Istanbul

WHERE IS ISTANBUL?

Istanbul is a city located in the country of Turkey. It is split by the Bosphorus Straight which allows for half of the city to be located on the European continent and the other half of the city to be located on the Asian continent. Its neighboring countries are Greece to the West and Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria to the East. It is sandwiched between the Black Sea on the North and the Mediterranean Sea to the South and West.

TRAVEL COMPANIONS

Marissa & Savannah 😊

MY FAVORITES

Turkish Bath, Women’s Handicraft Market

CURRENCY Turkish lira

As of the time I am writing this, one USD is 34.65 Turkish lira. Here is a link to see the current conversion ratio. I used cash to pay local vendors. I was able to use my VISA card for all other purchases. So, the amount of cash you take out depends on how much shopping you will do in the various markets. It is good to have more cash on hand than you think you might need because there are some established stores / shops that will look like they accept card but only accept cash. It is easy to find ATMs though, so I wouldn’t worry too much. I took out about 150 USD worth of Turkish lira for my four days in Istanbul. I had to withdraw a bit more because I ended up purchasing more market items than I originally intended. I took this money out at the airport. This was very easy to do and there are multiple ATMs to choose from once you pass through immigration checks.

BUDGET

I would budget about 100 USD a day for food, transport, and activities. This budget is also possible if you plan to stay in a hostel. If you choose to stay somewhere else, you would need to increase your budget.

TIME OF VISIT

Early November

WEATHER

46 – 68 °F or 8 – 20 ℃

We found it much colder in Istanbul than we initially packed for. During the day, I was comfortable in long pants and a long sleeve shirt. During the morning / evening and if the sun was behind clouds, I needed a jacket and sometimes a warm covering on my head and hands.

CLOSEST MAJOR AIRPORT

Istanbul has two major airports, so make sure you are aware which one you are flying into and which one you are flying out of so you plan transport into the city correctly and do not miss your flight. The airports are Istanbul Airport (IST) and Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SAW).  IST is on the European side and SAW is on the Asian side. We flew into SAW. It was very easy to use the metro then the suburban railway to get from SAW to Second Home Hostel on the European side of the city. This transport took a little over an hour and we were able to use the same transport card for all public transport in the city.

VISA REQUIREMENTS

It is not required for United States citizens to get a tourist visa if your stay is under 90 days. This requirement may have changed since I have written this post, so always double check the U.S. Department of State website for the most up to date information.

TRANSPORT metro, suburban railway, boat, bus, Uber

Overall, we found the public transport of Istanbul very convenient and easy to use. The one exception was the buses which could be due to user error. For some reason, we could not figure out their schedules or stopping points. After two failed attempts to use the buses, we stuck to the metro, suburban railway, and boat. The only time we needed to use Uber was to get from one location to another in a quicker time than public transport would have allowed. It was inexpensive and worked the same way as in the United States. For all means of public transport, we used the Istanbul Public Transportation Card. We purchased this card in the metro station at the airport. We purchased a 3-Day pass which allowed us unlimited use of public transport for three full days.

PACKING LIST

sunscreen – sunglasses – hat – gloves – closed toe shoes – pants – long sleeve shirts – rain jacket – warm jacket – dress - layers

ACCOMMODATION Second Home Hostel

We stayed in a Standard 4 Bed Female Dorm at Second Home Hostel. I booked this through the Hostelworld app. The room provided a fan, two bunk beds, window, 4 lockers, mirror, and small desk and chair. Each floor of the hostel had about 4 rooms on it with a shared toilet and two shared showers. All of the shared accommodations were clean with good water pressure and temperature. At the end of our stay, we wanted to do a load of laundry. We simply put our dirty clothes in one bag and left it at the front desk in the morning. When we returned later that day, our clean clothes were waiting for us in the same bag and they smelled so good. The cost for this service was also very reasonable. The property also offers a rooftop where you can hang out and have drinks. The staff was very kind and welcoming, offering us Turkish tea and snacks upon our arrival and giving us great advice about the city throughout our stay.

FOOD

roasted chestnuts – simit – affogato – kumpir – apple tea – Turkish coffee – menemen – lahmacun – Baklava

SHOPPING

Women’s Handicraft Market: Here is a link to the location in which they were set up when we came across them. It definitely seemed like a temporary setup, so they might not be there every day. But, it would be worth the look because they had such cute hand-made things.

Terkos Pasajı: We bought sweatsuits here because we did not plan for the cold appropriately 😊 You will need cash to pay for everything in here, but it is all cheap.

Grand Bazaar & Egyptian Bazaar: We spent a few hours walking through each of these bazaars. They offer similar things. We purchased spices, sweets, and jewelry from various venders.

LANGUAGE Turkish

I highly recommend downloading English and Turkish on the Google Translate app. This allows you to use Google Translate offline and helps with reading signs, menus, and communicating with locals. Learning a few sayings beforehand can help you connect with the locals. They would get excited when we were able to say things like “thank you” - “teşekkürler”.

SAFETY TIPS

If traveling solo, stick to public transport. If you must use a private car, use Uber and not a taxi.

GOOGLE MAPS PINS

Here is my Google Maps list for all of Turkey. You can zoom in to Istanbul to see only the locations around this area.

DAILY ACTIVITY BLOG

Day 1

We arrived in Istanbul around 1PM. We had an easy time exiting the airport, getting cash from an ATM, and purchasing the Istanbul Public Transportation Card. It was very simple to get to the Second Home Hostel using public transport which already made me like Istanbul.

At the hostel, we checked in and freshened up before heading out for the afternoon. Our first stops were Baklavaci DİYAR USTA Sİrkeci and the coffee shop across the street. We enjoyed Turkish coffee with a box of delicious variations of baklava. It was a great way to start our trip 😊

From here, we spent a few hours walking and window shopping. We made our way to Rustem Pasha Mosque which was free to enter and very beautiful.

We crossed the Galata Bridge and continued our stroll up to the Galata Tower. By this time, it was dark, but all of the streets were well lit and almost all of the shops were still open. This was great because I was able to find a cute phone wrist strap, a unique sunglasses chain, and mascara.

We planned to eat dinner at Asmalı Cavit, but they were full and we were hungry and ready to eat soon. I would recommend trying to eat at Asmalı Cavit because it looked local and homey. Maybe try calling in advance for a reservation or go earlier in the day.

Instead of eating here, we walked over to The Hunger Beyoğlu Narmanlı Han. It was so cute! We sat upstairs on their outdoor terrace because they had the heaters on and provided us with blankets. It was a great view of the courtyard below. I ordered fried dumplings in a mint yogurt sauce and it was a pretty good combination.

After dinner, we rode public transport back to the hostel and went up to the rooftop to chat to end the day.

Day 2

We were out the door by 8AM. Our first stop was a hot drink at Nevada Coffee.

It was a brisk morning, so my hot tea helped keep me warm on our walk through Gülhane Park. This park was much prettier than any of us expected and it was relaxing to walk through it with our drinks.

We exited the park at İBB Sarayburnu Parkı and walked along the Bosphorus Straight toward Ahırkapı İskelesi. This gave us great views of the water and Topkapi Palace.

Once we passed the palace, we turned up a street to go to the Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque.

We did not enter either place, but chose to enjoy the park space between the two places with cheese simit for a snack.

From here, we continued on to the Grand Bazaar. We purchased tea, sandwiches, and jewelry here. I really enjoyed the sandwich we ate here.

We continued walking toward the ferry and walked through the Egyptian Bazaar where we purchased a version of Turkish delight. I say a version because it had the same texture but a different flavor.

After this, we got on a ferry to go to the Asian side of Istanbul.

Over here, we purchased kumpir from Paçi Lounge. It was delicious. Kumpir is a loaded baked potato, but they put so much more on it than the baked potatoes in the United States. You can get butter, cheese, corn, hotdog, olives, cabbage, pickles, and more added to your potato. After getting full off of our baked potato, we went to Şifa TURKISH BATH. It was such a unique experience. Some people in our group loved it and others did not. I enjoyed the experience. When we entered, they provided us with a changing room that came with a key that we could take into the bath with us. They also provided us with flip flops and towels because we did not bring those. Once we were in our birthday suit or bikini, we entered the bath area. It was hot when we entered. We were ushered to a room where we were instructed to rinse off with water and wait for someone to get us. During our waiting time, some of us enjoyed the sauna that was near our room. One by one, a woman from the Turkish bath house came to get us. She first exfoliated us then washed our bodies with soap and then washed our hair. None of us had any prior knowledge of what would happen at a Turkish bath so it was a fun experience to learn about in the moment. Once we were fully scrubbed and washed, we were ushered back out into the room where our changing rooms were. It was cooler out here and they had lounge chairs we could sit in to dry off and relax before changing back into our clothes. If I am remembering correctly, it cost about 20 USD for this experience and it took us a little over an hour.

Since we were already on the Asian side of the city, we headed over to Dolce Far Niente for an affogato. An affogato is an Italian dessert. It is a scoop of ice cream with a shot of hot espresso. This particular café topped their affogato with pistachio. It was delicious and the café was adorable.

After our sweet treat, we went to a Dervish Ceremony back on the European side of the city. A Dervish Ceremony is a Sufi ritual in which practicing members spin in circles to get a closer connection with Allah. When this event ended, we ate lahmacun at a restaurant around the corner before going dancing. Lahmacun is kind of like Turkish pizza and it was very good. We went dancing at Panorama hookah lounge & Karaoke Bar terrace. It was a good atmosphere and they let us play some familiar songs which was nice.

Day 3

Our first stop this morning was Galata Süheyla for a traditional Turkish breakfast. We got various kinds of menemen. I ordered menemen with cheese and Turkish sausage. It was delicious 😊One thing we love about Turkey is that at the majority of restaurants, you get baskets of bread included in your meal.

After breakfast, we went to Addis Ababa Coffee so Savannah could purchase some packages of coffee beans because she liked their coffee so much at breakfast.

From here, we stumbled upon the Women’s Handicraft Market. Today was a Saturday, so I am not sure if they are always here or only on Saturday. I purchased a leather ring, a charm anklet, crocheted earrings, and a beaded bracelet. Everything they had here was unique and so cute.

After this, we continued our shopping streak up and down İstiklal Cd. (I think another name for this is Taksim street). Our favorite place was Terkos Pasajı. We found cheap jewelry, gloves, hair clips, and sweat suits here, but they had anything you could possibly want to look for at cheap prices. Along the main shopping street, we visited an ice cream vendor who was very funny. He would pretend to give you your ice cream then pull it away and make it disapear. These types of vendors are very common.

For dinner, we enjoyed some delicious kebab at a restaurant along this street before making our way back to the hostel.

Day 4

Our main activity for today was a two-hour boat tour of the Bosphorus Strait. It was nice to be on the water and see all of the attractions from the last few days from a different angle.

When our boat trip finished, we walked to one of the markets under the road between the water and the Yeni Cami to purchase matching sweater vests. From here, we went over to the Asian side of the city to eat a seafood lunch at DENİZ YILDIZI RESTAURANT. It was delicious. We had seabass dip, cheesy mushroom casserole, and buttered shrimp. We also tried a halvah cake here. I didn’t so much like this dessert, but the main meal was so good. From here, we hopped on a metro to go to the airport to end our time in Istanbul.

WHAT I DID NOT HAVE TIME FOR BUT WISH I DID

Feriköy Antika Pazarı - Yapı Kredi bomontiada - Asmalı Cavit