Istanbul

Pictures from Istanbul (finally)!

Overlooking the Bospherous from Sultanahmet.

We stayed in the old town, Sultanahmet, where the Haggia Sophia, Blue Mosque and lots of tourists are. I'm sure most people stay here in Istanbul their first time, as it is probably where 80% of hostels and hotels are located.

Houses in Sultanahmet

While beautiful, not many people actually live in the area, which has mostly been given over to awful restaurants and overpriced shops catering to tourists. Interestingly, the surrounding neighbourhoods are some of the more conservative in Istanbul. There was certainly some contrast... from 4 star hotels of the lavishly (and sometimes scantily) clad middle aged foreign to the mostly headscarfed population and leering men in run down shops. This was all that we saw of the "east meets west" that Istanbul is known for during our first few days.

Some left-over retro

Most of the food in our first few days was pretty awful (think dry and greasy shawarma stuffed with french fries - do NOT eat in Sultanahmet), but it wasn't until we had the advice of a local via friend-of-a-friend that we were steered in the right direction. Still, we were running out of money and mostly enjoyed food from stalls and markets (Turkey has the best tomatoes I have ever tasted).

A success in our string of hit-and-miss street food encounters.

The spice bazaar.

Looking over at Asia

It wasn't until our last day that we finally left the European side. We got to travel on one of the city's ancient municipal sea buses (highly recommended instead of a Bospherous cruise). They were not pretty and certainly not the best place to draw attention to yourself as a tourist, but they kind of reminded me of the ferries at home.

Crossing the Bospherous on one of the city's ancient sea buses

You can be served a drink if you flag down one of the uniformed servers and grab a nice seat outside. The boat has three levels and rocks like one giant floating bathtub - even more violently when you stop. At your stop, there is a gap ranging from 20cm to sometimes a whole meter wide between the boat and land. If you are an old lady you can walk across one of the shifting rickity boards used as bridges, but if you are most people you will jump the gap.

A fish stall on the Asian side.

A seaside neighbourhood we wandered in on the Asian side was filled with young liberal students. Lots of market life and a strong café culture. For once no one paid us any attention - a nice change.