. 

 On one side, the Golden Horn and the European part of Istanbul. 

On the other side - there is view of Bosporus, with Europe and Asia on either side. 

Welcome to Asia :-)  

Finally, for those who loves to dress up, there is a possibility to get your picture taken in a costume for just 7 Euros. We passed, but there were quite a few people waiting for their turn. 

Just outside the palace walls is a beautiful garden, full of tulips, a small version of Keukenhof in Holland. A very very small version :-)

After seeing everything we were planning to see in Sultanahmet, we hopped on a new tram to go to the Taksim Square, which at the far end of the Beyoglu neighborhood, in newer part of Istanbul. 
It's best to walk from Taksim back to Galata bridge, than the other way around, because then you walk downhill, instead of up. 
This street is full of modern shops and usually very crowded. 

Here you have the 100-years old wooden trams, running from one end of it to the other. As I mentioned earlier, it's funny that in Istanbul, the old town has a new tram, and the new town has an old one. 

And of course, there local boys hanging at the rear end. 

This part of Istanbul looks a lot like Paris or Vienna, and almost all the embassies here are lined up along both sides.

After a while, the street becomes more narrow and steep. The rest of the way to the Galata Tower and Galata Bridge it's strictly pedestrian.  

Back on the Galata Bridge, you have a nice view of the Beyoglu on one side...

... and Sultanahmet on the other. 

Our last "to do" thing was to take two ferries, to see the rest of the city. They depart from the docks near the Galata bridge every hour and we just missed one we got there. So we had the chance to look at some boats... 

... and hang out on the grass in front of the University with some local students. 

When the ferry arrived, we were not the only tourists on it. Many do so to see as much of Istanbul as possible, and it only costs a 1,20 euro one-way.

When you sail along inside Golden Horn, in the direction of Eyup, you pass the old docks.

They are only inhabited by seagulls now.

Many old ships along the shore.

And even an old submarine. We were wondering if it's still working, but looked more like a museum on water. 

Here, you can see the sleeping quarters of local middle class. 

When sailing up the Bosporus, you see more luxurious villas of the Istanbul's elite. 

And to close off this photo array, some night photos of Istanbul's Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and the Hippodrome of Constantinople. 

Any suggestions for the next year's Easter weekend trip? :-)