"Istanbul was Constantinople, now it's Istanbul..." sing along if you know it....
We are currently staying in a little pension (bed and breakfast) in the heart of Sultanahmet, Istanbul. It is part of the old city of Constantinople and all around the area you can see parts of the city wall that surrounded Constantinople- the capital during the Ottoman Empire. We are just five minutes from several of the most famous sites in the city, including Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque. Our plane landed at 7:30 this morning (which meant a 5:15am wake up call) and spent the first part of the day wondering around the area. We ended up in a tourist-trap café outside Aya Sophia and quickly learnt that some things are the same world round- if they think they can charge you lots, they will. In this case, it was a surprise 25% ‘service’ fee on top of the already hefty prices. That’ll teach us!
We also visited the Blue Mosque this morning but I’d have to say that the whole experience was rather underwhelming- mostly due to the fact that the mosque was absolutely teeming with cruise ship tour groups. Even inside the mosque, you had to work hard to find a space to stand. The architecture and tile work certainly was amazing but it was hard to really appreciate it in the face of so many people.
After an afternoon nap, we set out again to visit the Grand Bazaar. Its sheer size is almost overwhelming and like Kusadasi, you have to work quite hard to not get lured into every single shop. We are working on two tactics for avoiding getting hassled:
Ignoring the sellers. This has been having various levels of success as we do actually want to have a look at what’s on offer. Also, Marty feels rude not responding to their questions…
Pretending we don’t speak English. We have been trying the odd response in Maori and this may be a tactic we develop further tomorrow!
We did buy a couple of bits and bobs, including an obligatory scarf for me.
After leaving the bazaar, we followed our noses and ended up at the water front. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that we got lost but we certainly weren’t exactly clear where we were. Happily, we seemed to stray out of the predominately tourist area and into a more local quarter. There we discovered that you can indeed eat cheaply, which was a relief after this morning’s experience.
The weather in Istanbul has been much more pleasant (maybe around 30 degrees?) and we have found it much more conducive to exploring.
We also visited the Blue Mosque this morning but I’d have to say that the whole experience was rather underwhelming- mostly due to the fact that the mosque was absolutely teeming with cruise ship tour groups. Even inside the mosque, you had to work hard to find a space to stand. The architecture and tile work certainly was amazing but it was hard to really appreciate it in the face of so many people.After an afternoon nap, we set out again to visit the Grand Bazaar. Its sheer size is almost overwhelming and like Kusadasi, you have to work quite hard to not get lured into every single shop. We are working on two tactics for avoiding getting hassled:
Ignoring the sellers. This has been having various levels of success as we do actually want to have a look at what’s on offer. Also, Marty feels rude not responding to their questions…
Pretending we don’t speak English. We have been trying the odd response in Maori and this may be a tactic we develop further tomorrow!
We did buy a couple of bits and bobs, including an obligatory scarf for me.
After leaving the bazaar, we followed our noses and ended up at the water front. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that we got lost but we certainly weren’t exactly clear where we were. Happily, we seemed to stray out of the predominately tourist area and into a more local quarter. There we discovered that you can indeed eat cheaply, which was a relief after this morning’s experience.
The weather in Istanbul has been much more pleasant (maybe around 30 degrees?) and we have found it much more conducive to exploring.
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