As usual, this was a very short trip. We took using the Labor Day long weekend.

We landed in Sabiha Gökçen, which is the furthest airport to the city in Istanbul. Anyway, it took us 45 minutes at 6:00 by taxi from our hotel (in Sultanhamet), but in the afternoon the traffic gets crazy and we used the Marmaray to reach the hotel.

The first thing we did, was to enjoy the view of the river at the Galata Bridge. The view immediately stole our hearts and we couldn’t stop taking pictures every time we passed by.  For dinner we went to the “hipster area” with most of the cool and chill restaurants (you can enjoy Turkish food but also any kind of cuisine).

Streets look as beautiful as this one:

On our first day (Sunday) we went straight to the Blue Mosque, but as we are always sooo unlucky, it was under reformation. So we strolled around the area and decided to go into the Hagia Sophia Museum as it was closed on Monday (our other only day), but the line was so long, we got scared and we left.

After walking around the city, we decided to go to to Dolmabahçe Palace and enjoy the guided audio-tour (for free). The lines also get crazy there: in order to purchase our ticket, we spent 1 whole hour and in order to return the audio guides, we spent half an hour.

After the tour, we explored Taksim and the shopping area, although we couldn’t see much because Galatasaray and Beşiktaş were having a game that day and the hooligans took the streets. After eating something (at around 17:00), we went to Galata area and it was beautiful, we love it!

In our last day we took a cruise all across the Bosphorus with a company called Şehir Hatları. They offer short cruises (14:30 to 17:00) and long ones (10:30 to 16:30). We took the long one. The coolest part about the long one (besides seeing the European coast versus the Asian one and all the charm in it) is that you reach the Black Sea!!! The last stop is Anadolu Kavagi and you can take a very nice trek (you can get off at any stop you like, though, but the only long stop is the last one). That trek takes you all the way up to an amazing view: Yoros Kalisi. That’s the remaining of a castle that used to control boats access coming from the Black Sea.

In the picture below, you can see European coast at the left, Asian coast at the right and the beginning of the Black Sea behind the bridge.

After the cruise, we went up to Galata tower (1 hour line – yes, lines are poorly managed in Turkey). And this is the view at 18:00 (perhaps sunset is nicer, but we couldn’t stay up very long):

To end the day we went to the Spice Market and the Grand Bazaar and we couldn’t believe our eyes: it never ended!!! Streets after streets of stalls with crazy products and prices. All the fakes your could ever dream of are there!

Just at one of the sides of the Grand Bazaar there was a nice mosque with a beautiful park around and we took a walk around it:

 

That’s mostly all! To wrap it up, I would say i loved the food and especially the prices, everything was so surprisingly cheap when you think it’s still Europe!