We’re taking you to Istanbul, Turkey for an unforgettable 3 days packed with historic landmarks, incredible food, cultural experiences, and the travel tips we wish we knew before going. We share everything from visiting the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, and Basilica Cistern to experiencing a traditional Turkish hammam, wandering the Grand Bazaar, and trying iconic Turkish dishes like kebabs, menemen, kunefe, and Turkish coffee.

We also shareIstanbul travel tips including the Istanbul E-Pass, currency, what to wear in mosques, where to stay, whether popular experiences like the Bosphorus cruise are worth it, and what it’s like navigating Istanbul’s public transit system.

If you want to take this exact trip, download our 3-day Istanbul Itinerary!

In the Istanbul episode you’ll hear about:

• Best things to do in Istanbul in 3 days
• Visiting Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque & Topkapi Palace
• Exploring the Grand Bazaar & Spice Bazaar
• Istanbul E-Pass review and whether it’s worth it
• Traditional Turkish bath (hammam) experience
• Best Turkish foods to try in Istanbul
• Istanbul transportation tips and Istanbulkart info
• Galata Tower sunset views & rooftop spots
• Turkish coffee, Turkish delights, and local desserts
• Where to stay in Istanbul using hotel points
• Tips for visiting mosques and cultural etiquette
• Day-by-day Istanbul itinerary recommendations

We recommend booking a private transfer from airport to hotel and back and installing an eSim before you get there.

Our top recommended hotels in Istanbul: 

• Orient Occident Hotel Istanbul 
• Hotel Sultania
• Adamar Hotel

Check out our Turkey Activities & Tours for all activities we recommend and even some that we wanted to do but couldn’t get to. Visit the city’s highlights with an Istanbul E-Pass or if the E-Pass won’t work for you schedule, we recommend these front of the line tickets for: Hagia Sofia, Basilica, Cistern,Topkapi Palace, Dolmabache Palace & Galata Tower.

Find a great flight deal to Istanbul by signing up for Thrifty Traveler Premium and get flight deals sent straight to your inbox. Use our promo code TSP to get $20 off your first year subscription.

3 Days in Istanbul – Episode Transcript

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad Podcast. Today we are taking you to Istanbul, Turkey. Brittanie and I spent 2 full days in Istanbul. Well, technically 2 1/2 if you count our arrival day since we landed around 1:00 PM. But we spent some time in Istanbul before we continued on to central Turkey and the Cappadocia region. But this episode, we’re going to talk to you all about our time and adventures in Istanbul.

1:07

And let me just say, Istanbul was a slow burner for me and I think Brittanie too.

When we arrived, like our first half day, we were like and.

But by the time we got into our first full day, we were really geared up for Istanbul and fell in love.

I can’t wait to go back and later this year we are traveling on Turkish Airways and we have a layover in Istanbul.

1:28

And I’m really regretting that we don’t have a longer layover in Istanbul because I really loved it.

And what really surprised me is, and I’m going to talk talk about this in the episode, because as a female, I thought to myself, I could go here solo and I would feel safe here.

1:46

And that wasn’t something I initially thought.

Like that wasn’t even a forethought before we came.

That does surprise me because I have only been to Turkey once in an airport on a layover and it was so hectic and so crazy and I’ve I’ve heard that it’s hectic and crazy and so I never thought I would see myself going solo there.

2:07

And my first initial impression of it was also that it was hectic and crazy.

The day that we landed was a holiday.

And so we’re driving into the city and I just see masses and masses of people and I’m like, oh wow, this is a big city.

And initially I felt like a little overwhelmed as we were driving in.

2:25

But as we got to know the city and the area we stayed in and go around, like I felt super safe walking around.

At one point, I even walked back to our hotel alone because I had an appointment that Jamal didn’t have.

And it just really surprised me.

I really enjoyed.

It I can’t wait to hear about this appointment.

2:43

Yeah, but let’s get into the episode.

We want to tell you a little bit about Istanbul.

So Istanbul’s Turkey’s largest city, and it’s a really beautiful city.

It’s also where Europe meets Asia.

We stayed on the European side, but we could look over into the Asia side.

3:01

If we had more days, we would have actually gone into the Asia side.

So if you do go and you have some time, I recommend going onto both sides and what separates the sides is the Bosphorus River.

Yeah, technically Istanbul straddles again, both continents, Europe and Asia.

3:16

Like Brittanie said, there are two sections in Europe, right?

Because you cross the river and you could be still in Europe from one side to the next.

But the other side then is Asia, and it’s just packed with history and culture and known as the former capitals of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires.

3:35

And it blends beautiful ancient architecture with modern urban life.

And you have landmarks like the highest Sophia Blue Mosque that showcases cultural and religious heritage.

And of course, that the cultural bustling markets, modern cafes, scenic waterfronts.

3:51

So it really gives the city a dynamic, cosmopolitan character that we just fell in love with.

I’m excited to learn more about it because you just mentioned you wanted a long layover in Istanbul.

We were talking before we started recording about me potentially doing a two to three day stopover in Istanbul.

4:08

I didn’t realize that you spent that amount of time here in the city.

Do you feel like you saw enough?

Well, it sounds like you want to go back.

How was that amount of time?

I feel like what we saw I felt good with, like I feel good leaving the trip.

But had we had more days, there was more things to do that I would have liked.

4:25

I would have wanted to go to the Asia side, maybe do a food tour that I saw some that did both European and Asian food sides and food tours.

So you get that cultural and historic blend with the foods.

And then they also have some islands out there called the Princess Islands and you could do a day trip there.

4:43

So I think realistically, if I wanted to do everything, we probably would have needed like four or five days.

But I am happy with the highlights.

We definitely got the city’s highlights.

Yeah.

It’s one of those things when you travel, it’s that double edged sword, right?

You want to pack in everything that you want to see, which of course of the main highlights.

5:03

I feel like we did, but we wanted more time and would like to go back to floor and just enjoy the city at leisure.

Just strolling down the streets, stopping in at random cafes, doing God knows what, trying different food, you know, like that’s the type of stuff that I really want to do and go back as an enjoy it at leisure.

5:23

So I think 2 days to answer your question, Kim, probably is enough to see the highlights.

If you’re going to see all the highlights, or at least the main, main ones, then that’s sufficient time.

But of course if you have more time to then take it at leisure, I think it could be a lot more enjoyable.

If this episode inspires you to take a trip to Turkey, then I would encourage you to look into Thrifty Travelers Premium subscription.

5:47

It’s a flight deal alert service essentially, and they’ve expanded to hotels as well.

So if a flight comes up, maybe you want to go somewhere that’s not Istanbul, but there’s a Turkish Airways flight deal.

You can do their stopover program, get a double whammy on deals there.

6:03

And we have a triple whammy because you can use our promo code TSP and get $20 off your your first year subscription of that premium service.

Ironically, Thrifty Traveler just came out with an announcement for deals on Turkish coming up.

I believe it was for early next year in 2027.

6:20

But of course deals go quickly depending on how many people book them, but they do have them regularly so do check it out.

All right, let’s get into the tips for Istanbul.

So currency wise, they use the Turkish lira and while we were there, it was about 44 liras to one U.S. dollar.

6:37

So we just kind of rounded it to 50 to one.

That was kind of our mindset and our thinking.

And does your dollar go farther in Turkey?

It used to in the past, but of course everywhere is having inflation right now.

However, Turkey is also within the last 5-6 years having its own internal situation that has caused high inflation.

6:58

So I have a really good family friend who went about 5-6 years back.

He was telling me, Oh my gosh, Turkey’s so great.

It’s so inexpensive and cheap.

Your dollar goes a long way.

Not so much anymore.

I wouldn’t say like it’s completely overpriced, but what you would think going to that region, it’s not really going to be that way anymore.

7:18

I would say like food wise is a little less than US equivalents if you were to go to a restaurant.

So you can imagine like when you go to restaurants paying a lot and of course, a lot of the major sites, and I guess this is a good segue into the next tip is euros are often accepted in the touristy areas.

7:35

But all the major tourist attractions like the Hyah, Sophia and other things too, they will charge you in euros versus like dollars or lira.

And that’s how really they’re marked and priced.

And so those are even expensive as well, which we will have a tip for you on how to save money on those coming up.

7:53

But yeah, so not as inexpensive as one would imagine.

Another tip for you guys is ATMs, a lot of them have service fees, so we found the best ones to be at the airport or from an actual bank in what some of the major squares they’ll have like a line of ATMs. All of those had very exorbitant service fees and so we didn’t pull from any of those ATMs, but those are in like tourist areas.

8:17

We randomly found a bank coming back to our hotel that 1 was great and then the airport 1 like I said was also fine but you just have to be careful to look for those service charges and conversion rates.

You 2 are often giving the on the ground details about ATMs and which ones are good or not.

8:35

Do you actually go and try to take money out and then see the service fee and cancel?

Is that how you’re getting this information?

Yes, we did that a couple times.

I saw the service fee and I was like, I’m not paying for this.

I’ll just go get it from a bank.

Because again, lots of ATMs, of course they may look like they’re from legitimate banks.

8:51

I mean they’re designed to look that way.

But if it’s not actually really from a bank institution, then, and they do have those fees because they cater of course, to tourists.

But if you go to a local bank, whether it be here in Turkey or anywhere else, obviously it’s designed for locals.

So those internal fees are not built into the withdrawals, right?

9:10

You’ll just have your normal rate.

But it’s not anything that’s an exorbitant amount or a high markup.

So do look for those.

But in fairness, you know, you want cash probably mostly for tips and maybe a few places in the market, but most places in the market and of course where you’re going to be eating do accept credit cards.

9:27

So you probably don’t need a lot.

I think collectively Brittany and I pulled out $100 equivalent in Turkish lira and that lasted us our entire trip and we came back with three dollars equivalent.

So we went through that, just like with tips.

We did pull enough money to last us through Cappadocia as well because we heard the fees there were higher and so we just were like, OK, we’ll just pull enough to hopefully last us our trip.

9:49

If we have to pull some there, that’s fine too.

But we didn’t end up needing to.

So that was a tip that we had learned from someone else and we tried to follow that as well.

Also, the country is a predominantly Muslim country.

So dress wise, modest is best to go into some of the mosques like the Haya Sophia or the Blue Mosque, you’re going to have to wear a head covering and you can’t have spaghetti straps, tight leggings and no shorts and mosques, which also goes for men too.

10:15

So just keep that in mind.

But again, a very cosmopolitan metro city.

So of course, I mean, it’s not super, super conservative, but just out of respect you want to dress a little bit more modestly.

Language wise, of of course they speak Turkish in Turkey.

Kurdish is also a very prominent language as well as Arabic.

10:33

But pretty much everybody knows English.

And then of course multiple languages.

We saw lots of Turkish people like even in restaurants, yes, in fairness, they’re in touristy areas, but not necessarily guided tour wise or anything like that, speaking other languages such as French, Spanish.

10:50

So of course, if you’re coming from any of those countries or even coming from the US and want a tour in Spanish for whatever reason, if you know Spanish, you could do it and get her by very easily with that.

So there really are no language issues when traveling.

Also, make sure to have WhatsApp downloaded.

11:05

A lot of the tours and guides that we used will chat with you in the app.

And our driver that picked us up from the airport, that’s how he communicated with us.

And I’m seeing this more and more even as we book our trip to like Vietnam.

Everyone’s reaching out to me already to confirm things on WhatsApp and so just make sure you have that app downloaded because that is the main point of communication I think.

11:27

It’s even being more used here in the US.

That’s true.

There is definitely an upswing in use, I think.

Another tip is Istanbul is a very hilly but walkable city, especially if you stayed near the main area, which Brittanie and I did.

Public transit is available by metro, bus and ferries, and of course you can catch taxis.

11:47

If you only plan on taking bus or metro, you can use your credit card to tap in and out of the stations.

But if you plan to take a ferry, you’ll need an Istanbul card.

And this is a card that you have to buy and then preload money onto it.

Up to five people can use one card, so if you’re traveling as a family, that can be really useful, or as a group.

12:08

But since we were only staying in the main area and seeing the highlights, we actually didn’t need an Istanbul card.

But if you want to take the ferry, that of course goes to the Asia side or even the metro that goes to the Asia side under the river, that does require the Istanbul card.

12:25

You can just use the tap for that.

So that would be the only metro that you cannot take with just your normal credit card.

You will need Internet and data while you’re in Istanbul, so you will probably need an esim if your phone carrier doesn’t have an international pass that you use.

12:42

But I will say a lot of the restaurants and of course hotels do have Wi-Fi.

Another great tip, you know we can’t not talk about the bathrooms.

Bring toilet paper.

Lots of touristy places and restaurants were out of teepee or just not stocked at all so luckily for me as a guy I didn’t really have a bathroom situation outside where I needed to sit down.

13:04

But for you girls, of course you definitely want to have TP and Brittanie always packed it with.

Her I was pleasantly surprised with like all of the bathrooms.

They were, you know, Western style toilets.

I didn’t have any situations.

No squatty potties.

No squatty potties.

What a huge mess.

13:19

Yeah, I know.

You would expect possibly in that region right between Europe and Asia.

But let me tell you something, just like on a side note, we didn’t mention this on this trip.

After we’re done with Turkey, we continued on to Greece.

And I was so surprised in Greece, even in touristy areas, how many places did not have toilet seats.

13:38

I cannot stand that.

When you have a traditional Western style toilet and they do not have a toilet seat, it’s like what’s up with that?

You don’t have to worry about that in Istanbul.

I did not encounter that in Istanbul.

I will say there were squatty potties sometimes but I didn’t have to use any because if there were, if they were installs you could choose a not on squatty potty stuff.

13:58

You said you didn’t have to use them, but did you choose to?

No, I didn’t choose to I.

You like them more?

Only if the bathroom is like dirty, you know, like, but all of the bathrooms I came across were, were orderly and clean.

I was satisfied with the bathroom situation other than I just had to bring my own toilet paper.

14:17

And our last and final tip is going to be just general information about the Istanbul E pass.

We bought the Istanbul E Pass and basically it’s a tourist bundle pass for Istanbul.

It gives you access to a bunch of attractions for one fixed rice.

We purchased ours through Cluke and I’m going to link it in the show notes and they do have different options for a 2 day, three day, five day or seven day pass.

14:39

Some of the activities require you to book reservations in advance and you can make the reservations online.

We did the two day pass.

It was about €165 a person and we used it for several activities.

For what Jamal did alone would he broke even with the pass.

14:56

But for me, because I did a discounted Turkish bath, we saved about €65 on what I would have paid, €65 is a good amount of money.

I will say this.

So this kind of going back to where I said we’ll talk later on how you could save money for lots of the major attractions being in euros.

15:12

They’re here on the Istanbul epass, right?

So you can make reservations, get tours, et cetera.

So if you figure out what it is that you want to do in Istanbul, which of these attractions you’re going to see, you can figure out if you’re going to like not save money by doing it, break even or come out ahead.

15:31

But I will say, if you figure out what you’re going to do and say like, I’m going to break out even or ahead even, obviously, well, definitely get it.

But even breaking even is a great thing because when you have the Istanbul E pass, whatever tour you’re going to do, they get you front of the line versus waiting in line 1 to buy a ticket if you haven’t.

15:51

But even if you bought the ticket, now you’re in another queue line just to even get into the attraction where this gives you front of line.

So in that sense it also saves you time and I would recommend it simply for.

That and as we come across to activities that we did, we’ll mention if they were included in E Pass or discounted with E Pass just so you get a feel for like what’s kind of included.

16:12

Squatty’s You know we are going to have an itinerary on this Istanbul trip.

It is available now for download at shoptravelsquad.com.

We also have it linked here in the show notes, so as you’re listening along, if you want to take a trip, it’s basically exactly like this with the links to everything we mentioned, how long to spend there, the exact route to take, how much it cost to get in, every little detail, even the squad tips that we share and even some that we don’t share in this episode.

16:41

Just click on the link in the show notes and you can download it right away.

I know you spent about 2 1/2 days there.

So you flew out from San Diego or LAX?

We flew out of LAX, parked her car and we were going to be gone for about two weeks.

16:57

Istanbul was our first stop and then we went to Cappadocia and then we went to Greece, but our flight was out of LAX to Istanbul.

It was a direct flight and it was about 11 hours.

Longer than that, you’re cutting some time off.

It was about 13 hours to get there.

17:14

So one of the main reasons why we flew out of Los Angeles versus San Diego is, of course, because you do have a direct flight.

If we flew out of San Diego, we would have had to stop somewhere, then probably get on a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul.

So we’re just like, OK, let’s go ahead and go to LA.

17:31

We’ll invest that time to do it.

We have a really great place that we like to park near the airport that’s actually very inexpensive.

But that was about 13 hours.

We left at around 1:40 PM on April 22nd and we landed the next day, 12:50 PM.

17:47

So let’s just round it to 1:00 the next day, April 23rd.

British Airways does have a stopover program that allows you to do layovers up to like 6 or 7 days, but we booked this as a multi city reservation since we were returning home from Greece.

18:02

We will say for the airlines we were pleasantly surprised with Turkish Airways economy.

We didn’t fly business class unfortunately, but the economy section was pretty comfortable.

Food was decent and the desserts were always.

Good, there was no upgrade available when you asked.

They did have an upgrade, but it was more pricey than we were wanting to pay per person.

18:22

Call what it was.

Oh, they were saying it was like 1100 per person.

Oh, OK.

Because I was just comparing economy versus business class as just an actual flight and it was like 4000 more.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, obviously you’re going to get it cheaper of course, when you do the upgrade there, but that’s still like for cash price, didn’t really want to pay that.

18:43

But I do want to experience Turkish Airways business class because they actually have chefs on board who prepare the food and they actually they have a cart that they come out and wheel it on.

So it’s not like the typical carts like of course that they’ll bring your food on an economy or even in other business class ones.

19:01

It’s on a cart, tiered trays.

You can see they have like hors d’oeuvres and snacks and all your mezza.

Yes, Google Turkish Airways business and you will see it.

And they even have some of the attendants dressed up in chef outfits while they’re presenting the food and everything.

So it would be a good experience.

19:17

But for us, an economy, it was a good experience, not on the first plane going, but on the plane coming back In economy, they had foot rests, which I really like.

Again, like Brittany said, food was good, but the desserts were always like super on par.

By the time we got to dessert and we ate it, we’re just like, what are they doing with this food?

19:34

It’s just super delicious.

So pleasantly surprised with Turkish Air.

So we landed on Thursday, April 23rd at about 1:00 PM like Jamal said, and we decided to book private transportation to and from the airport.

And the reason why we decided to do this was because if we took public train, it said it would have taken us an hour and 40 minutes.

19:56

And coming off of a 13 hour flight, we’re like, it’s just not worth it to do that for us.

And if you drive anyways, just the drive time from the airport, if there’s no traffic is about 4045 minutes.

And if there is traffic, it’s an hour plus.

So we’re like, we just want to get in, get settled and then be able to go out and explore the city.

20:16

They pick you up in some great cars when you book these private transports.

I don’t know if anybody’s ever seen on social social media people that are advertising going to Turkey for cosmetic surgery, whether it be nose jobs or the hair transplants or whatever it is, but they’ll show like, oh, landing at the airport, they pick you up.

20:33

There are these really nice Mercedes vans decked out in leather have not party atmosphere, not disco lights either.

But what did like the the ceiling is makes it look like stars lit up with the LE DS.

It’s just like super nice experience had bottled waters in there ready for us.

20:49

So we really highly recommend that you guys book the Pirates favorite transport.

Did they pick you up at the curb or did they come in for you?

It’s at the curb.

So it’s one of those airports where the people can’t necessarily, you know, come in unless you have a ticket.

But our guy, like Brittanie was saying lots of them are using WhatsApp.

21:06

As soon as we landed, he says I’m here, I’m outside this door.

He took a nice selfie of himself and said this is what I look like.

So we were able to find him easily.

But it’s immediately right after you go out the doors, which that is right after you get out of customs and immigration.

21:21

So really easy transition to finding our drive.

For a round trip from the airport to our hotel and then he also picked us up on the day that we left.

It was $130.00 for two of us, so we thought it was fine and it saved US time and it was really comfortable and we didn’t have to carry our luggage on public transport, so I thought it was worth it.

21:42

Once he dropped us off at our hotel, we got settled into our hotel.

We stayed at the Orient Austinant Hotel in Istanbul and we booked this using the three award nights with our Marriott Bondway card.

I just got the card that had offered five free nights as a sign up bonus, so we used three of them on this stay and that saved us just about $900 to have this hotel for free.

22:04

Wow.

Yeah, and it was a nice hotel.

We booked the Superior Queen Room with a Street View, but they upgraded us to a king bedroom and it was a very beautiful, comfortable hotel.

They had like a little lounge area where they had like fruit and bottled waters.

22:21

They always provided bottled water for free.

They had a sauna, a steam room, a gym, and it was very centrally located.

And on top of that, Kim, you’d love it.

They had a rooftop restaurant bars type situation with amazing views.

22:36

So this was a really nice hotel.

Central area of Istanbul by most of the main highlights, everything was within a 10 minute walk for us of a lot of the main highlights.

So really recommend staying here, but stay anywhere central on the South side of Istanbul where the Hyah Sophia and the Blue Mosque are.

22:55

I think that’s going to be really one of the best spots that you can actually stay.

Through we got settled into our hotel, the first thing that we did was visit the Grand Bazaar.

The Grand Bazaar is open daily except for Sundays, and it’s one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world.

23:10

And it’s this huge maze of colorful shops selling everything from carpets to jewelry, lanterns, perfume, clothing, shoes, purses, gold, silver, souvenirs.

I know, Kim, you said you want to go to Istanbul and go shopping.

You’d probably spend some time in the Grand Bazaar.

23:27

Not just the markets though, the cultural markets like you would expect, but I’ve seen TikTok videos of women that bring or buy empty suitcases because they’re buying clothes and the clothes are so much more affordable than us but they’re similar style.

23:42

Well, I was going to say, leading up to the Grand Bazaar, all the streets that lead up to it are all those clothing shops.

Did you go into any?

Was there any good fashion?

We saw them from the window, but we weren’t shopping for anything in particular.

See, I want to go and I want to come back with an entirely new wardrobe.

23:59

I feel like you could, like we saw a ton of shops just offering tons of different things.

There was a lot of lingerie, which surprised me.

But yeah, there was plenty of clothing shops to choose from.

And I know you told me a little bit about this off air, but when we think of markets, especially just coming off of Egypt trip, I’m thinking like you have to haggle, you have to negotiate, you can’t accept the first price.

24:22

I’m thinking what when we were in Shanghai Bazaar, how is that dynamic?

Well, that’s a really good question.

Certain shops, of course you can haggle, But if you’re going into an area within the Grand Bazaar or specific shop that’s selling, you know, gold or silver or certain things like that, clearly there’s not really any haggle room.

24:39

But if it happens to be a souvenir shop, sure you can, but it’s not as big a haggle market as Egypt was.

Egypt.

The prices are suggestions here.

I would say they are more stringent, but certain locations you can.

So the price that you see or the price that they state is a reasonable price because in Egypt they start you like 5 times higher than you’re going to end up paying.

25:01

Yes, because it’s not necessarily haggle oriented.

They are started at reasonable.

OK.

I like that.

It’s straightforward.

Just give me my product.

What’s the real price?

Let me go to the next spot.

There’s obviously people that we were saying like come look in my shop, but it wasn’t aggressive.

And I feel like when we went to Egypt it was a little bit more aggressive and I loved our time in Egypt, a lot more aggressive.

25:22

This was just very like we could stroll through and if we wanted to look we could, but there was like no pressure to look in any specific shop.

And not necessarily here at the Grand Bazaar, but we’ll get to another market that we went to later.

It’s more food oriented, free tastings, which was awesome.

25:38

So yeah, so that’s how kind of how they’ll draw you into the shops.

But Speaking of food, after we went to the Grand Bazaar, which is definitely something you should do when you’re in Istanbul just for the cultural experience and it’s nice, covered, beautiful.

It’s not just like an open aired market or anything like that.

But afterwards, obviously after a long flight where you said we need some food, you want to eat some Turkish kebabs and some donners.

26:00

So we went to a restaurant called Donner Kanab and we ended up getting again some kebabs.

But one thing of course, that I really did appreciate that I’ve never done before is we discovered a new dipping sauce for our French fries when we were here.

26:15

French fries are pretty much served everywhere.

They are really big in tziki here, just like they are in Greece.

And let me tell you something, Tziki and French fries delicious.

And putting that on your kebab as well.

So it was a nice first meal just strolling the streets of Istanbul.

Yeah, it was nice kind of wandering through, like we had no specific plans for this day, just kind of like suggestion.

26:36

So we did the Grand Bazaar.

We went and walked through a popular area, grabbed a donner kebab and then we made our way to the spice market, which is also kind of near the waterfront.

So we checked out the spice bazaar.

It’s also called the Egyptian Bazaar and it’s packed with spices, teas and sweets.

26:53

So it’s the go to spot for like Turkish delights, herbs, edible souvenirs.

Baklava.

You’ll find a ton of baklava in here, but we got we got the baklava spot for you.

Not to say that it’s not good in here, but we got a good spot for you and the squatties, Kim, that will tell you.

If you like, this market is kind of like the Grand Bazaar, but it’s obviously smaller.

27:11

So it felt like less overwhelming.

And I also felt like it was a little bit cleaner.

Not that the other one was dirty.

It just felt like there’s more food going on here.

So it just like looks really clean.

And we ended up getting a box of Turkish Delights.

What is a Turkish delight?

27:27

They’re basically like the chewy candies like pistachio nut candies that have like the the gum in it and not necessarily gum like chewing, but you know.

It’s like some are white, some are brown.

Yeah, those.

Type of sticky textures, yeah.

And then we also tried some of the most delicious herbal teas here too.

27:44

We had a sample, I think mine was mango.

Do you remember where your flavor?

I don’t remember, which is surprising because it was just so good.

Like that’s where my mind is at.

It was just so good.

That’s all I could really focus on.

One of my biggest regrets is that we did not buy any tea to bring back.

I usually don’t like floral teas, but the samples that we try to hear of all the different floral teas, they were all just so, so good.

28:08

And again, like I said, when you’re here at the Spice Bazaar, lots of shops, we’ll draw you in by giving samples.

That’s how we ended up buying a box of Turkish Delights, which they vacuum sealed for us.

We still haven’t even opened it yet, but just here’s a piece.

Oh, you want another one?

We got this flavor.

28:23

We got that flavor.

Here you go.

And so like we had just 8, but I walked out even more full because of all the samples that we had here.

They let us try so many of the different flavors of the Turkish delights and they were all so good we couldn’t decide which flavors to got.

So we got like 5 different flavors and three rows of them and we have a whole box to eat now here.

28:42

So worth stopping in here at the Spice Bazaar.

This one is open daily from 8:30 AM to 7:30 PM.

So of course, if you’re going to go to any one of these Spice Bazaar or the Grand Bazaar, just be mindful of the times.

They don’t necessarily stay open too late.

28:58

I did mention that this day that we landed, it was a holiday.

So it was very crowded here in Istanbul.

But we wanted to go see the Galata Tower, which is on the other side of the river.

And the easiest way to get to the other side, you can walk across the river, but the easiest way to get to the other side is to take the metro.

29:17

So we decided, OK, let’s try our luck taking the metro.

And it was so, so, so so crowded.

It felt like Mexico City crowded while we got on there, but we pushed our way on and.

Scary.

And you’re telling me that I could go to Istanbul solo knowing?

29:34

But it was a holiday, it was a holiday, it was a holiday #1 and #2 we rode the metro again at another time and it wasn’t too bad.

Well, let me ask you this, if you don’t want to ride the metro, how easy is it to get like an Uber, a taxi, something like that?

Easy.

Easy.

Do they have Uber I?

29:50

Believe they did.

Actually, yeah, they do.

I mean, we never use it, so I can’t say for sure, but I’m pretty positive I saw the signs for Uber.

So yes, they do have it.

You can take any one of those very easily.

We could have even walked to this location.

We would have to walk across the bridge that crosses the river, but really we only took the metro two or three stops to get to the tower here.

30:11

So not that far.

But I will say this, if you are going to take an Uber or a taxi, just kind of be mindful.

Like if you tell them a location, like say, for example, you were coming from the opposite direction.

He told like the higher Sofia, now you’re getting into really kind of narrow roads and ways where traffic can really be an issue.

30:28

So if you get out a little earlier before it gets really to the narrow streets and congestion, it might be even quicker for you to get out at some point and walk versus like fully going.

But very easy to get around with cars, but can be a little bit time consuming depending on the traffic.

But don’t let Bernie fool you, the metros were totally fine.

30:45

That was just the one day which was a one off because it was a holiday.

Yeah, it was it was a holiday.

So this is like we were saying like we felt overwhelmed a little bit the first day we came on a holiday.

There’s all of these people.

It’s a little overwhelming got on the metro also a little overwhelming.

But we made it to the tower and the tower is a historic stone tower rises above Istanbul skyline.

31:04

It has some of the best panoramic views in the city, and it’s really popular around sunset because you can see the river, the old city, all of the rooftops, the mosques, and they’re all starting to glow at once.

So with the E Pass, you can get the entrance discounted to about $32, and there was a really long line to enter.

31:23

We decided not to go up to the tower, but we wanted to go to the cafe next door, which is called Viana Cavisi Galata, and it’s right next to the tower, and we went here specifically for their Basque cheesecake.

We asked squaties for recommendations and multiple squaties recommended this specific Cafe, so we had to go here.

31:42

I love cheesecake.

I love a Basque cheesecake.

Brittanie threw me for a loop here because they offer to cover it in chocolate and I really didn’t want to do that because I was like, then it’s just going to take away the flavor of the cheesecake and all I’m going to taste is chocolate.

Nevertheless, it was still really, really good.

31:58

But for anyone of the chocolate.

So we got it that.

Way and what makes something Basque?

How is that different?

It’s just the style, like Basque is a region in Spain.

It’s just the style and how it’s cooked.

Not necessarily with a crust at all, actually, like no crust.

And it kind of has that burnt coloration on top.

32:14

But really see what makes it like Bask and gives it its flavor too is the inside is like so rich and not really like solidified.

The only like kind of hard parts of the cake are the bottom and the top.

And the inside is still just really creamy and gooey.

So super good though, nevertheless.

32:31

Yeah, I love the texture of a good Basque to use cake, and these are really good.

You could top it with chocolate, and we got it with milk chocolate.

And then we had views of the tower right next to us.

And then we kind of just roamed that area for a bit and then we decided inside, instead of taking the metro back, we were going to walk across the bridge back into the area we were staying.

32:52

And it was really, really nice because it was around sunset hours and we could see everything like lighting up.

It was just like a beautiful golden hour on the water.

It was perfect weather and we really enjoyed our walk back to our hotel.

So the next day was Friday and of course our first full day, and we really did.

33:14

Old City highlights here.

What time did you wake up?

Oh, we probably woke up around 6:00-ish, I want to say.

And then our plan was for the day was to go to breakfast and then go visit the hyah, Sophia.

33:30

But we had a little oopsie, so we’ll get into that too.

Little oopsie, but it ended up working out.

But we wanted to go to a breakfast spot that was in a central area to all the highlights that we were going to be seeing today.

And so we ended up doing that first thing.

33:47

And then the first tour, which we wanted to do for the highest Sophia, which is one of the most famous landmarks in the world, really was at 9:00 AM.

But where they told us to actually meet and what time they would be there.

We didn’t see the person nor the sign that they said that we would actually see.

34:06

So I told Brittanie I was like, look, they’re not here.

Like they’re not even having us meet at the entrance to it.

Let’s go to the entrance and see.

And when we go up, we see somebody holding a sign exactly like what they said they would be holding in the other location.

And basically it’s for the Istanbul E pass.

34:24

They have their own signs of like where you meet.

And then so he took our names.

He saw the E passes that we had to go ahead and mark us off.

And we’re like, oh, OK, you guys are good to go.

We wait, we start the tour, and we realize it’s the wrong tour.

We’re at the entrance to the Hyah Sophia, but it’s really a tour for the palace that’s right next door.

34:43

Yeah, yeah.

And Jamal was like, Are you sure you’re reading the directions right?

I’m like, yeah, I’m reading the directions right.

But we didn’t see anywhere.

So we panicked, walked near the entrance, actually joined another tour, but it actually ended up OK.

I thought Jamal was on the verge of a freak out.

35:00

Brittany.

You always think I’m on the verge of a freak out.

Like I was more annoyed at this situation, but I handled it with class.

No freak outs whatsoever and we had a fantastic.

Day.

But before we get into the tour, I want to say we had our first Turkish breakfast and we tried menemen for the first time, which is eggs and tomatoes cooked down with like Peppers and cheese and wow.

35:21

Kind of like a shashuka.

The shakshuka, yes, but this is a Turkish style, right?

Shakshuka of course has a little bit more spice to it because they put paprika into it so good yeah of course.

And they have the eggs that are kind of cooked sunny side up.

You don’t scramble them or do anything and it just kind of like cooks in its own steam and broth, the tomatoes.

35:40

But the minimum they they actually like scramble in and they don’t really put a lot of seasoning, if anything at all, just really like salt and pepper.

Like an omelette.

But it’s more tomato than egg, so it doesn’t create the texture of an omelette, right?

So it’s really you’re eating the scrambled eggs within the tomato sauce itself.

36:00

And again, without the season, you would think, oh, it’s just kind of plain.

How could it be so good?

It is so good.

We ate minimum every day for breakfast.

And we also got P Day, which is one of their breads that they make that was topped with meat that was also really delicious, so.

36:17

Yeah, breakfast was good.

We were like, oh, we can’t wait to keep going back here.

So good.

Or just have Turkish breakfast in general.

We had very similar Turkish breakfast every day, but they were all so good from all the places that we ate up.

Did you find that it was like this is what they had for breakfast and that’s kind of what they ate all the time.

36:35

That’s why you had it so much.

That and I think it’s just one of the more popular foods.

So because it’s in a tourist area that that’s just that’s always readily available even if it’s not at breakfast time, that’s still readily available just as well.

But a lot of those things are the more breakfast oriented ones, especially of course the minimum since it comes with.

36:54

A well because like in Italy you have like paninis for breakfast, in Lebanon it’s mana ish.

Here you would say it’s minimum.

Minimum, yes, absolutely.

And so we were having breakfast near the Haya Sofia Blue Mosque area, and we walked through the square in the morning before our tours and before breakfast.

37:15

And it was a really good time to go through this area because there was no tourists there and you could get really good pictures of the Blue Mosque and Haya Sofia with no one else in them.

And it was really just quiet and peaceful.

By the time we came back out and had our breakfast, the squares were filling up with people, tours, all of that.

37:33

So it’s starting to hustle and bustle a little bit.

Yeah, and you have two of the main tourist attractions in Istanbul right across from each other in the same square, the Hyah Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

This square where they’re located is called the Sultan Ahmet Square.

So of course, this is the area where we did have breakfast as well.

37:50

But like we had mentioned, we were trying to do the Hyah Sophia first.

There was the issue in finding our tour guide with the sign.

We found one wrong tour guide, but with the right company for a different tour.

But it worked out because we were going to do this activity anyway later in the day day and that was seen.

38:09

The top could be palace.

I think it actually worked out better that we did this first because this palace can get very, very packed.

So pricing wise, this would have cost us €50 to get in here.

So I feel like it’s quite expensive for tourist destination.

38:25

When you were asking Kim, like do you feel like it’s affordable or not?

The palace is about €50, but it was included in the Istanbul E Pass, so we didn’t pay for anything.

We did the 9:00 AM tour, which also included the Hyah Irene, and then there was an option to add on the harem section.

38:42

And this palace was once the heart of the Ottoman Empire.

It has really beautiful, lavish courtyards, ornate rooms, and then really great views over the river.

From here, you can see the European side, which you’re standing on as well, but you could also see into the Asia side.

38:58

We visited the holy relics room, You could visit the imperial treasury, the royal chambers, and the famous harem.

So our tour guide met us out side of the palace.

He gave us a little bit of history.

We walked inside.

We started with the Hyah Irene, which is one of Istanbul’s oldest and most peaceful historic sites.

39:18

That’s on the grounds.

It’s one of the most famous churches in the cities and it was never converted into a mosque.

So we went inside of it.

We got to see the high ceilings, the age stone walls and a cross mosaic.

Part of it was under construction though so we couldn’t see it’s full scale, but nice to get a little history of it while we were there.

39:36

And then another thing that we did when we were in the palace was go to the harem section, which is not included now.

The harem is actually the way it was described, more so the private residence of the ruler of the Ottoman Empire at that point in time.

So you can get tickets from the guide, which is what we did.

39:53

And it’s about 900 Turkish lira, which of course is equivalent to about $20.00 of what the exchange rate is now.

Or you can go up buy it on your own within the palace grounds, but you would actually pay about 3.

Dollars more so it’s more expensive if you just buy it as a standalone from them, but the tour guides give you a discount if you buy it from them direct, which is what we did.

40:15

But like I said, this was the private living area of the Sultan and his family, separated from the public parts of the palace.

But it’s just a maze of beautifully decorated rooms, corridors and courtyards where the daily life and family relationships of the Sultan and political family took place.

40:33

In the public area not included in the harem section, you can go into the holy relics section.

Women do have to wear a headscarf.

They do provide it there, so you can grab one and put on if you didn’t bring your own.

And you can see things like Moses’s staff, the Prophet Muhammad’s footprints and sword, John the Baptist’s arm and skull, bone and holy dust collected from the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad.

40:56

We wanted to go into the treasury as well because this was the old treasury room.

They have old coins and things that you can see and of course treasures from the spoils of them being empire.

But by the time we were done, it was just so crowded and we didn’t really want to wait in line.

41:13

What the line looked like would have been maybe about what, 30-40 minutes even?

Could probably.

Just get in.

So we said forget that.

But that’s one thing that I wish that we actually did, was see the treasury room within the palace.

We did go down through a courtyard and do the river overlooks and we could see the Galata Tower which we were just at the day before and like I mentioned the Asia side as well.

41:36

So great viewpoints from the palace as well.

With the E Pass we mentioned, we joined a tour for some of the E Pass locations.

You do actually have to join a tour to get entrance.

Once you get entrance though, you’re not obligated to stay with the group.

So if you wanted to just get front of the line and not get any history and just walk around and do it yourself, you absolutely can.

41:58

But the guides do keep it pretty brief.

They give you some general history and then they let you go off and then that’s it.

So you do have time to explore everything on your own own.

You’re not just going at the pace of the guide.

Yeah, we could have stayed as long as we wanted in there when we were done.

So that’s something that’s really unique with the E Pass.

42:16

But when we were done with the palace.

One of the other famous attractions within Istanbul is called Basilica Cistern.

Yeah, so Basilica cistern was surprising to me because I really wasn’t sure what to expect.

But basically it’s an underground world beneath the city where they had these cisterns that would fill with water and they were used as reservoirs.

42:36

And this one specifically is like this dimly lit reservoirs, and it has a hundreds of ancient columns that are throughout it.

And it was built in the Byzantine area, and it used to store water for the whole city and other nearby places.

But now it’s just actually known as like a tourist area because it was like very popular in one of the James Bond’s movies, which made it famous.

42:57

How tall are the columns?

I would say they’re anywhere between 25 to 30 feet.

It’s always one of those things it’s tough to estimate distance, at least for me it is.

Than I thought for just being a water reservoir.

Definitely, definitely.

Like this is literally underground and what makes it really unique too, right?

43:17

Like Brittany said, we were free to go on our own.

The tour guide when you meet up with them, all they do is get you front of the line.

They take you down, give you free time all on your own.

But they gave us just a brief little history lesson beforehand and they were saying it’s interesting the name because this was never a basilica, right?

43:34

It is a cistern because it’s a watering hole.

I forgot the origin of where basilica came into it.

But of course, so many different civilizations have been in this area of Istanbul, just because of course between Asia, Europe, so the the Romans were even here.

43:51

I’m looking at pictures.

You guys are not doing it justice at all.

Well, I’m working my way into it, and you know me, I always tell people just Google it because of course sometimes our words aren’t really enough.

Yes, but those columns that you’re seeing, right, The Romans were here.

44:07

And of course, by the time the Romans were in this area, it’s when Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire.

And so they took and destroyed a lot of their own temples that were too.

There are many gods that they had at the time.

44:23

And of course, use them just simply to support the underground well structure.

So you can see different types of Roman columns that are some simple, some are more ornate.

They even destroyed a couple columns and areas that had Medusa’s head on it.

44:41

So they tucked in the corner.

You can actually see some of the carvings of Medusa.

Is there Stillwater in there or is this just light?

There is Stillwater there.

You have to go down these steps and then you’re basically on an elevated platform above the water, so you’re walking right above it.

44:57

But with the lighting in there, it just makes it look really, really cool.

There’s really good photo spots.

And now they even kind of use it as like an art exhibition because where they have like the Medusa, there’s some really good photo opportunities and they have like some little art sculptures and things throughout that you can see.

45:14

Pretty.

And since there’s Stillwater in it, of course, the walkways or pathways that you’re walking on are elevated like metal greats.

So there is Stillwater.

It’s illuminated.

It’s just really beautiful to be down there and see.

But was really cool, of course, is learning the history of like why all these columns are here.

45:30

They’re from a whole bunch of different Roman temples around from the area that they destroyed simply just to support the water reservoir for the city.

There’s over 200 cisterns throughout the city that are underground, but this is one of the largest and it was made famous because of the James Bond movie.

45:48

From Russia with love, if you’re wondering.

From From Russia with Love.

The other cisterns, are they pretty like this?

I know this is the biggest and best, but do they have big columns?

I don’t know because I don’t think any of them are tourist attractions.

Of course, when we were on a different tour, I forget which one, we had walked by something that was covered.

46:05

He said this is a cistern right here.

It’s one of the many, but it just looked like a little manhole covering.

So I don’t think a lot of them are this big and crazy.

But again, right in the central area, just across from the Haya Sophia underground on the hill here you have this reservoir propped up with all these old Roman columns.

46:23

And this was included in the E pass.

So we got front of the line, a little history tour from the guide.

He just got us down into the steps, gave us a little bit of information, and then of course you go as you wish and without the E pass, it would have cost about 38 1/2 euros.

46:39

The next thing we did was we walked across from the Hyasophia area to near the Blue Mosque and saw the Obelisk of Theodosis.

And it’s standing in the heart of the old Hippodrome.

It’s an ancient Egyptian obelisk that was brought to Istanbul by an emperor in the 4th century.

46:56

It’s covered in a whole bunch of hieroglyphs and it’s decorated on a Roman base and it’s one of the oldest monuments in the city.

So it was just really like photo opportunity and just being able to see it, kind of cool to see since we were just in Egypt earlier this year.

Well, that, and that’s one of those things too.

47:11

It’s like how many obelisks have been taken out of Egypt and in different cities around the world.

And here’s another one where one is located.

But I know, Brittany, you said that it’s in the heart of the old Hippodrome.

Do you know what a Hippodrome is?

Or do you know what a Hippodrome is, Kim?

Never heard it.

47:27

The Hippodrome is actually an ancient Greek stadium that’s designed for horse and chariot racing.

So this square is, of course in a long rectangle and a little bit rounded.

So if you look at even the old Greek Olympic stadiums, it’s kind of what they look like.

It’s just a chariot and horse racing area.

47:44

So again, just how much history is here?

This was bought in by a emperor.

Of course, we’re talking about the silica cistern that has the Roman temples that were destroyed.

And here this is on the site of an old Greek horse racing area.

So just so much going on in this.

48:01

Lots of history, So much layered history in Istanbul.

The Romans really were all over the place.

That they were one of my favorite things to do when we travel, of course, is to get food.

By this time we’re working up a little bit of an appetite, but this isn’t really food related in terms of actually eating.

48:19

We’re talking drinking now.

I’d love Turkish coffee.

Anytime we go to the Middle East, I always want to get it.

And of course, I’m going to get Turkish coffee in Turkey.

And here they, of course, they cook the really concentrated strong coffee in their little pots that they do have in the hot sand.

48:38

So included with the E pass was a Turkish coffee experience where we can see how they make it.

And of course you can actually taste it.

So I wanted to do that.

We found a restaurant that did it.

I ended up just getting a regular Turkish coffee.

And of course you get the show, so to speak, just watching them prepare it.

48:55

But it’s a nice break from the morning, walking around, seeing the sights.

Just sit and get a quick pick me up.

Is it in the same area?

It was about a. 5.

Minute walk, something like that.

Everything is pretty close.

We didn’t go super far for this.

Yes, it was included with the E pass and who doesn’t like things for free?

49:11

But I wouldn’t walk any further to get coffee when I could get it anywhere, you know, in the city.

Specifically Brittany’s coffee.

She ended up getting it pistachio flavored, which was really good.

I’ve never had a pistachio flavored.

I’m usually having Turkish coffee that’s flavored with cardamom, which I love.

49:28

They didn’t have that here, but they at it with pistachio and that was a nice flavor to end up trying to.

So if you’re into the cultural things and love coffee, check it out with the E Pass Otherwise you could get coffee anywhere in the city.

But I was really surprised with how much Turkish coffee is.

49:43

They’re selling it for like 3-4 bucks for like the tiny cups.

If you know what Turkish coffee is like, they’re really just espresso sips, so it’s expensive.

Was there any other food or drink experiences included with E Pass?

And not necessarily just food, I do want to see you can get some discounted options with the pass, like with not restaurants but like want to say there was maybe a cooking class or something.

50:04

But they did have some cruises on the Bosphorus that included meals like breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

So.

Cruises.

Yeah.

So if you went on one of the cruises and you went for a meal time, then you would have the food included with that.

But yeah, we decided to do the Turkish coffee experience.

50:20

That was great.

We had our first Turkish coffee and then we went to the Hyah Sophia and did the guided tour there.

So that was what we were originally wanting to to do before first thing in the morning, but since we got our tours mixed up, we were coming back around to it would.

You not have seen that cistern if you hadn’t gotten into that wrong tour.

50:40

No, we would have still seen it.

We would have just done it in a different order.

I think before we had our order of like Hyah Sophia, then the cistern, then the palace for the afternoon.

But we just kind of flipped things around and they’re all really within like 5 minutes of each other.

50:56

This whole area is like this really big square with just a whole bunch of things that you can do around it, so you’re not going far.

Yeah.

So to get into the highest, Sophia, it is €25.

It is included with the E Pass.

And Brittany, you mentioned earlier that you think it worked out that we didn’t do it first thing in the morning.

51:15

And I would say so too, because of course we wanted to get here because this is one of Istanbul’s most popular attractions.

So we want to do it first thing in the morning.

But we just so happened to catch it after prayer because of course this is a mosque, so they don’t allow anybody in tourist wise who’s not a worshipper during prayer time.

51:33

So it had just cleared and I believe we were the first people in.

So we met our tour guide.

He gave us a brief description and information to know about it on the the outside, but then of course didn’t even come in with us, just got us front of the line and we went in.

So the highest Sophia is one of Istanbul.

51:50

He’s most historic architectural masterpieces and it was built in the year 537.

Originally was a cathedral and later became a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of the area.

Later they turned it into a museum but very recently within the past like 5-6 years, current president of Turkey reconverted it back to a mosque.

52:14

And it’s famous for its massive Dome and blend of Christian and Islamic elements all fused into one just because of its history, originally as a church and now as a mosque.

It was really, really beautiful inside. 1 tip for you guys is to bring a headscarf.

We had done this first thing in the morning.

52:30

I actually they didn’t have a headscarf with me and they don’t provide them here and so.

How did you not bring a headscarf knowing you were coming here?

I don’t know why but.

You learn your lesson in Was it Italy?

Yeah, so after we had done the Turkish coffee experience, we actually went to or the hotel and I was like, Oh yeah, let me grab my headscarf.

52:49

So I grabbed that, which was great.

Had it for our insurance inside the Hyah Sophia.

And our guy didn’t go inside the Hyah Sophia with us.

He just met us on the outside and gave us that history lesson.

And then on the inside, once you’re there, there is AQR code for an audio guide and it’ll show you all of the areas you could hit and learn a little bit of the history.

53:11

So we did go and use the audio guide through that.

It didn’t take us too long.

It was, I don’t know, 3045 minutes I would say for the audio tour and just really beautiful to see.

But the highest Sofia currently is under construction.

I guess Istanbul expects an earthquake about every 300 years and they are about 50 years out from their next predicted earthquake.

53:34

And so they’ve started to go ahead and retrofit some of these buildings, starting with the Haya Sofia.

But it’s just really beautiful inside.

To say it’s beautiful, it’s just an understatement.

But just the history you get of two different religions in here, you can still see like the Christian classic mosaics that are in there.

53:52

Then of course, you could see the more recent elements because it is a mosque.

So just really great history, beautiful building.

I wish we saw it when it wasn’t under construction, some scaffolding on the outside, some in the inside.

But nevertheless, it didn’t detour us.

54:08

We enjoyed it.

And of course, depending on when you go, ideally they’re going to be done with the retrofit and you won’t have any of those visual obstructions for you.

Also you’re only entering on the second level of the mosque which is the women section where women do the praying and for visitors.

54:25

The bottom section is only for men that are praying, so it’s not open to the public.

So after the Hyah Sophia, we just crossed the square and went to the Blue Mosque and the Blue Mosque is officially known as Sultan Ahmed Mosque.

54:43

It is one of the most iconic landmarks in Istanbul.

Just as well.

It was built in the year 1609 and 1616 during the reign of Ahmed the 1st.

It’s famous for its six minarets and stunning interior decorated with thousands of blue tiles which give the mosque its popular name, the Blue Mosque.

55:03

So it is an active place of worship and again, you do have to wear a modest dressing and then the headscarf as well.

And this one, since it is an active area for praying.

We had tried to go earlier in the day actually, but there was a prayer going on and so we were told to come back.

55:20

And so we went right after a prayer, which was nice because then it’s not as crowded going through.

There was a little bit of a line going in, but it’s just so beautiful on the inside.

Just the tiles, the lighting, the ambience.

I know like you can go through 1000 churches and like Europe, but it’s just so impressive to go and see all of these mosques here in Istanbul too.

55:43

It’s a different type of architecture.

So to get into the Blue Mosque, it’s actually free.

They do have a guided tour that’s available for €10 and it’s included with the E Pass.

We opted not to do the tour, just go in as tourists and lucky, lose without the tour and just admire the architecture.

56:00

And because you are going through the bottom layer where people do actively pray, you do have to take off your shoes in here.

So just keep that in mind.

If you don’t like touching the ground, make sure you’re wearing socks so you’re not touching it with your bare feet.

But and they do have places for you to place your shoes as well while you’re walking around.

56:18

I’m.

Looking at a picture of the Blue mosque now and it’s almost giving like Taj Mahal grand or.

Yes, it does look like that.

When you were out there, were you able to see it far back enough to get that whole picture?

Oh yes, the square between Hyah Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

56:36

Again, they are very close, but you have enough communal space in that square.

Beautifully landscaped square and area as well.

But yes, you can just get the whole picture and see the entire thing.

It’s not like you’re just so up close on it.

You do have the spacing to just really appreciate both buildings for that matter, right across from each other.

56:56

And we’ll mention it later when we actually do it.

But in between the two mosques, there are a whole bunch of restaurants and bars.

And we went to a rooftop bar, Kim, that overlooked this blue mosque at sunset.

But by this time, we’re getting hungry.

And so we decide, you know what?

57:12

Let’s get another Turkish kebab again, and this time we actually went with a recommendation from our squatty Matt.

We actually interviewed Matt a while ago.

He lived in Turkey for a while, taught English in Turkey, and he loves Istanbul, so he recommended a place for us to try kebabs.

57:28

Yeah, we ate at a restaurant called Shazade Ka Kebab, and this was actually right by our hotel just down the street within a 2-3 minute walk.

And let me say something, this was the best flavored kebab that we had in all of Istanbul.

57:44

The sandwich itself, pretty plain, of course, just the meat and bread, but the flavor on the meat that they got here was just so delicious.

It is very popular.

So there is a long line, but it does move quickly.

And we ended up also getting the spicy sauce and cucumber and tomato salad to go with it just to kind of make it a little bit more less dry because believe it or not, right, Like if you get kebabs in Europe, if you go to Europe or even here a lot, one of them are mixed with veggies and sauce.

58:14

But in Turkey, that’s not really the case.

It’s just really simple with the meat and bread.

So we got these things to just kind of add to it.

But again, super good and delicious.

It does come with two pieces, so Jamal and I split it and then we love to try different things while we’re in other countries and different foods.

58:32

So then from here we went around the corner to a restaurant called Bit Lissy and we got some Kid B and fries while we were here.

Kidney.

Not kidney.

We got the actual fried balls.

It was delicious.

It’s not the raw meat this time.

And we ended the night going to a whirling dervish show.

58:49

A whirling dervish show is a spiritual performance rooted in the Sufi tradition, and it’s inspired by the teachings of Rumi.

But during the ceremony, the performers known as dervishes, they spin in repetitive circles as a form of meditation.

59:06

And there’s some music that goes along with it.

But it’s a symbolizing a spiritual journey toward unity with the divine.

Is that kind of like the guy that we saw in Egypt?

Yes, but in Egypt it was a little bit more flare, a little bit more like loud music, but with the same attire, right?

They’re wearing that sort of dress or skirt that really has lots of airflow when you spin.

59:26

So they have that just as well.

So you’re not just watching somebody spin.

Of course you’re getting a little bit of a show with it, but it’s really more so the cultural history and significance of spiritual enlightenment that you’re really learning about here.

59:42

Honestly, if it were me, like now that I’ve seen the show, I’m going to be honest, I wouldn’t go to another one the next time that I’m in Turkey.

But it was included with the E pass, so I’m glad we did it.

But for some people, this may not be their thing.

Yeah, it felt like the cultural component of a Gate 1 tour, like I felt like I had put together my own Gate one this day.

1:00:02

But I think what would have made it and and enhanced it a little bit more.

On But did they invite the crowd to dance?

No, they did not.

So it wasn’t gate 1.

Not 2 gate one ask because no crowd dancing.

Yeah.

The one thing that I will say is they didn’t really tell us about what we were going to see or why they were doing it.

1:00:21

So to have that history and background would have been a little bit more engaging, I would just say.

But I think there are other performances like you’ll see on the Bosphorus cruises or they also have some like art performance halls that do it that might be more for like show.

1:00:36

What are these cruises that you keep mentioning?

Istanbul is on that river, Bosphorus River.

There are some cruises, Sunset yacht cruises.

There are historical cruises.

They have ones that serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Dinner with a show.

None of them are on the E pass.

1:00:52

No, they were.

We believe it or not, we opted not to do it.

What?

Because we wanted to do a dinner one, right?

We thought, OK, that would be a really good one to do with the dinner one, but the dinner one was what, like 4?

Five hours.

Five hours and I was like, by the time it starts in the evening, I didn’t want to invest that much time and then to do it during the day.

1:01:14

The city’s not all lit up.

So for us, it’s one of those things.

If we were there a longer amount of time and had an evening where we didn’t have to wake up early the next morning or catch an early flight, which was also one of the things that we had to do at some point on this trip, we probably would have done it.

1:01:31

But you can take the the shorter cruises and we left our itinerary open to possibly take one of the non dining shorter ones, but we just didn’t get around to doing it.

But Dervish, show a side on the cruise or dinner.

It’s just one other way to see.

1:01:46

The city is just getting on the water, really.

OK, but him they do have yacht ones, two hours, sunset yacht cruise.

Let’s go.

And that has your name all over it.

So when you go, let us know.

And then after the show, I told you, we’re going to tell you a great spot to get baklava Kim.

1:02:05

So we were like, all right, you know, we got to satisfy our sweet tooth.

I really wanted Khanafi.

If you remember Khanafi when we had in Lebanon, they have it here in Turkey as well.

We went to Hazif Mustafa’s, which is actually a chain.

They have multiple locations, but it is a very good high quality pastry and dessert chain.

1:02:26

We got Kanafi here.

We also did get baklava just as well, but we got the baklava in a box to go to take for us later on our adventures in Turkey when we went to Cappadocia.

But good Kanafi, we had better the next night, which we’ll talk about, but there baklava here is to die for.

1:02:44

Not a bad piece that we had.

Super delicious.

I told Jamal while we were on this trip, I’m going to say something and I hope you don’t get mad at me.

And he was like, what?

And I said Turkish baklava is better than Lebanese baklava.

He threw out a crazy curveball for me on that.

1:03:00

What do you think, Jamal?

That’s tough.

I always grew up eating my dad’s baklava, which anyone who’s had it always says amazing, super good, which it is.

But I’ve had other Lebanese baklava, I usually compare it to that.

It’s good.

But I will say, I think I know why Brittanie is saying the Turkish ones are better and why I may lean towards that way is they are very heavy on the simple syrup that they put on it.

1:03:25

So you really yes.

Yeah, they’re not dry at all, and they’re just so flavorful.

And they were packed.

Done.

Yes, and they were packed with nuts and they were just so good.

I had no bad pieces.

They were all so good.

So go to Hazif Mustafa’s.

1:03:42

Again, it’s a chain, but you will very easily find it across Istanbul.

Was there some near your hotel?

There was.

Yes, there was 2 locations near our hotel within walking distance.

I feel like our hotel was in a really good spot.

We walked everywhere within 15 minutes and a lot of the restaurants were just right down the street and I felt like we went into so many of the same places over and over again, like just down the streets and walking around like we knew the city by the end of the three days.

1:04:11

Right.

And if it wasn’t within 10 minutes walking distance, it was within five of the tram.

And by the time we were done taking the tram or metro wherever we needed to walk, was just another 10.

Minutes, even the bazaars in the shopping walking distance.

Yes, yes.

OK, good to know.

So our last full day in Istanbul, it was a Saturday and we wanted to visit the Dul Mabashi Palace.

1:04:36

That was like our main event of the day.

And so this one is a little bit farther from our hotel.

We had just said everything was walking distance from our hotel except for this palace.

It would take like about an hour for us to walk to it so.

That’s of course because we took it to the tram, which then when we were off the tram was about a 10-15 minute walk, but the tram ride was only about 5 to 10 minutes.

1:05:00

So we decided to take the tram in the morning.

In the morning, there’s a lot less people on the tram and it felt much more manageable.

We ended up going to breakfast on this European side near the palace.

And we kind of near the palace, we went to a place called Jaunty Coffee, Breakfast and Kitchen.

1:05:19

And let me tell you, this was the best breakfast we had in Istanbul.

Istanbul and I would dare say olive Turkey.

That’s what we had in Olive.

Turkey, Cappadocia, we got more minimum.

I didn’t know how they could top on the minimum from the day before.

This one was amazing.

We ended up getting Gozleme, which is actually another type of their breads with meat.

1:05:39

And then we ended up getting Monty.

So our squatty mat told us about Monty as well.

And Monty is very popular like in Turkey and of course Central Asia.

And just really think about it as like a meat dumpling or ravioli.

But of course with the Turkish flair, it’s covered with like yogurt and garlic sauce.

1:05:59

And I know that kind of sounds odd, right?

Because if you think ravioli pasta, you’d think, OK, like tomato sauce, But no, no, this is covered in yogurt and almost kind of the same flavored yogurt sauce.

That’s on top of like Lebanese Fetty Kim, right?

But on top of this, super good.

1:06:14

So we ended up getting the Minnemen, the Monty and the ghost Lemay.

And this breakfast was just dynamite and a great way to start our day before we did the palace tour.

And the owner, she was just so sweet and so cute, and she spoke a little bit of English and she was like trying to ask us if it was good.

And we’re like, Oh my gosh, this was so good.

1:06:31

And she just lit up in this big mile and was so happy and it was so nice.

Loved breakfast here.

I would go back for this breakfast.

So we went to the Palace.

The Palace is €45.00, but it’s included in the E Pass.

There’s no tour that you can book with the E Pass here.

1:06:47

They just give you AQR entry.

So you do get to bypass the entrance line for the tickets.

At least we got there right when it opened.

And this palace is a grand 19th century palace located right on the shores of the Bosphorus.

1:07:02

And there’s actually these big, huge white gates that lead out onto the water right here.

It’s so beautiful.

It’s a great spot to explore.

It’s great for photos.

And this palace was part of the Ottoman Empire.

Yeah, it was built in the 19th century, and of course, like Brittanie said, located on the shores of the river.

1:07:22

It was built during the reign of Abu Majid the 1st, and it served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire in its final years.

Because we mentioned the Ottoman Empire a couple times.

The Ottoman Empire fell at the end of World War One, but this palace is renowned for its lavish European style and design, featuring crystal chandeliers, ornate ceilings and richly decorated holes.

1:07:48

So you get that blend of the Eastern Ottoman style, but definitely with that Western architectural style that was known in European palaces, and it was reflecting the empire’s modernization efforts during that time.

So of course, the palace we saw the day before, that’s where the head of the Ottoman Empire was here.

1:08:07

Once they built this, this is where they relocated.

We got to just walk through on our own.

It was a very, very beautiful palace.

You walk in and there is this grand staircase with this amazing crystal chantelier hanging down and you can just feel the opulence in this palace.

1:08:26

If you had to pick between the palace we did the day before or this palace and you only had time for one palace, I would honestly pick this one.

Me too.

Like Brittanie and I have been inside Buckingham Palace on a tour.

We’ve been in the palace in Spain and their royal palace in Madrid.

1:08:42

This is up there with them.

Really ornate, stylish Europe PN style of course with that hint of Ottoman influence because was the House of the Ottoman Empire in its final years here.

So really really enjoyable.

Would highly recommend.

1:08:58

Beautiful gardens that they have on the outside just as well.

Great photo spots.

Really beautiful area of the city.

And your ticket includes entrance into the harem section into an art exhibit, so you can spend quite a while exploring here.

There’s even a cafe on site, so if you wanted to grab something to eat or shrink here, you could do that as well.

1:09:18

You would probably want to spend about two hours here.

That’s probably as long as it took us to get through.

Explore the grounds.

The grounds itself and the surrounding area is really beautiful.

Coming from the train station or the tram station.

You do get to walk some of the waterfront along the Bosphorus.

1:09:35

One thing we haven’t really talked about are all of the cats in Turkey.

There are so many cats in Istanbul.

There were cats along the waterfront and the cats in Turkey are so friendly.

They come up to you, they want to be pet, they want to be touched, and they are well taken care of, like they’re taken care of by the residents.

1:09:54

They actually had boxes for cats to sleep in.

There are feeding stations for their cats.

Like I felt like I really like these Turkish Istanbul cats.

No, you know, pretty funny enough that you mentioned the cats now, because I was just thinking, man, we haven’t even talked about the cats.

One of my favorite things about the city simply was just playing with the cats because they really are also friendly, just because all the people are more friendly towards the cats.

1:10:17

Now cats are cats, so of course you could catch like a random one, but a lot of them will let you like pet them and everything.

So I, I really did enjoy that aspect of them as well.

And yeah, we came across a lot of them walking along the waterfront to the palace.

But when we were done with the palace, 1 crazy unique thing that I wanted to do that’s uniquely Turkish is get their specific Don Dorma ice cream.

1:10:40

Kim, have you ever seen videos on Instagram of the Turkish ice cream men that are all dressed up?

They’re jokes on people by faking them out, by giving them the cone, not giving them the cone, taking it away.

That’s a big thing.

And that they do as a show when they scoop the ice cream.

1:10:56

And the reason why they’re able to do that is because they’re specific ice cream is made with some sort of natural chemicals.

So when I say chemical, don’t think anything bad, right?

But it’s made with some sort of natural ingredient that actually makes their ice cream thick and chewy to some degree, really resistant from melting and has an elastic texture, so it makes it sticky.

1:11:17

So they’ll do this thing where they’ll scoop the ice cream, they’ll double cone it up, hand it to you, pull it back as a fake.

They scoop it on an actual stick, not like the normal scoopers that we have.

So then they’ll try to pass you the cone on the stick, You grab it, they pull it away.

1:11:32

So Brittanie and I were like, we have to do this, do the show.

We filmed ourselves having them give it to us.

The ice cream man for me though, he, he faked me out pretty good.

And at one point he took the stick with the cone on it and he gave me, I’m going to say it.

So if I offend somebody with this apologize.

1:11:48

He gave me like a little nut slap on it.

And I was like, what are you doing?

Like, it’s crazy.

Yeah.

He took the.

He used the stick and slapped your nuts with it.

Yeah, lightly, but like he got me on that one.

He like tapped my chest.

Then I was like, what’s going on?

I looked down.

1:12:04

The next thing I know, he gave me a tap of the nuts, pulled it back, did some more scoops, all this stuff.

And then he refused to give me the ice cream.

And then he held it up and he made me do it like a little lick routine to kind of get it and started like, wait, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I should send you the video so you could see if we got to post our videos come the airing of this episode here so that you guys can see him.

1:12:23

But yes, get yourself some Don Dorma ice cream just for the show.

Yeah, I got the pistachio ice cream.

It was actually really good.

They’re funny, playful Jamal, like, you know, he just said he got nuts slapped.

That didn’t happen to me, so don’t worry about it if you’re a lady.

Yeah, they don’t mess around with the ladies on that sense of things.

1:12:41

And again, he wasn’t like aggressive with it.

It was playful.

I don’t think they do that to all the guys, but he just did that to me.

Yeah, they just have like funny different routines that they do while you’re trying to get your ice cream.

Was a little pricier than we were anticipating.

It was $17.00 for two cones but.

1:12:57

Dessert and a show.

Dessert and a show.

And when you’re in Istanbul, what do you do?

Then we went and grabbed lunch.

We went back to Bit Lisi, which is where we had gotten Kid B the day before.

This time we went and got their spicy kebab plate and had that.

And the reason why I wanted to have a nice lunch was because in the afternoon I had booked a Turkish spa and I booked this through the E pass.

1:13:21

So it wasn’t free, but it was discounted.

So the package that I booked is normally €150.00, but with the E pass being discounted, it was €85, which I feel like is a really good savings.

And I ended up booking the deluxe package and I originally thought I might need 2 1/2 to 3 hours, but it was 3 1/2 hours that I was there and it was fantastic from start to finish.

1:13:50

So I am going to do a mini episode on this deluxe spa package that I did.

So I’m just going to give a brief overview and you guys listen out for the mini that we have because this was so worth it.

And Kim, if you go to Istanbul, I know you’re going to want to book this.

1:14:06

I didn’t have Turkish spas on my radar at all, but this changes everything.

Yeah, so you can go up.

You get into the locker room, you change and shorts and slippers, and then they put me into a massage room.

I got a full body massage everywhere.

1:14:21

You know, head, neck.

She cracked my neck like it’s never been cracked before.

It was fantastic.

A reflexology massage as well.

A face mask, a hand scrub.

Then I went into the sauna for a little bit.

Then they led me into the Turkish bathroom.

You lie on the stone platform.

1:14:36

She did a full body scrub, a clay mask, a faux massage, a hair wash.

And by the time I was done, I felt like a new woman.

It was amazing.

If I am ever in Istanbul again, I will go back and repeat this service.

They had other services that were like an hour, hour and a half, two hours.

1:14:55

But I was like, you know, when else am I going to be here?

I went all out and did the deluxe.

No wonder you couldn’t do the cruise.

Yeah, that’s why we couldn’t do the cruise is because I was spending all of my time here.

I’d pick the spa over the cruise too and remind us what was the name of this place?

1:15:11

It was called Sultan Soliman Hamam.

OK.

Yes.

And the deluxe package, I think they have about four packages that you could choose from with different offerings, price point, length of time.

So if you only have an hour to hour and a half, there is a package for you.

1:15:28

But I wanted to go all out.

Might as well go all out, especially if it’s going to be discounted with the E pass.

Well, Brittanie was doing this.

Kim, you’d be proud of me.

I was enjoying our hotel’s rooftop, enjoying the views, having a beer too.

It was a nice experience.

But after Brittanie was done, we were debating what we were going to do with the rest of our, you know, we’re like, should we go to the Asia side?

1:15:50

We wanted to do that just to say that we went to the Asia side, but it ended up being too cumbersome because we didn’t have the Istanbul cart because of course you had to buy that.

They wouldn’t allow you to use the tap to do that.

So we opted not to do that.

We were going to do the Bosphorus cruise, but by that time, it was later.

1:16:05

It would be the sunset one and dinner.

It’s going to be long.

We actually even had a squatty that reached out to us and said she felt, of course, that the Bosphorus cruise nice, overrated, could be a skip if you didn’t have time.

So again, personal preference, right?

Don’t know if we experienced if we’d feel different, but that kind of like swayed our decision to say, let’s just have an easy night.

1:16:24

We just walked the streets and markets a little bit more.

We’re like, let’s go get some food.

We ended up grabbing dinner from Durumku Mustafa and got a chicken kebab each for both me and Brittany.

Lots of locals eat here.

And of course, we’re talking about how the food actually isn’t that inexpensive People think it would be.

1:16:44

It’s more expensive than you would think.

This one was actually one of the cheapest places that we actually got food and it was really good.

And of course, lots of locals eat here as well.

So if you’re walking around in this area, good spot to get.

But we decided that we’re just going to enjoy our evening watch sunset from one of the rooftops.

1:17:04

So we went to Sultan Ahmed Square and went to In La Luna, which gave us beautiful rooftop views of the sunset between the highest Sofia Blue Mosque and the Phosphorus.

Rib, we got another Kanifei there.

There I got Turkish tea, Jamal got Turkish coffee and we also got a hookah to enjoy while we were up there.

1:17:23

On this rooftop, you can see out to the river and then you can also see over the Blue Mosque and the Hyo Sofia.

It’s right next to the Seven Hills restaurant, which a lot of people reference as a great place to go because it does give very similar views.

But looking over, it was very, very crowded at that restaurant and this was just like a more relaxed vibe, but beautiful vibe and I would highly recommend going here.

1:17:46

Yeah, being here for sunset, just enjoying the coffee, desserts, it was a really nice experience.

And then you could also see the Haya Sofia and the Blue Mosque start to get lit up because of course they light it up at night.

Just another beautiful dynamic to see it during the day, in the morning and then of course at night, all lit.

1:18:04

Up I just googled a picture of in La Luna and I’m seeing big birds that people are trying to catch on the rooftop.

We didn’t see any big birds while we were up there.

I don’t know, maybe that’s the thing.

I have not ever seen that for the time that we were there, so not too sure about that.

1:18:20

But nevertheless, great experience.

I just googled it now and now I see a seagull flying in and somebody feeding.

One I don’t I definitely don’t want that experience, so I’m glad you didn’t see it.

We did not experience it.

I think that’s just one random photo here.

I clicked it from TripAdvisor.

Seems so I think she’s just playing around with the birds, but I don’t think you really need to worry about that because we did not encounter that.

1:18:40

Excellent.

And that was our last full day and night in Istanbul.

The next day we had a private transfer to the airport with the same gentleman that picked us up from the airport and we did a mid morning flight to Cappadocia.

So definitely stay tuned for our upcoming episode on Cappadocia because another great time and continuation in Turkey.

1:19:01

Thank you so much for tuning in to our Istanbul episode.

I hope that you are inspired to visit like I am now.

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If you have any questions, you know you can send them in there as well.

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1:19:20

And as always, please subscribe, rate and view our podcast and tune in every Travel Tuesday and Fridays for new episodes.

Stay tuned for next week’s episode, we’re taking you to Cappadocia and we have some more amazing adventures in tips in store for you.