Istanbul trip 2016

Last weekend I had an opportunity to visit one of the most populous city in Turkey - Istanbul. It was my first time visiting Turkey at all. I was travelling in a company of 6 friends and we had a great time there. First of all, I can say that it is a perfect city to spend your weekend. So if you have some doubts about visiting Istanbul you should go ahead and don’t hesitate to visit it).

We were there for 4 days. Visited a lot of places and walked a huge amount of kilometers. I will try to highlight the most interesting places that I have seen there and suggest you to visit.

Here is our awesome company though (Blue Mosque on a background):

We were leaving not far away from that place (a couple of stops by tram).

Blue Mosque

Here is the Blue Mosque by itself (huge and breathtaking):

Inside the Blue Mosque:

People allowed to visit it only without shoes. Man must be in pants (not shorts) and women must cover their head with a shawl. Don’t worry if you haven’t nor pants nor shawl - you can take them near the entrance for free.

Also there is a big and soft carpet inside, so you can just sit on the floor:

It’s really awesome and big:

Also very beautiful at night:

There is also awesome color phountain there:

Here is another one mosque just in front of the Blue Mosque - Hagia Sophia

Topkapı Palace

It’s a large palace and it was the major residence of Ottoman sultans and their harem. This place will take you at least a half of the day to visit.

Palace entrance gate (only sultan was allowed to enter it):

Inside the sultan harem (if I got everything right this room was for sultan’s mother):

Another room where sultan was meeting guests:

Some part of harem from the outside:

Me and beautiful sight on a Bosphorus from the palaсe courtyard on the background:

Another awesome sight from there:

Ferry walk across the Bosphorus

Quite cheap but impressive ride on a ferry - just for 12 TL (nearly 4$):

Istanbul Saphire

The tallest building in Istanbul and it has an awesome observatory on the last floor. You can have some coffee there and just watch the sunset. We spent a couple of hours there (also quite cheap place to visit something near 25 TL - 8$).

We decided to wait there until sunset to have a look on a night Istanbul and it was really worth an hour of waiting:

Bazaar

I was really impressed by Istanbul bazaar. Turkish people are real trade masters. They like to bargain and do it really well.

All sorts of spices, nuts and dried fruits

Some random street photo shots

Hookah

You can have hookah almost everywhere in Istanbul. Actually, I can not say that that was the best hookah that I have ever tried. No, it was quite good, but not as good as I had been told before. To my surprise, the most famous hookah place is situated not far from the old cemetery. It’s called “Erenler Nargile” (Nargile is hookah in Turkish). Suggest you to visit, really worth it, the best hookah that I have tasted in Turkey.

Here is a photo from there:

Here is me also smoking :)

Our apartment

We were lucky to rent an apartment not far from the historical center but right in front of the jail. Yes, the real prison with real prisoners right near the house! The most unusual place that I have ever stayed yet. And besides, there are a lot of restaurants and bars around that jail. People are dancing and singing almost every day and night. In fact, we were told that it’s not the safest place to stay from local people)

Here is a nice sight right out from the window (thank you airbnb):

At the same time you see this in the opposite direction (jail is still behind you, remember?):

Party hard

Conclusion

In any case, we had a great weekend there. There are still left a lot of places to see there so I am looking forward visiting this city again.