Turkey’s mega capital city is a multicultural feast for all the senses. The city spreads over the borders of Europe and Asia with the Bosphorus straight linking the sea of Marmara and the Black Sea in between. The city is vast and is absolutely packed to the brim with culture and hidden gems. We spent 4 days there and I was left in awe of this magnificent mega-metropolis. As always we did our usual pre-trip research but there was still so much to see and do. Some districts we didn’t even come close to touching. I hope to return and explore the areas we didn’t see. I feel we learnt a lot during this trip from the Turkish traditions and etiquette to the turbulent history. We also picked up a few tips to help any newcomers to Istanbul.
It’s super busy
Bit obvious with a city that hosts around 15 million people and thousands of more tourists coming in and out on the daily. But even out of tourist season it was still packed at the tourist hotspots like Aya Sofiya, the Basilica Cistern, Galata Tower, Istiklal Street and the Spice Market. You’ve just got to go with the flow here and expect to be shuffling around shoulder to shoulder at times especially at the busy junctions in the bazaars. Expect to queue up for a bit at the Aya Sofiya. Don’t expect people to move out of the way for you either and keep your belongings safe. It all feels very rushed but the main attractions are all fairly close together so there’s no major need to rush around. Just go with the flow and soak in the atmosphere.
The food is fantastic
If you’re up North in England it’s almost impossible to look in any direction and not see a Gregg’s bakery on the horizon. It’s the same here with kebab restaurants (although much nicer than the greasy mess you’d pick up at 3 am after a night on the town). They are spiced and seasoned very differently and taste loads better. They’re often served up in much more variety than just slapped on top of a cheap pitta as well. Think baguettes, wraps and on top of huge pizza style pitta bread. There are kebab vendors around every corner and also sit down restaurant versions with a full menu. However, there is sooo much more to the cuisine in Istanbul especially if you like seafood! The cold meze appetisers were always delicious and intriguing. It’s worth looking to find a decent restaurant to experience the best of the food. Try Nola near Galata Tower. I had the best sea bass meal I’ve ever had on our first night while my fiance had a delicious slow-cooked lamb shank on the side we had an amazing quinoa and Pomegranate salad topped with halloumi. A few doors down from Nola we found Gelata House, a Georgian restaurant where we experienced amazing new flavours and we ended our trip with the best Japanese food we’ve had outside of Japan at Udonya in the restaurant area next to Taksim Square.
You will get hassled by vendors
Happens all around the world, you walk past a restaurant and the person outside tries to lure you in with their sparkly menu which is almost identical to the last. Walk past a shop and someone might try to invite you in to sell you their wares. A simple but firm “no thank you” worked most of the time but for the more persistent vendors you just need to walk off and ignore them until they pick a new target. Don’t get frustrated with them though, the competition for these guys is fierce and they have to work really hard to make a buck.
Scams
As in every big city, there are some less savoury folk who will try and pull a fast one on you. Even after reading about it I still fell for one within the first 10 steps of arriving. A young shoe shiner walked past and dropped his brush, of course, the kind and respectful traveller inside me defaulted to picking it up and passing it back to the lad. He then began to insist that he shined my (brand new) shoes I assume he would have then charged me out the arse for it but I adamantly refused and carried on walking. We saw children used on other occasions as well which was sad to see and shows the struggle some folk go through.
No need for an alarm clock
As turkey is a predominantly Muslim country the call to prayer echos across the city 5 times a day with the first one being at around 6 am. If you’re a light sleeper then you may not want to book your accommodation directly next to a mosque. You do get used to it very quickly and it was one the things I loved the most because it’s so different to anywhere else we’ve been. The city also just doesn’t seem to sleep and workers will be up at the crack of dawn to start their day.
The hills
We walked from our arrival point near Taksim Square and descended the super steep hills towards the golden horn and the district of Karakoy where our hotel awaited us. As we got down the bottom we turned and looked back up the mountain of winding streets and steps dreading the fact that half of the sights we wanted to see over the next few days were back up that way. The next morning we took the bridge over the golden horn to check out the mosques and bazaars and found the same over the other side as well. The long and short of it is you’re gonna have to trek up some steep streets if you want to see everything. Pack good shoes and take it easy. A carefully chosen hotel or use of some public transport may have changed things but we like walking around.
Street art
As you know I love scoping out street art and usually research and create our own tours using Google maps. But as we only had 3 full days and with the city being so vast we didn’t do it this time. I was pleasantly surprised to find good quality street art and graffiti everywhere especially around Karakoy. Keep your eyes peeled!
The nightlife
We don’t do nightclubs these days so I’ll leave that for the younger bloggers to share knowledge on. But we do love to have a fair few drinks and enjoy watching the locals do their thing. Look out for roof terrace bars and restaurants for stunning views of the city while you sip a cocktail. Gelata Tower area had some really cool bars that were open till the early hours and we really liked the Gelata bridge at night when the tourists subside and the locals take over with traditional Turkish music and dancing with food and drinks still being served well into the wee hours. There was something quite magical about smoking shisha watching the brightly lit mosques and bars sparkling in the water with all that going on in the background.
The Stray Doggo’s & Cats
This is actually a positive note as yes Istanbul is teaming with not only people but stray dogs and cats as well. However, due to a fairly recent government scheme all stray dogs and cats get some real special treatment here, they are all chipped, named, fed once a day and have frequent medical checks. Quite a beautiful thing and the animals are clearly happy with locals almost keeping an eye on their local wild pets. It’s almost like an urban utopia for pets as they can roam free without a care in the world.
Istanbul is not for the faint hearted but even if you’re only a slightly experienced traveller you can still find so much to love here in this bustling, vibrant and unique city. Check out my other blog of our favourite things to do in Istanbul. (coming soon)