'If one had but a single glance to give the world, one should gaze on Istanbul' (Alphonse de Lamartine)

Taskim, Istiklal Avenue

Istanbul has proved to be utterly captivating, even when half asleep following our journey from Sofia! Around every corner seems to be a new sight or experience that provides another unforgettable moment.  Whether it be one of the hundreds of minarets that penetrate the famous skyline, the sound of an oud on the water front or the smells from the hundreds of spices that you pass in one of the bustling bazaars there was never a dull moment during our visit. The sometimes frenzied clash of east meeting west is always present as you look out across the water towards a different continent. Five times a day the minarets seem to dual with each other as the call for prayer penetrates every alley in the city and yet there are more churches than mosques across the Bosphorus Bridge in the Asian section of the city.  It is safe to say that we have loved every minute of our time in Istanbul.

Hagia Sofia

Deciding where to base ourselves in Istanbul before we arrived provided a large enough challenge due to the contrasting sections of the city but we ended up staying in Sultanahmet, the old part of the city housing the most iconic attractions in Istanbul.  This allowed us to walk to the main historic sites of the city very easily.  Our first morning was spent exploring the Hagia Sofia, a perfect illustration of the city as it was initially a Pagen site, then a prominent church during the Byzantine period and was finally transformed into a mosque by the Ottomans.  The building is extraordinarily beautiful and is a living testament to the history of Istanbul.  The size of the main area is breath taking with the building famous for its huge dome which is said to have changed the history of architecture (although it did collapse first time around).  The pigeons flying around the gallery accentuate its size perfectly.  The inside is quite dark with the black and gold interior, giant calligraphies and the mosaics of Christ and the Virgin Mary adding to the mysterious atmosphere.  We spent the afternoon wandering around

Inside Hagis Sofia

Topkapi Palace which provided our first glimpse into the extravagant lifestyle of the Ottoman Sultans.  The four huge courtyards each housed elaborate treasure, weapons and relics.  Our highlight was the collection of relics which contained Moses staff, the sword of David and a fragment of Muhammad’s tooth, as well as a lot of hairs from Muhammad’s beard.  Hannah pointed out what a strange race we are as humans… who stands looking in awe at a stick and a beard?!  An additional ticket gained us access to the Sultan’s Harem, his private quarters.  In here we saw the chambers of his concubines, favourites (chosen by the Sultan’s mother) and the black eunuchs, all of which were tiled with beautiful patterns under domed roofs.   We finally headed back to the apartment, walking up the old road that connected Constantinople and Rome with Ottoman buildings now housing tea shops and Turkish delight alongside the Roman ruins and Ottoman mosques.

Looking out across the Sea of Marmara

Exhausted from the day we spent a few hours recovering from the heat before walking to the water front.  Every few metres along the waterside were fisherman out for the evening accompanied by groups of cats.  The Bosporus Straight was very busy with huge cruise and container vessels towering over small fishing boats.  The infamous Istanbul traffic crawled past on our other side and helped add to the hectic feel.  Entrepreneurs along the water front had set up BBQ’s to sell the caught fish and one ‘stand’ we saw involved people shooting bottles and balloons with pellet rifles.  We stopped to listen to a man playing the oud whilst young men took it in turns to sing traditional melodies, adding to the cultural overload we were both experiencing.  On the way back to the apartment we encountered our first experience of the refugee crisis as a man with two children sat asking for money from passers-by with his national ID card for Syria reminding us of the difficult humanitarian situation Turkey is currently facing and how close we were to the troubled Middle East.

Dolmabahce Palace

The next day we went on a walking tour from our apartment along to the Dolmabahce Palace in Besiktas.  We visited what is regarded as the most beautiful mosque in Istanbul, the Suleiman Mosque housing the tomb of the most famous Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.  ‘Suleiman the Magnificent’ who expanded the empire towards central Europe only being halted in Vienna.  He also conquered huge swaths of the Middle East and North Africa for the Ottomans and died having ruled his empire as the longest serving Sultan.   As with all the mosques I have been in Suleiman’s mosque was very calming and peaceful, with the warm colours and curving architectural providing a very different feel to the death and crosses in Catholic churches.   We then headed off via the spice market across the Galata Bridge spanning the Golden Horn.  We chose to walk along the lower of the two decks of the bridge and stopped to eat the fresh fish caught from the lines overhanging the restaurant from the upper level.   Walking via the main street in Taskim, Istiklal Avenue, we eventually reached the Dolmabahce Palace and were blown away by the luxury: The floor was made of individual tiles each containing three types of wood that were nailed together by hand for each square; guests would walk up the ‘crystal stair case’ complete with a crystal stair rail to the meeting room which contained presents from all over the world including ivory tusks from Somalia, bear skin rugs from Russia and crystal chandeliers from London.  We were suitable impressed.

The Blue Mosque 

Having never been to Asia I was keen to take the boat across to the less visited area of Istanbul and try some of the food in the markets of Karikoy.  This idea was cemented by my desire to escape selfie sticks and tour groups, the bane of my life for the last few months and the scourge of Istanbul. When people now look through their holiday photos all they must be able to say is, ‘and this is my face and if you could see behind it there is the ... (insert generic tourist destination)’! Having witnessed girls in the mosques taking photos of themselves in a head scarf rather than looking at where they are, women in a variety of unflattering poses with nothing but a pavement behind them and men losing all self-respect preening themselves for yet another shit photo we had to escape.  Even more irritatingly they kept ruining our photos as every iconic landmark came complete with a moron capturing another Facebook profile picture, I hated them all. Before we set off for Asia we visited the famous Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque) with its beautiful stain glass windows and handmade blue tiles as well as the Basilica Cistern, made famous in the Bond film From Russia with Love.  The Blue Mosque is the most beautiful building I have seen with its cascading domes, the unique 6 minarets and the perfect symmetry of the building.  The underground Basilica Cistern was equally impressive with hundreds of 30 foot columns underground supporting the weight of the city to create a reservoir for Constantinople.   Thankfully the Asian side of the city was very relaxed and less crowded, with Moda offering nice cafes, artisan shops and beautiful views across the water.  Looking for local food we met a very enthusiastic man running a deli who gave us a variety of dips with fresh bread and Turkish coffee.  Our exploration of Turkish food finished with the Tesi Kebab for dinner.  A combination of Lamb, beef and vegetables that is put with a sauce into a clay pot and placed on a BBQ to stew.  It is then served on a flaming (literally) hot plate with the waiter knocking the top off of the pot to serve.  It was quite a spectacle and a great experience of local cuisine.

Our final day in Istanbul was spent exploring the Grand and Spice Bazaars that had been closed due to the national holiday for Eid the previous week.  The Grand Bazaar is one of the oldest and largest indoor markets in the world and has some 4000 shops spanning 61 streets.  We explored any number of carpet and traditional lights shops and despite being warned about being hassled by shop owners we found no problems and friendly banter with the stall owners rather than any forceful selling.  We bought our engagement / wedding rings in one of the many silver shops having been recommended before we left that this was the perfect stop on route to purchase our rings.   We spent a lot of time trying to take photos of the elusive waiters that hurtle around the market distributing untold quantities of tea to the staff but eventually gave up.  We headed outside for the obligatory Turkish kebab (we were not allowed to leave without one) from a local vendor.  There was a never ending selection of kebab shops but getting free tea and salad with the kebab was the sales pitch that won it for us and Ali, the owner was very amicable. He combined trying to use us as bait to lure in other tourists whilst providing us with his life story and by the end of the meal we had successfully snared 10 other tourists and a cheap lunch.  The spice bazaar was equally impressive with its colour and smells and we bought a range of spices for our travelling kitchen to add to the cabbage and sausage diet that awaited us back in Eastern Europe.

We finally left Istanbul in an almighty thunder and lightning storm.  Looking for a toilet at the bus station I noticed the symbol for a man and a women on a door.  Whilst undoing my flies however I realised too late that I had unwittingly walked into a prayer room and I was confronted by a terrified looking man praying on his knees who looked anything but peaceful at the sight of me as I hurriedly left the room.  We soon boarded our bus with no more incidents and headed into the infamous Istanbul traffic on a deserted bus heading back to Bulgaria.