My time in Istanbul!

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Now it’s time for a new country… Turkey!

I think I was more sad about leaving Iran than excited to go and explore a new place but it was time to move on.

I arrived in Istanbul and after an hour + in the immigration line I finally got to the baggage claim to not find my bag… great!

My mom always says that whatever is yours is yours and it makes the way back to you so with that in mind I calmly went to pegasus’ lost baggage counter and asked if they had seen my bag. It actually turned out to be in the wrong belt with a different flight info on it. I left the airport and was ready to find the metro to get to my host’s (Funda) house in Istanbul. I walked around the airport and saw no signs for the metro and thought it was very weird. Since I had no cellphone nor wifi I decided to ask a local (by using sign language) if I could use their phone. I phoned my host and I was on my way. I went out with instruction from Funda to still find no metro. Well, long story short… 3 phone calls later from total strangers I figured out that I was in the wrong airport, way far from my host’s house. At the end it took me 2 hours to fly from Iran and 4 hours to get to Istanbul and be rescued on the street by one of Funda’s friends who came to pick me up and take me to her house.

My first day was spent walking the main walking street in Istanbul all the way to Galata tower. On the way we stopped for a cup of coffee. I have never really had coffee but since I’m in turkey I had to taste the famous Turkish coffee! It was strong and it made me go to the bathroom!

Behind us, Galata tower!

While walking I noticed that there was police everywhere! Tanks drove up and down the pedestrian streets, police cars were in every corner and police carrying huge guns were just the norm on the streets of Istanbul! Given the recent terrorist attacks in the area the government had increased the security around the city.

The next day I woke up late and took it easy in the morning and then took the bus and went to visit the most famous and historical part of Istanbul!!

Although it was a cold and foggy day the views were pretty great!

Although I don't normally eat fish, but these are a must when in Istanbul! ... it was way too fishy!

From the water front I walked up the street following the tram tracks and arrived at the famous Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque.

Hagia Sofia

The Blue Mosque through a Nutella simmit!

I am sad to write this but I think Iran has ruined the rest of the world for me! I got to the blue mosque and even though it is impressively big I think it is not as beautiful as the mosques in Iran! Maybe it is because I like color and the tile work in the Iranian designs make the mosques look so much more impressive and colorful.

The entrance

See the guy cleaning?

This poor guy probably needed some peace and quiet to do his prayers!

From there I walked to the Grand Bazaar and walked around the many pedestrian streets leading to it. I am happy to report that I no longer get confused with being Chinese! There are hundreds of vendors in the Grand Bazaar and most of them said “Hola” to me! yeay!

You see the turkish flag ALL over the country!

The famous and very beautiful Turkish lamps

Pashminas anyone?

So here is another VERY TURKISH thing... a Nazar! These are amulets believe to protect you from the evil eye! They make so many trinkets out of these beads to be carried or hung everywhere!

A regular thing to see... guys carrying rugs on the street!

I ended the day by strolling through the spice bazaar and being offered to try the famous turkish delight by at least 30 men! I ended going into one of the stores and trying the candy and O. M. G! how are Turkish people not dying from diabetes? The turquish delights were the sweetest things ever!!!

What a typical sweets stands looks at the spice bazaar!

Turkish delight

A box of turkish delights I bought to gift!

So many kinds of tea to choose from, my favorite, the Love tea! haha

All around turkey I also found shops after shops of baklava!

I simply loved walking the streets of Istanbul and getting a sense of their culture. As I started walking I immediately started to notice the huge tea culture of the country, there are tea shops pretty much in every single corner of the city and also saw many men carrying trays of tea and delivering it to people along the way.

Tea and turkish coffee is not the only drink of choice for the Turkish but they also have amazing fresh pressed juices everywhere for less than a $1! Sooo good!!

Oh! and they also love their iconic simmit... a skinny version of the NY bagel! There are carts selling them all around the city (and the country) one can it eat plain for 1.25TL ($.33) or with nutella or cheese for a couple more cents!

Also, carts selling corn and chestnuts!

After touring around Turkey I came back to Istanbul and explored it a little bit more.

This time I made it to Suleymaniye mosque... even more beautiful than the Blue Mosque.

It was too cold!!!!!

One day I met my friend’s Turkish friend, Sezayi, and walked around Istanbul. He introduced me to Kumpi, a huge potatoe that you can put different toppings on… so good!

Then we walked around, took the tram and ended up in Corlulu Ali Pasa, a super cool and chill hooka bar. The atmosphere in there was just so Turkish (in my opinion) there were hundreds of people drinking tea and smoking hookah (or shisha) and the smell was pretty good from all the different flavors of the hookahs. Entering the place I felt like stepping into old Turkey; the location used to be a school so there are many rooms and it doesn't matter which room you enter you will find endless numbers of people relaxing and smoking.

On my last day I decided to take the ferry from Karakoy to Kadikoy, the view from the water was simply amazing.

My first stop in Kadikoy was at the farmers market by the ferry port.

Dolmas anyone?

Weird looking candy!

Kadikoy kind of reminded me of San Francisco with its hills overlooking the water and the cool and funky vibe of the town! I felt like I was walking the streets of Russian Hill!

The street art was also "on point" haha I loved walking and finding different pieces of art throughout the city.

To be honest what impressed me the most in Kadikoy was the beautifully organized market! The display of the food and fish was very appealing to the eye!

I still don't know what these are!

So so so so so many types of olives!

Turkish coffee stand!

Tea delivery in Kadikoy!

To end my trip I went to a hammam and had a traditional turkish bath. At first I was very hesitant about the whole hamam idea but then a local guy convinced me to try it.

I arrived at the hamam and a lady gave a changing room and told me to take everything off except my underwear. Once I was undressed I went out and they took me to the main room which is like a sauna with a marble/ rock platform in the middle. To be honest the hamam smelled funky, like moldy and yucky but I talked myself out of focusing on that and all the germs around me and just enjoy the experience.

(From google, I did not go in with a camera!)

Around the platform there were little tubs and the woman opened the hot water, gave me a small bucket and made signals that I needed to pour water on myself.

I was extremely confused on what to do but thankfully there was another lady there so I just copied what she did. After 20 mins or so the lady came back to give a scrub, this time she was naked, and asked me to lay down on the marble top and then she proceeded to scrub my whole body!!! It was kind of disgusting to see how much dead skin was coming out! The most awkward part was when I had to sit down right in front of her while she scrubbed my arms! haha

After the scrub I put some water on me and then the woman asked me to lay back again on the marble top. This time she had a super fluffy and soapy sponge and lathered that thing all over my body! I felt like a car in a carwash… it was strange!

When that finished I thought I was all done but she made more signs for me to sit down and then to take off my pony tail and she washed my hair! It wasn’t a gentle wash (that women needs to be taught gentle touching, she was so rough on everything!), she kept pouring water on my head and I could barely catch my breath! While I was sitting there almost drowning in shampoo water and unable to open my eyes I couldn’t help but think about the many times I have given baths to the kids and they hate the hair part; I think for the first time I realized why!

At the end of my hammam experience I was super happy to have done it but so sad I didn’t do it at the beginning and enjoy the turkish bath all throughout Turkey… I guess I have to come back!

On my way back from the hamam I walked by the cutest shop selling turkish towels and home made soaps! I stayed there for like 45 minutes smelling everything, looking around and talking to the owner!... I wanted to buy everything (and everything was so cheap!) but unfortunately I did not want to carry it so I only bought a little but Istanbul is a perfect place to get flights for Europe and the Middle East so who knows? Probably I'll be back!

About Post Author

Andrea

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!