Honeymoon in Istanbul

Quote: Top Five:

1. Roman cistern
2. Bosphorous ferry
3. Grand Bazaar
4. Turkish mezes
5. Hagia Sophia

Quick Tips:

The spice bazaar - sometimes called The Egyptian Market - is well worth a visit. Turkish pepper is absolutely fabulous and you can buy vast quantities of it to take home. Also look out for the red pepper, which is sweet rather than hot, and imported Iranian saffron.

Best Way To Get Around:

Walking, though the public tramway can be fun.

Quote: We loved this hotel! It's tucked away on a quiet street and yet only a five-minute walk to Sultanahmet Square. Everyone who worked at the hotel was friendly and the free breakfast was delicious, really above and beyond what we expected. The rooms were large and featured lovely wooded armoires and Turkish pottery as well as mini-fridges.

Quote: What splendour! It's great to see how the sultans of yore lived. That said, a visit to Topkapi Palace is almost unreasonably expensive. We paid the general admission and bought tickets for the tour of the harem, but decided not to cough up for the tour of the treasury. All in all, we spent about $60 US. The park surrounding the palace is quite large, though a bit shabby, and offers magnificent views of the Bosphorous and the palace. If you're short on money, consider that the view from the cheap seats really isn't that bad!

Quote: The cistern was my favorite place in all of Istanbul - weird, but true. There is just something eerily beautiful about it. The cistern is quite large and there are nice sturdy ramps leading you all over. There are also some large Medusa heads resting in the water. Filtered-in music - either ominously Gothic or else classical - only enhances the atmosphere of the cistern. In the evenings, the little cafeteria near the exit becomes an upscale restaurant. We didn't try it, but it seems remarkable for the unique ambiance rather than the food.

The cistern, much like other major sights in Istanbul, set us back a total of $35 US.

Quote: Haghia Sophia was even more expensive than usual for Istanbul - I don't quite remember how much. We talked to other travelers, some repeat visitors, and the exorbitant entrance fees to major sights seem to be a recent innovation. Lovely. Oh well. Haghia Sophia is worth it. It's just so strange and cool. Half mosque, half Greek church, and just dizzily, soaringly high. The dome is even more amazing from the inside than from without. The famous tile mosaics are also quite rightly famous.

Quote: Neither of us has ever been to Asia, so the idea of at least being able to set foot on a whole new continent had some appeal! The Asian side of Istanbul is a bit like the outer boroughs of New York City - residential. That doesn't mean there's nothing to see here. We wandered around for a while and stopped for tea. Many pretty mosques.

The ferry ride was quite cheap and very interesting. Lots of snacks available onboard as well. The ride takes a little less than half an hour and it can get pretty chilly, so wear a jacket.

We would have liked to take a longer cruise up the Bosphorous, but the weather was just too cold, so we settled for the short ferry ride instead.

Quote: We made two trips to the Grand Bazaar. We were actually pretty good at bargaining, which made us unpopular the second time around. Still, there's lots of cool stuff to be had there, and I think it's a can't-miss activity. We bought some pottery and some tea to take home, then ended up returning to buy pottery to send to others as gifts.

The bazaar is huge and it's easy to get lost - easy but unimportant, because you'll find your way out eventually. There are places to stop for tea or a snack if you get tired.

I didn't enjoy bargaining. Maybe if we had cared less about spending money, it would have been more fun, but our walking-away prices really were our walking-away prices. The pottery in the private shops throughout the city is of generally higher quality than the pottery you see at the bazaar and is two, three, even four times as expensive. We stuck to the bazaar and did pretty well. Just pick things up and feel them, and don't be afraid to ask questions. Sometimes it's worth it to look through a huge stack of plates or bowls or tiles or what have you - you never know what's at the bottom!