Istanbul

Birthday trip!

Two continents, five days, one city

Day 1: 04/11/2019

We are in the beautiful city of Istanbul!

We arrived late last night and, after a sleep in, headed out to explore the city. We wandered down to the Old City and on the way found a great coffee shop called Peyk Away Coffee, which might become a favourite for the rest of the week.

We went to the Blue Mosque, we thought that we would be sufficiently covered as Louise was in a shin length skirt and I was in trousers. However, Louise’s skirt was deemed to short so she had to wear a cover. The good thing is that they have covers and head scarfs avaliable for free so that you can enter the Mosque. The Mosque was very beautiful and definitely worth visiting, but it is a working place of worship so it is important to follow the rules and be respectful. After the Blue Mosque we walked down the park to have lunch at the beautiful Mihri Restaurant. There are many advantages to travelling at the end of the season. It’s cooler, there are less people around, and you can have the most amazing food with a great view without needing to book in advance. Our lunch was fabulous. We ate amazing dishes with a view of the Ayasofya.

After lunch we wandered around the outside of the Ayasofya (it is closed on Mondays) before walking up to the Grand Bazaar. Despite the many warnings in the guide books about haggling in the Bazaar, and that everything will be very over priced, Louise tried her hand at haggling for a scarf. She failed a bit so we now have a very beautiful, if quite expensive, silk scarf. The Grand Bazaar is an experience. There are many entrances, so pay attention to which district you entered at. Otherwise enjoy the experience, get lost, try your hand at haggling, but be careful to not accept invites for coffees in stalls unless you want what they are selling. Or else you may leave Turkey with a few more carpets than you were planning to. By this point we needed a sit down so we spent a few hours drinking tea at a rooftop cafe near the Bazaar called T-Cafe & Restaurant, they had free wifi and good tea so I think we will be coming here quite a lot.

As we were still quite full from lunch we finished our day watching the sunset over the Ayasofya followed by a selection of desserts from Mado. Finally it was time to walk back to the hotel, luckily we can do this all again tomorrow!

Day 2: 05/11/2019

Today was our cultural day.

We started with a walking tour in the morning. We visted the Serefiye Cistern which is beautiful, and also free to enter. It is not as big as the Basilica Cistern but it is beautiful. After that we walked up past Istanbul University, through the Grand Bazaar, and towards Suleymaniye Mosque, which is older and even more beautiful than the Blue Mosque. The grounds are beautiful and you get an amazing view out over the city. We then walked down towards the spice market with a quick stop for a kebbab at a local shop. The spice bazzar was amazing, we ended up with a lot of tea and I was very tempted by some much more. The tour was really good, the guide knew a lot about the history of the city and was able to give advice about how to access different parts of the city.

In the afternoon we went inside the Ayasofya, which is ancient and beautiful. The original structure was completed in 537 AC constructed as a church by Emperor Justinianus to Anthemios of Tralles (Aydın) and Isidoros of Miletos (Balat). It was then rebuilt as a mosque with the conquest of Istanbul by Fatih Sultan Mehmed. Now it is a museum in a secular country. It is scarred with its history. The Christian mosaics have been covered and then revealed, the stones worn down by centuries of footfall, the walls damaged by conquest and war, but it is beautiful. After the Ayasofya we visited the Bascilica Cistern as you can get a ticket which covers both museums. The size of the Cistern is incredible. It is 140 meters in length and 70 meters in width. Covering a total area of 9.800 m2, this cistern has a storage capacity of approximately 100.000 tons of water.

We finished the day with a wonderful dinner at Albura Kathisma where we had a wonderful sharing platter, great wine, and even tried shisha for the first time. We made a new friend, Yvonne, who is visiting with her husband from Canada. We will hopefully catch up with them later in the week.

Day 3: 06/11/2019

Today we made our pilgrimage to ANZAC Cove. Louise and I have wanted to come here for as long as I can remember.

We were picked up at 6am by Gallipoli Tours. We were on a one day tour from Istanbul to Gallipoli and back again, a 640km round trip. We stopped briefly at a services for breakfast before continuing our journey down to Eceabat where we stopped for lunch and joined our respective tours. Louise and I were on a ANZAC specific tour, and we were joined by a mix of Kiwis and Australians for the day. The guide took us around Brighton Beach, Beach Cemetery (John Simpson’s Grave), ANZAC Cove, Ari Burnu (First ANZAC landing place), Lone Pine Cemetery (Australian memorial), Johnston’s Jolly (walk in the ANZAC trenches), View of Shrapnel Valley, Turkish Memorial, The Nek and Walker´s Ridge and Chunuk Bair (Main New Zealand memorial). The guide was extremely knowledgeable, and if you contact the company in advanced if there is a person you are looking forward who is burried here they will find them ahead of time so that they can make sure you visit. I am so pleased we went on the tour, it was beautiful, peaceful and emotional, but it is our history.

I was overwhelmed by the sense of peace and tranquility that now lies over the area. It is as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk inscribed

“Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives … You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours … You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.”

We left the ANZAC Penisular as the sun started to set and began to make our way back to Istanbul. There was another stop at the services for dinner, and we were returned to our hotel at just after midnight.

Day 4: 07/11/2019

We had a later start and a bit of a sleep in today after our late night last night. We had a chilled out day taking a ferry ride around the Bosporus. I have never sailed from one continent to another, so that was a new exoerience. We enjoyed the sunshine and the views from the water.

We continued our chill day with walking around the city, doing a bit of shopping, enjoying a couple of cups of tea at T-Cafe. In the evening we met Yvonne and her husband Claude for dinner at Albura again. We had a lovely meal in great company.

Day 5: 08/11/2019

It is our last day in Istanbul before we fly back tomorrow. We have had such an amazing time in Turkey, and will hopefully be back to visit again one day. Thank you so much to Rachael Lowe at Travel Counsellors for making it all happen!

We decided to head out into the harbour to the biggest of the Princess Islands, Büyükada. We caught the ferry out, which took a couple of hours, the views of the harbour were wonderful and the water was so clear. Once we got to the island we rented some bikes and went for a tour around the Island. We hiked up to the Prinkipo Greek Orthodox Orphanage which is the highest point on the island, went down to the beach and paddled our feet, and had a great time cycling around the island. We finished off the day with ice creams on the pier before catching the ferry back to the city as we watched the sunset on the water. What a way to finish our time in Istanbul!

It has been such a fantastic time in Istanbul, it was everything we could have hoped for.