Two Days in Turkey (Or, What Happens When You Travel On a Whim)

Last fall when I was traveling in Bulgaria, my friend and I decided to go to Istanbul for two days on a whim. It's only an 8 hour overnight bus ride from Varna so we could easily spend a couple days in Istanbul without losing too many in Bulgaria, either. Plus I had a friend who was studying there at the time. She could show us the ropes, nothing to worry about! At least, that was the plan.

Unfortunately, due to spotty internet connections, we weren't able to sync up. That wasn't going to stop us from going though. I booked a hotel for one night before we left and off we went! The ride was long, but the buses in Bulgaria are definitely the way to travel. Free wifi on board and snacks/drinks were served. But no matter which mode of transportation you choose, there's always those people on board. You know the ones. They talk loudly, listen to their music, kick the back of your seat. They made sleeping very difficult.

When we got to the border crossing, we had to all get off the bus into the freezing cold night, stand in line to buy a visa (as the only two American passport holders, we were the only ones required to get visas and we were grossly overcharged for this) and get our passports stamped, grab our bags, walk through a security set up, and finally get back on the bus.

We arrived in Istanbul around 6am and found a cab to take us to our hotel, which was in Sultanahmet. Because we were so early, we weren't able to check in, so we sat in the lobby for a half hour until they could look up our reservations. Turns out there is more than one of our hotel in the area and we were at the wrong one! I knew it was too nice for what we were paying. Fortunately our real hotel was a short walk away and we found it easily.

The Spice Market at 8am...no crowds!

After dropping our stuff off  with the hotel staff (still too early to check in) and eating a quick breakfast with phenomenal views of the Bosphorus, we headed over to the Spice Market before the crowds showed up. There was so much to see and buy! We walked up and down the isles, checking out the spices, buying gifts for people back home (and ourselves, of course!). Most stalls sell virtually the same things so it's just a matter of finding the best price for the exact object you want.

Once we'd finished at the Spice Market, we walked to the Grand Bazaar. This place is huge! It's very easy to get lost in. And while it caters more to tourists these days than the locals of yesterday, you still feel like you're stepping back in time when you walk through this maze of shops and restaurants. It was still early so we were able to navigate the halls with relative ease. We wanted to buy everything!

Colorful lanterns in the Grand Bazaar

Next was a tour of the Haggia Sofia. All I can say is WOW! It really is gorgeous. I don't have the words to describe it so do yourself a favor and just go there (and look for the Viking grafiti!).

After a well earned a rest and some lunch, we headed over to the Blue Mosque. From the outside, this is the building most people think is the Haggia Sofia. It's definitely more impressive looking. However, while the Haggie Sofia is a museum of both Christian and Muslim art and architecture, the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) is still a working mosque and appropriate dress is required for entry. Apparently my pants were too tight and I was required to put on a long skirt. They were provided for free. It doesn't take long to get through the mosque. It's beautiful inside, but you're mostly looking at all the tile work (which is blue, of course) on the columns and ceiling. There's also a steady stream of people coming in to worship, so it's best to stay out of their way.

Inside the Blue Mosque

Finally we went to the Topkapi Palace. The grounds were beautiful, the harem was stunning, and all the buildings were impressive. We saw an old library and collections of clothes, jewels and weapons worn and used by the Sultans who used to live here. We made it out to the area overlooking the Bosphorus, all the while listening to our audio guides.

By this point, we were exhausted down to our bones. We'd seen so much in one day, walked over most of Sultanahmet, slept little on the bus and were just ready to be done. We somehow made our way back to the hotel (shopping along the way, of course) and checked in. We were too tired to even eat, so we did our best American impressions and had pizza delivered to our room. But since this is not a normal concept for the Turks; when my friend asked about a menu at the front desk, they walked her over to the place itself to order. To our credit, it was Turkish pizza, and to the hotel's credit, they brought it up to us when it was ready. We ate and passed out.

The second day was the day where our lack of planning began to show. Another friend had recently visited Turkey on a much longer trip and had given us some tips of things to do while in Istanbul. One of them was a lunch place on the Asian side. Our instructions were very clear, we had to take the ferry across. We found the ferry dock and boarded, thinking we could just as easily walk across the bridge. But we didn't want to get lost. When the ferry left, it didn't go the way we expected it to. In fact, where were we going? The Asian side is back there! I guess a map would have been helpful here.

Since we were convinced we were in the wrong place, we stayed on the ferry thinking maybe it would stop on the "Asian side"...but it didn't. When we got back to where we started, we realized that what we had thought was the Asian side, wasn't. After looking it up on the phone, we discovered that the Asian side was where we had originally gone, so we rode the ferry back again! This time, we got off and tried to find the road to the lunch place. We wandered all over the hill looking for any signs of life, trying to ask the locals where we needed to go. They kept telling us it was 3k away. That can't be right, it's supposed to be just up the street! Turns out, we took the wrong ferry. Uuuuuuuunnnnhhhhhhhh.

So we walked the 3k to the right part of town, which was evident by the steady thrum of tourists and finally made our way to the restaurant, Ciya Sofrasi. Let me tell you, it was so worth it! The Turkish meatballs were delicious, as was the "salad bar". We ordered a little bit of almost everything and shared it. After lunch, we wandered around the side streets for awhile, stopped for a Turkish coffee before heading back to the right ferry dock to the European side.

Turkish coffee makes you do weird things

On the other side, we took a walk across the Galata Bridge, then went back to the Grand Bazaar for some last minute shopping before we had to leave to go back to Bulgaria. Little did we know just how bad the traffic in Istanbul can be! Fortunately we had the scariest cab driver ever who raced through traffic to get us to the bus station with seconds to spare! Except he dropped us off at the wrong terminal! One of the workers for the bus company ran us over to the right one and after getting us there, followed us on to the bus to demand payment. Such is how it works in Turkey, I guess! The border crossing was much easier on the way back, and we both slept a lot more, from pure exhaustion I think. But we made it and had a great whirlwind tour of Istanbul that has only whet the appetite! Next time I'll make sure to look at a map first though.