Thread: Istanbul Trip Report

Merhaba! Welcomed by my driver after fairly brief passport control/customs gauntlet. Had my printed visa w/my docs and it was easy to get online. Hotel in Sultanahmet (old city) was charming but so many stairs! One flight from street to lobby, one to courtyard, across to sister bldg then 2 semi spiral staircases to our roomy triple. My chicks connected FRA/SAW on TK and were delayed several hours on Pegasus flt. I waited at the patio cafe next to hotel and had wine. They finally arrived and we went over the cobble and thru the stair routine again. Got settled and repeated the routine in reverse. (BTW, my chicks are elder sister in late 60's and niece almost 40).
Our mission in IST was food, so even tho tired, we hit the hills and found a nice spot for meze (appetizer plate) and a main dish to share. Big day tomorrow and we all slept hard.
Off to Grand Bazaar==spent nearly half day w/Jimmy, proprietor of Silver Corner. He treated us to lunch and we shopped replica watches and chicks shopped jewelry. His Breitlings are very authentic (our home jeweler thought Boss' was real) so now he has 2. I scored a fancy Chopard from the Imperiale Collection. Jimmy favors Delta and Jet Blue crews but if you go, he'll be good to you guys, too (haha). Can't miss his booth # 45/51 Orta Kazalzlar Sokak.
I'm not sure what else we did except walk back up hills and wander around the neighborhood. Had dinner and dervish dance and crawled the stairs for the BIG DAY OF FOOD in the morning.
We hired a guide for the day. Suleyman was highly recommended for his knoweldge of history, culture and Turkish food. We taxi'd to Spice Bazaar (OMG--seasoning nirvana!) and got incredible lessons and service. They vac'd all our goodies (whew--they took Visa cards!) and we bolted to catch Bosphorus ferry for 12TL ($6) Suleyman extolled us with plenty of history and shoreline info for almost an hour. All about the Golden Horn and Balck Sea and Marmara. Our heads were digesting the info like meals!
We stopped on the Asian side to have lunch w/him--dishes in the style of Antalya (his original home) in SE Turkey, diagonal from Israel. I wasn't impressed w/most of the flavors but it was a great experience.After a few more hours, we invited him to have a drink w/us at a rooftop terrace but he needed to get home. He had tours almost every day thru the 15th.It was already past 6. Nine hours was enough!
We found a local place for light dinner. Dropped our laundry on the way (pickup next day) Super cheap, too.
Spent Sunday seeing Blue Mosque, then hammam (bath) experience. 30+ topless women on a giant hot marble slab, being scrubbed and bubble massaged and water doused by some big Turkish broads--I swear mine could snap me in two! Regular massage and showers after that and we were relaxed! Oh yeah 3rd floor showers...more spirals!
We finished our trip w/Aya Sophia and it's majesty was a sight to see. With all the other mosques and tombs we explored--cisterns and such, we packed in alot in 5 days. That included a second trip to see Jimmy and the spice bazaar (Store # 51)
Every day brought more steps and stairs (even tho we changed hotel due to a res glitch) and I thought I had been broken--every leg muscle screamed for ibuprophen...
There is so much to take in just inside the city. Sights, scents, smells and sounds, all assault you at differing levels. Call to prayer here is live and I respect it more than I have previously since I now know more about the basic religion and the way of life it represents for the common person. I have more interest in seeing Istanbul again. Boss is not too keen on it, but I think I can make it a better experience for both of us in the future.