We spent four days in Istanbul with no real plan or itinerary,
Just a few spots we had written down that we would like to see. We had booked an Airbnb just off Taksim square with a view of the water, we found it, dropped our stuff off and began to explore.
One of the best things about the city was the fact that almost everything was within walking distance. You can take trams and taxis but we didn’t really. We started with all the major things like The New Mosque, Galata tower for sunset, the Grand Bazaar and Blue Mosque.
There are several main attractions in Istanbul and we started our time there by visiting them.
The Blue Mosque
The first thing we did was head from Taxim Square over Galata Bridge. Galata Bridge is an attraction on its own between the fishermen, the huge amounts of boat traffic and a backdrop of incredible looking mosques spread out over the cityscape. The walk is highly recommended as opposed to just taking a taxi or a tram.
Once over the bridge we wound our way through a crazy maze of small streets and incredible buildings. With the help of google maps of course. It is such a chaotic mix of old buildings and tiny right angle turns I do not think we ever would have made it with out maps haha.
The Blue Mosque like so much religious architecture, was mind blowing both inside and out. You need to wear appropriate clothing to get in here though. Long pants, no singlet or tank tops no short shorts. This sort of thing.
This is the Blue Mosque from a few angles.
The Grand Bazaar
After the Blue Mosque we headed up towards the Grand Bazaar. The walk is fairly short and also very beautiful. you walk past Firuz Aga Mosque and through Mehmet Akif Ersoy Park Amphitheatre and once you reach the Atik Ali Pasha Mosque you are super close. This walk can either take 10 minutes or two hours depending on weather you want to visit the mosques along the way.
Once inside the Grand Bazaar, it is almost like stepping back in time, to an age where barter was still more common than a set price tag and a smile and polite conversation could get you further than a few points on your credit card.
As amazing as it is it can get overwhelming so if you’re looking for a guide or suggestion on what to buy in Turkey then hit the like for some help.
The Anatolian Side or ‘Asian side’
We headed over to the Asian side of Istanbul by boat one day just to have a look. Personally, I actually liked it a little more. Aesthetically it was not quite as pleasing and there were not as many landmarks to explore but it left us with more of a feeling for what life in a city like Istanbul might actually be like. People were working normal jobs and doing normal things and there was a distinct lack of tourists.
We did, however, spend the majority of our time just walking around. We just explored the city and it was amazingly beautiful! It is easy to get caught up in trying to see everything there is to see in as short a time as possible but that has never really been my thing. I have always tried to explore cities beyond the landmarks. Sometimes I am disappointed sometimes I am beyond stoked. This time I was really happy we chose to just explore.
