Istanbul Things to Do Tips by Lalique

Have you seen James Bond serial? I bet you have .... Do you remember when Roger Moore (I guess it was already him playing the role) was escaping from some Embassy in the Orient thru a hidden passage leading under the building and then found himself in a huge colonnaded indoors where he took a rawing boat to sail away????
Well, that was the place :)

Very spectacular inside. There is a permanent light and sound show, which is very organically fits the interior, some parts of the cistern are really spooky :))

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Unfortunately we haven't been inside, didn't have enough time, we only sailed by while taking Bosphorus boat trip, but even from that distance we were striken by the beauty of the palace and its very European construction.

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GRAND BAZAAR and EGYPTIAN BAZAAR

One can find almost everything he/she needs!!!

Just remember
- Grand Bazaar is mostly for for clothes, gold, leather, souvenirs
- Egyptian Bazaar makes you dissy sensing all sort of spices, a good place to buy lokum too

Don't forget to bargain!!!

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TOPKAPI SARAY (PALACE)
The major and biggest thing to see in Topkapi is Harem. Beautiful building inside and outside with a mase of about 100 rooms. Though excursions there are very poor organised. It's alowed to go inside only in groups of 60 people with a local guide. So 1st you should wait for a group to gather up, 2nd you're not alowed to deviate the certain route inside, strict guards will hurry you up in order to keep up with the group.

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HAGIA SOPHIA
It looks more beautiful from inside than from outside. Walking around the building one notices an obvious shabbyness of the construction and faded walls, but inside the impression changes dramatically...
Don't forget to put your finger in a "weeping colomn" and make a wish :))).... (can't tell you whether it'll come true or not, I have forgotten mine :((((

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BLUE MOSQUE (SULTANAHMET)
You should try to fit in between the services (the evening one starts at about 5 or 6pm). I was told that it's not allowed for non Muslims and women to sit on a floor there, but..... well, u know how it is... I saw several foreign tourist (women including) sitting and admiring gorgeous blue tiles.... :))))

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This street and all Pera and Beyoglu area shouldn't be missed from ones trip to Istanbul.

It's the landmark of the city as Topkapi or Blue Mosque. The pedestrian street with single-track, which is used by the old trams to run to and from, is always vibrant with life, music, tourist buzz and locals. It leads to Taksim square, where one can feel the puls of Istanbul life non-stop.

This time I managed to see it in snow.... still vibrant.....

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Galata....
An old tower, which pierces the skies of ancient Constantinople...
60 meters - not that high in comparison to some of the modern constructions, but this is that very hight that doesn't make you sick and let you enjoy the view from a birds fly....

There are cafe and restaurant on the top, which are rather tourist oriented and thus overpriced.
However the view is worth paying 6,000,000 TL (about $4,5).

PS By the way, the view from the towers toilet is great as well :))))

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My friend being a Muslim wanted to see the Mosque very much, I haven't seen it from the colse up distance, these two reasons made us to walk all the the way from Taksim, along Galata bridge and finally dive into the maze of narrow streets leading to the Mosque as it started to get pretty dark.
My friend warried a bit, when we were climbing cobble stone dirty streets surrounded by plenty of small shops, which were about to close, with not a single tourist around... but strangly enough I felt absolutely secure in that labyrinth filled with strange scents, people and things...
Having no clue where exactly to go, most lilky with the help of Allah, we finally reached it ....

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Of course when we reach the Mosque, the 5pm prayer was over and the bulding closed, but we searched for the legacy of the ancestors and we found it.

...the green stones of eternity will always remind us of the glorious times and people who made them such, so looking at them we should try our best for our descendants would always remember the glorious times...

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