Few Days in Istanbul..!!!
My restlessness and adventurous nature this time took me to the capital of the world, Istanbul, commonly known as the city of Sultans. It is one of the oldest and continuously inhabited cities in the world.
Originally it was known as Byzantium, later as Constantinople and currently it is known as Istanbul since the 20th century. It was built on a hill and is surrounded by sea in the rest of three directions. The Bosporus (18 miles long strait connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara) which eventually splits the city into two parts and brings Europe and Asia together and it is the only city where East meets the West. The city is a rare gem for the travelers, offering a richly diverse culture, heritage and sheer weight of history, dating back to thousands of years. From medieval and the Byzantine period, the world-renowned structures made by ottomans and modern high-rise buildings and skyscrapers depicting the strength of Turkey.
Istanbul is a fascinating city, both culturally and historically. It has the Bosporus, the Golden Horn & the Sea of Marmara on three sides. There is great shopping, a plethora of historical sites, a rich live music & night club culture, and wonderful food. Lauded in antiquity as “the second Rome”, this is a city where you most certainly should roam. Strolling in the city gives an immense feeling of déjà vu, an inexpressible linkage, some strange kind of bonding and affiliation to the city, It feels like an earlier for many times or your soul resides here.
During the conquest of finding a reasonable ticket online for my intended next leg Tashkent, I found the pretty cheap deal for Tashkent via Istanbul I decided to include this city in my itinerary before going to Tashkent. As a very few flight operate to the Tashkent and I decided to save my bucks on the flight and spend those on having a stopover in the overwhelming city of Istanbul, and avail the opportunity to explore the city for a couple of days. Despite, a long wait to get the desired timeslot for document submission, processing time at Turkish consulate was very overwhelming, and I received my multiple entry visas just in 2 days.
For tourist’s visa, there are two options. Either to apply for eVisa or visit embassy. The eVisa option is slightly cheap and less time consuming but, it requires to possess a valid Schengen, UK or an American visa stamped in passport. Else, you need to visit the nearest Embassy and or take services from a travel agent, which is definitely time-consuming and additional load for the budget travelers, especially the backpackers.
It took 3 hours to arrive Ataturk Airport from Baku, no busses and metro were being operational due to late night. The only option left was to take a cab to reach my hotel in Sultanahmet area, which was pre-booked. Luckily got a shared cab and within 30 minutes, I was in my hotel at Sultanahmet district. Being a solo traveler, I prefer to book my accommodation a few hours before my flight to get budget deals, as it was a red-eye flight I pre-booked my hotel. After a swift check-in, I moved to my room and planned my to-do list for the day, with less than 3 days to spend in the city, it took a little while to decide what to include in the itinerary. There’s so much to explore in the city and I wanted to see it all on my own rather being bound in booking guided city tours.
After sleeping for a few hours and fueling myself with breakfast, I kicked start my journey from Sultanahmet district. Sultanahmet, Beyazıt, and Eminönü are also known as the real heart of Istanbul.
To gear start my day, I went to see the Topkapi Palace, which has served as the primary residence for Ottoman Sultans for more than four hundred years. Though the exterior of the palace is not that impressive, but the interior leaves you fascinated by the resplendent beauty, glory, and grandeur. It includes several rooms, harems of sultans, concubine quarters, meeting rooms, and a world famous Islamic museum including the relics of the prophet and his family. There are many possessions brought from Kaaba when it was controlled by Turks, prior to Saud dynasty. Initially, the palace was built by Sultan Mehmet (known as the conqueror) between 1460 and 1478, but many extensions were done by various sultans. It is strategically located at the top of a hill, overlooking at the adjoining of Golden Horn, the Marmara Sea and the Bosporus. And this view fills the heart with the splendor of bliss, joy, and contentment.
After passing a few hours in the palace and harem and thoroughly viewing it from each corner, I came to visit the Hagia Sophia museum, which is near to Topkapi palace. Hagia Sophia was built by the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the 4th Century. It served as an Orthodox Cathedral until 1453 until Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II converted into the mosque and later it was converted into the museum in 1935.
The Haghia Sophia has many legends associated with it. This is the epitome of Byzantine architecture and was nominated as the 8th Wonder of the Ancient World. It maintained the world record of the largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years and it still continues to fascinate its visitors with its glory and significance. The architecture, massive domes, arches, galleries, and mosaics, each and every corner worth’s a visit. The remnants of the church are apparent from the galleries as handcrafted paintings depicting Mother Marry and Jesus Crist is still in the same condition, along with a strong influence of Muslim traditions due to its conversion into the mosque. The praying and sermon place, ablution area, chandeliers, and great tablets depicting the holy Islamic names embellished in a very rhetoric way. The courtyard was also very impressive, including many historic monuments. The backside of the Hagia Sofia contains mausoleums of many Ottoman sultans and their entrance is free.
The next destination was Basilica Cistern lies in a close proximity of the Hagia Sofia. The Basilica Cistern was built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I to provide a water filtration system for the Great Palace of Constantinople. Construction is very impressive with mighty marble columns, which grab the attention of spectators, a few columns are carved, rest are plain. There are two unique columns located in the northwest corner of the cistern depicts the head of the demons of Greek mythology known as Medusa. The ticket was priced at 25 Turkish Lira, but worth’s it.
As the visit to the palace and Hagia Sofia was little exhausting so decided to take a lunch break, visited the famous Turkish kebab restaurant in the Sultanahmet area. The food is fabulous, and a huge variety of donners and kebabs to choose from. I fueled up with a variety of kebabs and Aryan (a famous Turkish drink made from yogurt and water like laban / lassi) to quench my thirst.
Again started strolling through Sultanahmet Square to reach one of the most renowned ottoman’s iconic and architectural marvel Sultanahmet mosque or commonly known as the Blue Mosque. It was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the era of Ahmed I. The forecourt facade is very impressive along with minarets, ablution place, and the spacious courtyard with a fountain. Interior of the mosque is lined with more than 20,000 handmade ceramic tiles and 200 hundred windows. The dominance of blue color in tiles and the stained glass windows adorn the interior. The gigantic domes, supporting arches are also carved utilizing blue color. This abundant utilization of blue color has named it the Blue mosque. At the mosque, I deeply felt spiritually strong and humble.
Just after exiting from Blue mosque, there are few fragments of the Hippodrome in Sultan Ahmet Square. Hippodrome of Constantinople, was a circus for sporting activities and a social center in the Byzantine Empire. After the Still too many places are left to cover on my bucket list in Istanbul. Next day, I went to have the old Turkish touch in my purchases, so spared some time to visit the famous Grand Bazaar and Spice Market, after wandering here and there and haggling with shopkeepers, don’t leave a chance to buy Turkish delights and coffee from spice market at reasonable rates, then I walked down passing through Rustam Pasha Mosque aka Yeni Cami heading towards the Galata Bridge. It is iconic tram lane and a pedestrian walkway connecting Asian and European Istanbul. While passing through the bridge it’s quite interesting to see a lot of people fishing from the top of the bridge. There was a ferry terminal across the bridge for cruising in Black and Marmara Sea. Availed a classic Bosporus trip to the Black Sea. It looked amazing to hear the sound of the waves, the noise of the old ship you are hopping on, the breath you inhale, and the view you stare, all looked like a fantasy and looked like my soul has been refreshed. The cruise operates into the Black Sea via various stops, the views were relaxing to the eyes and alluring to the soul.
Half day is still remaining, so thought to climb at the top of Galata tower after a few hours of cruising. Galata Tower is a conical stone tower of medieval time, it is considered as one of the Istanbul’s most conspicuous and remarkable landmarks. The top of tower accessible with an entrance fee of TRY25, a bit expensive but worth it. At the Galata Tower, you will observe the sunlight turn the spectacular, breathe-taking panoramic views of Istanbul and its outskirts from 360 degrees. It is widely said that there are thousand different ways of sunset in the Istanbul, and I’m sure you will agree with it..!!!!
For dinner, I went to the famous Istaqlal Street, a paradise for shoppers and walkers. This street stretches from Galata Tower till Taksim square. A nostalgic tram also runs from Istaqlal Street towards Taksim square and vice versa, 2.5TYL for one way, but worth experiencing.
After the sunset, the crowd starts getting dense across the Istaqlal Street and it continues until dawn. Various street artists show their talent to the people while performing live music, juggling, and dancing. The people of Istanbul are very hospitable, friendly and helpful, but don’t get deceived. You will also find many muggers and scammers roaming free into the streets, to delude people with lucrative offers, it is advised to be vigilant, savvy and cautious while exploring the city. The day was a bit tiring, but well spent.
Next day decided to visit the Suleymaniye Mosque, built on the order of Sultan Suleyman (the Magnificent), the construction work began in 1550 and the mosque was finished in 1557, it is considered as the marvel of the renowned ottoman architect Mimar Sinan. Interior and exterior of mosque lure the viewers. Besides the courtyard, there are tombs of Sultan Suleyman (the Magnificent) and Hurrem Sultan. Mosque is built on a hill and overlooks the Marmora Sea, and the view is spellbinding. Afterwards passed through exploring the Istanbul University with its history going all the way back to the hundreds of years.
The public transportation network in very huge and robust, but confusing sometimes. A variety of transportation options ranging from subways, buses, trams, overland trains and even ferries take people to different parts of the city and outskirts.
The final destination was Pierre loti in Eyup, I preferred ferry from Eminonu terminal to enjoy the view of the Marmara sea rather going by bus or tram. Eyup district is considered as a holy spot of Istanbul, due to the burial place of Eyup Sultan (Abu Ayub Ansari) the host of Prophet Muhammad in medina lies here. After paying homage at mausoleum and closely seeing the relics of Prophet inside a small gallery inside the tomb, took a funicular just a few hundred meters from the tomb to climb at the top of observation deck at Pierre Lotti hill to overlook Istanbul city in the evening, it was very soothing to see the city from this point. Sipped coffee and praised nature for blessing me the day in this wonderful city.
After completing the city tour, I came back to my hotel to pack my stuff and took a nap for a few hours before processing my check-out, took the metro to the airport to pick my flight to my next leg.
As an end note, My Istanbul adventure ended for now, but will surely visit this city again and again. The city of sultans is vibrant and its beauty is alluring, Turkish people are very hospitable and have the special affiliation to Pakistan, they also regard us as Kardish (the brotherly friends). Neither my humble descriptions nor my mere words and imaginations can reflect its grandeur to you. Hopefully, you feel the same in this city of warmth, ambiance, harmonies and love.
Faraz Ghani is a Telecom professional, based in the United Arab Emirates. He has a keen interest in writing & traveling, part time chef and a food critic.
Lonely Voyager 