Istanbul: see and feel
What to do if the winter vacation is over, and there are still many months before the summer! ? At the same time, there is little money, and the children need to be delivered to the kindergarten every day by 8-30 ! ? - The answer is simple: you need to subscribe to the forum topic where cgistalker posts cheap flights. And then, in order not to sin, sooner or later you will have to buy tickets. . . After all, not buying a ticket would also be a sin! To Istanbul round-trip for ≈ $100, and even on March 8th (save on a gift)!
True, I had to fly from Lviv. . . But this circumstance did not inspire melancholy at all : -)
So, a night train to Lviv, in the morning by tram to the center, and somewhere around 8 in the morning we go to have breakfast (! ) in the cult “Kriyivka”. I was shocked that she works, the waitresses too. Judging by the fact that when the first dish was brought to us, the cooks woke up for a long time. . .
In Lviv, a new drink "Drinking Cherry" appeared right on Rynok Square. And she fit into Lviv so wonderfully that I can no longer imagine that she was not there once. I will write about it separately.
Flying up to Istanbul, we stuck to the porthole, opening our mouths. The city is so huge that even from a height of flight, its borders go beyond the horizon. The development completely covers the hills, like a huge anthill. The distances in the airport terminal are such that it seems that we flew to Istanbul faster than we got through the airport to passport control. Money was changed right at the airport, without any commissions, and at an excellent rate.
Instanbul Card
After reading many reviews, we firmly decided not to mess with the taxi drivers and headed for the metro. Almost at the turnstiles there is an Istanbul Card booth, in it the “face of Turkey” is an English-speaking middle-aged woman in a veil. As it turned out, she knows 3 sentences in English. He nods to all questions and answers with one of the 3 sentences of his repertoire. We were interested in whether we need to buy 4 cards for four, or we can get by with one. After 5-6 questions, having thoroughly studied her brief repertoire, we decided to convene a council. The council decided - neither yours nor ours - to buy 2 cards for everyone.
As it turned out:
— The card costs 8 liras ($2.7), of which 5 liras ($1.7) can be returned by returning the card.
— A trip by metro, tram, ferry costs from 1.6 to 2.5 liras ($0.9)
- At the same time, in some places, if you roll the card twice (for yourself and for your wife), then the second passenger costs a little more. For example, the first passenger is 1.6 lira, the second 2.3 lira.
— The rest of the balance on the card is not returned when the card is returned.
— The card can be replenished with lira at any station of any transport, although the procedure is not the most obvious.
You will need a card in any case, even if you live in the very center.
While we were getting to the hotel, we realized that Istanbul is one big market.
Hotel with a window
Hotel room "With a window"
I booked a hotel for 4 nights, the prices were very pleasantly surprising, so I took 4 *. Friends booked "Economy without a window" for €112, I booked "Standard" for €132. And suddenly the Bosphorus will be visible! At the reception, having received the keys to rooms 101 and 102, we follow the employee with bated breath. We go into the room, see the curtained window, give it a “tea” and exhale calmly. . . The employee slams the door, and we go to enjoy the view. . . I open the curtains and seethat the window is just a plug, behind which after 10cm there is a wall.
Let's go to the reception. In general, after half an hour of bickering, we understand that it is not the Turks who are to blame, but the booking site. The hotel does not have "Standards", but only "Economy without a window" and "Deluxe with a window". But the content managers of the intermediary (“Ostrovok. ru”) came up with a third type of room, a little more expensive than an economy room, and “with a window”. As a result, Ostrovok returned the difference in room rates to us, and we settled on that.
Window in a hotel room
I did not plan an excursion program. cgistalker kindly provided me with the itinerary he did for his parents. There was also a stupid guide with a good map, and some article about Istanbul from the Russian Forbes. As a result, a draft of the route was compiled in the evening on the Internet, and they already drew it with their legs often, often looking at the map. It so happened that instead of going from the main attractions to the secondary ones, we walked around them in reverse order!
First emotions, view from the Galata Bridge
Seller of bagels
The mystery of sustainability remains unsolved
You should always start with a dive. This is when you walk slowly, without a clear goal and without reference to time. We place the locators wider, transfer the body control center from the upper cabin to somewhere lower, for example, to the stomach (it is possible even lower, but not in the case of a family vacation), and we swim in the stream... If you have energetic friends, and your rest reminds you of a walk with a young Doberman on a leash, it is better not to keep them... Add a couple more points to their program on the first day so that by the second day they, exhausted, will join your pace.
Our dive took place on the first evening. We walked to the Galata Bridge, breathed the sea and tried mussels stuffed with rice. Proudly noted next to the restaurant "Odessa", but ate in a smaller restaurant. The Turks have a cloudy drink that is purple in color. It is often on the menu, but it’s better not to take it, it tastes like sour beetroot juice mixed with brine.
Is it hard to read the ship's name the first time? From the second? From the third?
Main route (Sultanahmet district)
To take first place in the sightseeing races, on the first day you need to beat:
– Topkapi Palace (2-5 hours). Consider queues at the box office starting in April. In no case do not take the audio guide, it's stupid. More details in the review.
– Hagia Sophia (1-2 hours). First a church, then a mosque, now a museum. Of course, the scale is amazing. But the scaffolding in the center of the hall interferes with the perception and composition of any frame. To be honest, I wouldn't even buy tickets inside. Read more in the review.
– Basilica Cistern (? hour).
– Blue Mosque (1 hour). Huge, massive. 5¹ ⁄ ? minarets (one has not yet been completed).
– Hippodrome with obelisks (30 minutes walking)
If the first place does not suit you, and you want to set a world record in the excursion discipline, add the Archaeological Museum and Small Hagia Sophia.
Handsome man at the Topkapi Palace. He also posed, you bastard!
Topkapi Palace, pavilions
Topkapi Palace Museum. In the middle is a Croatian sword, about 3 meters long. I would like to see how they can fight : -)
We mastered this route on the third day of the trip. Quietly leaving the hotel at 10 o'clock, we crossed the Galata Bridge and went to the historic Sirkenji Station. From there to Gulhane Park. Where the entrance to the park was indicated, there was a gate to some industrial zone with a security guard's booth. I remember the security guard. With a slight smirk, he glanced at us deep into the industrial zone, then with the same smile watched as we returned and went in a different direction. After testing the third direction, we nevertheless approached it. I thought he was going to say “You idiots of the first league. To get to the higher one, you had to go in the fourth direction and only then ask me. ” But he told us in good English that this industrial area is the beginning of Gulhane Park (! ). And from this excellent English for some reason it became even more offensive to the soul.
The Museum of the History of Islamic Technology is located on the territory of the park. Yes exactly. We tried to stick our nose in there, but realized that the museum was put here by some officials "for show".
From there upward, past the archaeological museum, straight to Topkapi. We walked around the palace for a long time and tediously. I can't say that it hurt me a lot. Such a palace with such a museum. In museums, the gifts that were given to the sultans are interesting - knives, two hefty diamonds, table utensils. The territory is large, but the luxury of European palaces is not in sight here.
Next was the Church of St. Irene. I really wanted to go to the Christian shrine, which, being in the center of an Islamic city, was never turned into a mosque. But the Turks openly cash in on Christian shrines. You can get into any mosque for free, here the cost of the entrance ticket is equal to the cost of entering Topkapi, although this is just a church!
Hagia Sophia, of course, shook the scale. Although the architecture of large mosques looks more like a hill from the outside than an elegant building, but here is the color, the elegance of the arches, and the realization of the fact that the church is almost 2 thousand years old!
Hagia Sophia
We direct our feet towards the Blue Mosque. She had to and in some ways surpassed Hagia Sophia! We got to the time “only for Muslims” and decided that we would have lunch and come back. Eh, we didn’t know what dinner would bring us...
The Blue Mosque, and 5¹ ⁄ ? minarets
Hungry, tired, we go down towards the sea in search of a restaurant. Our harem absolutely wants a restaurant with a roof terrace overlooking the sea. And we want an inexpensive restaurant quickly. But time was against us! After 40 minutes of searching for a compromise, the harem won a landslide victory, starving them out. We go up to the terrace of a not cheap restaurant. A very talkative and middle-aged waiter, it turns out, will soon marry a Ukrainian woman, speaks good Russian, and highly recommends kebab in a pot. And this is where we went wrong. . .
Kebab. We need to make a small digression and talk about kebab. In Turkey, kebab is not only grilled minced meat (lula kebab), but a million different dishes of beef or lamb. Sometimes it is minced meat, sometimes shavings from a skewer (shawarma), sometimes thinly sliced u200bu200bmeat (iskander kebab). Kebab is often the most inexpensive of the main dishes, it is available almost everywhere, from eateries and fast foods to expensive restaurants. By the way, we learned that lamb is cheaper than beef in Turkey. They also learned that a kilogram of meat is 2-3 times more expensive than in Ukraine ($12-15 for our money).
In the first two days out of a million, we tried a dozen varieties of kebab, but this is the first time we got a kebab in a pot. It was spectacular! A fire was burning in front of us and a brave waiter cut off the bottom of the peas with a large knife, holding it up. But after an hour and a half, when we crawled out of the restaurant, we realized that we preferred the kebab in a pot to visiting the Blue Mosque, because it was already closed. But the kebab was very tasty, so I think the women are to blame.
Small Hagia Sophia inside
Further, after sunset, we went to Small Hagia Sophia. At the entrance to a small and very cozy mosque, where there was not a soul, we were met by a tame Turkish cat. Having convinced the women that we would not be able to take her home, we went to explore the last attraction. In it, we learned that in public toilets, instead of toilet paper, there is only a tap with water and a liter mug. The four of us crowded around one of the booths and discussed how this system works. Some were sure that a foreigner could not do it, because. simultaneous coordination of movements of two hands must be trained from childhood. We were about to set up an investigative experiment, but we were interrupted by a frightened Turk, who cautiously peered out of the second booth with big eyes.
Second route
Beyoglu district and Dolmabahce Palace. It was our second day. For the first place in the excursion races, you need to have time:
– Galata Bridge (1 hour)
– Galata Tower (? hour)
– Istiklal Street and Taksim Square (2 hours)
– Dolmabahce Palace (2 hours)
– Museum of Modern Art (2 hours)
To set a world record in excursion races, add the Yeni Mosque and the market near Charshisy Cape, as well as the Rustem Pasha and Suleymaniye mosques.
Dolmabahce Palace
Taksim Square Architecture
Istiklal Promenade
Istiklal Promenade
Istanbul Modern Art Museum
Istanbul Modern Art Museum
There are no walls between the cars in the metro in Istanbul. It turns out that the train inside looks like a long corridor. But it is especially interesting when this tunnel begins to bend at the turn. The feeling of riding inside a giant snake:
Turkish parking was fun
Turkish markings
I highly recommend having lunch at the Travel Cafe on the way down from Istiklal. The modest thin owner really loves his job.
Third route
Yuskudar (Asian part) and shopping. This was our first day. We agreed on an excursion with the extraordinary Tatiana, whom we found on the Tourist. “She has 43 cats and 17 kittens, and when they die, she makes hats out of them, ” I thought when I saw her avatar.
— You can send me your photo, — she asked me in Viber, when we were in Kyiv.
“My photo is on the avatar, ” I answer, suspecting something was wrong.
“I need all four, and preferably one photo, ” Tatyana does not concede.
- We are normal, non-drinkers, family, we have four children remain in Kyiv. I'm ready to cancel my booking.
“Well then, at least in pairs, so that I can recognize you when leaving the ferry. . .
I exhale, because on the day of departure I will hardly find another guide.
In fact, everything went very well. A very hospitable, open, energetic Tatyana is one of those people who can fall in love with Istanbul. Four years ago, she came to Turkey by accident. When flights to Egypt were temporarily banned, and the vacation was already booked, she was forced to go to Antalya in the winter... and fell in love with Turkey. Returning to Moscow, she realized that nothing was holding her here, and indeed, “why live if you don’t live by the sea”...
Instead of 3 hours, she spent all 5 hours with us. In the Asian part, we watched:
— Maiden Tower
— Mihirimah Sultan Cami Mosque
— Camlı ca Hill and Restaurant (? BB Ç aml? ca Sosyal Tesisleri if you search on Google. Meps)
— Haydarpasa Station (Haydarpa? a Gari)
The Maiden Tower on the Asian side
View of the Bosphorus Bridge from the Asian side
View from the park on Chamlydzha Hill
Without an interesting storyteller, there is nothing even to go to the Asian side. I advise you only to climb the Chamlydzha hill. There is a large park here, which offers a very beautiful view of the central part of Istanbul.
There is also a state-run restaurant with regulated prices. When the state gets its hairy hands into the economy, two things can happen. Either there is a shortage of blat-queues, or the quality will drop to such that you don’t even want to buy. In this case, there were queues. We waited for about an hour at the entrance to the restaurant. A special uncle watches the queue and calls or calls those who have to go. But the prices are about 2-3 times cheaper than what can be found in an average restaurant in the center. Service is fast, food is big and tasty. Without Tatyana, even if we got to the park, we would definitely not get to the restaurant.
In the evening we went to Olivium, a large shopping center within the city. In short, it makes sense to go only for Turkish-made clothes. Read more in the review, which I will write later.
Acknowledgement
The Istanbul polyhedron is good precisely for its faces, not its vertices. We felt it from the first day, although we realized it only after leaving. Istanbul is interesting not for sights, but for the paths between them. I think those who have been in the Turkish capital for more than one day will agree with me. Neither Topkapi nor Dolmabahce, and even more so Taksim Square, are not such significant and interesting places compared to European ones. The Museum of Modern Art is generally a kindergarten in the younger group compared to the Dutch Stedelek, American MoMa, or London's Tate Modern. But the seething and teeming life of a half-Asian, half-European city is unique and exciting. Therefore, you can go to Istanbul at least every year, which we will probably do if next year we come across cheap tickets to Hit sales.
Istanbul cat, which no one invited into the arms
