Howdy all, and the tales of last year’s Dhaka to Dakar continue unabated, and this time I’m in the most popular tourist destination in Turkiye, and that is, of course, Istanbul. After around six weeks in the Sub-Continent and the Middle East I was now on the European continent, in Istanbul the city that sits on both sides of the great divide between Europe and Asia.

Istanbul I believe is one of the world’s great cities. It is Middle East and Europe blended together in a very attractive way, a city with iconic sights such as the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, with cobblestone streets, trams, ruins, incredible bay views and more. It’s such worthwhile to visit, and reasonably affordable too.

This time around I had really just two days (and three nights). It was basically just a stop on the journey but one that afforded me the chance to visit some important historical sights, most of which I had visited before, and vlog about them this time around.

Istanbul is actually a very big city in terms of size. It is quite spread out. But for the tourist things are mostly concentrated in the Sultanahmet area, a place full of hotels, restaurants and indeed tourists. For those who haven’t visited Istanbul, it holds the allure of the best features of the city balanced against the fact that all the tourists head there and so it’s full of tourists and thusly all the things that come along with an over-touristed part of town – raised prices, touts, crowds etc.

It’s worth putting that aside and delving in though. Istanbul was the capital for two empires of the last thousand and a bit years – the Byzantine Empire (Christian) and the Ottoman Empire (Muslim). The four main sites that I had picked out to visit were – the Hagia Sofia, Topkapi Palace, the Basilica Cistern and the Blue Mosque. I would try and see them all on the first full day and organise onward transport on the second and relax and work on some editing.

I did pretty well to be fair, the first full day I got through three of four. The first was the Hagia Sofia, which began life in the 6^th century as a Cathedral in Byzantine days. Okay, so that’s considerably more than 1000 years ago. In fact the original church on the site was built in the 3^rd century AD. It was mostly an orthodox cathedral apart from a brief time in the 13th century when it was Catholic. Then in the 15^th century it was converted into a mosque. From 1935 to 2020 it became a museum until Erdogan the current President decreed it would become a mosque again.

It’s very large, it’s free to enter and I had to line up in a long line through and around the square outside. However, the line moved quickly enough and was inside within around 20 minutes or so. To see it in 2023 now as a functioning mosque was a little different to the 2004 museum experience, but either way it’s a busy place full of tourists, these days mostly focussing on selfies, now it’s carpeted which I don’t remember it being in 2004 with the low hanging lighting too reminiscent of other mosques in the region such as the Blue Mosque, sitting opposite it across the square.

It’s Istanbul’s most iconic tourist sight for a reason. I visited a couple of the royal tombs attached within the Hagia Sofia’s walls too which was also worthwhile.

The second place on the list to visit was the Topkapi Palace, which is the only place I hadn’t previously visited. I had seen a lot of photos of this place online and was blown away. Not sure if I could have visited it back in 2004, but I know I didn’t even know about it.

The palace is massive and set out on a very large plot of land with courtyards and gardens aplenty and some amazing views of the Bosphorus at the far point of the palace. It’s not far from the Hagia Sofia, a little easy walk uphill to its impressive gates. It dates back to the 15^th century, it was a seat of power and administration during the Ottoman Empire.

Today it is FULL of tourists. And it’s the most expensive place I’ve been in Istanbul – around $50USD and if you want to see the Hareem, it costs more. And I thought that was the most beautiful and interesting part of the palace so I thoroughly recommend visitors do NOT skip Harem, it’s worth it it’s basically a whole palace on its own! The tiling, decoration, doorways, ceiling decorations and more, honestly you can’t miss it!

Third on this so-called list would be the Basilica Cistern, which is basically underground water storage for this part of the city that looks like you’re in an underground palace with columns and mood lighting, art work and music pumping out for the visitor’s pleasure. I haven’t mentioned yet but Turkey is another country featuring two-tiered pricing, I think it was 300 lira for a foreigner and 50 lira for a local which seemed a bit much to me. But it is what it is.

It’s really a beautiful spot even if it’s as well-touristed as other places in Istanbul. It’s original construction date is a bit hazy but it could be as far back as the 3^rd century AD when Romans ran the city and it was enlarged in the 6th century. It also seems to have been forgotten for many years although it was used by locals who got their water from it until it was noted in the 16^th century by a French Traveller. The idea I believe was that it would have been filled with water, whereas today there’s just water in the bottom so people can walk around it and enjoy this incredible space.

So last on the list was the Blue Mosque, which sadly I could not visit as it was under repair at the time which was disappointing. But next to it basically was this tomb, the tomb of Sultan Ahmet I. This was free to visit, it felt a little like a small mosque in some way with a dome and all. It was something to see anyways and the price was right!

I visited that (and tried to visit the Blue Mosque) on the second day, after three things completed all I could visit in one – Topkapi taking over two hours to visit. The second day featured a lot of rain and I also had to head to the bus depot where I organised a bus ticket to Sofia, Bulgaria, my next stop en route to Dakar. So more on that next time.

For now, that’s a summary of my short stay in Istanbul. Even with a couple of days to see it packs a punch and it’s very rewarding. Thanks for reading today, take care wherever you are in the world, and May the Journey Never End!