Hampton by Hilton - Istanbul

In Istanbul, we stayed at a Hampton Inn.  Our hotel was 7 miles from the Old Town of Istanbul which is about a 30-minute walk and transit trip.  The price for our stay was similar to what we could have paid to stay at a local hotel in the Sultanahmet area.  

Our hotel on the right, viewed from the train platform

Pros to where we stayed - quite large room considering the geography.  Very close to the Marmaray transit station.  Quiet.  Free water!!  Awesome staff and free breakfast.

Pros to staying in Sultanahmet - you're close to everything you want to see!  

Seriously, for a major European city, HUGE hotel room.  

Our bathroom.  I'm actually super sad that I apparently failed to get a pic of the shower (it's off to the left.  It was super large and tiled and awesome!  

The front entrance, as we arrived back home after dinner our first night in Istanbul!  

Istanbul New District

After finishing up at the Grand Bazaar, we hopped back on the train and traveled over the Golden Horn to reach the New District.  Specifically, we headed to Taxim Square and the nearby pedestrian street. In order to get there, we rode a funicular.  It's just a different type of train I think, but we did find the giant coil of cable pulling it interesting.  

The Monument of the Republic, erected in 1928 shows Kemal Ataturk during two different periods of his leadership.  The first image, below during the earlier period as a military leader pre-independence and the second, on the right, is Ataturk in western dress as the leader of the Republic. 

Moving Southwest from the monument, is Istiklal street.  This pedestrian street was filled with shoppers and folks out enjoying the day when we visited.  We enjoyed walking and people watching, but wish the Starbucks towards the south end of the street had not gone out of business! 

Chora Church and Grand Bazaar

One full day into our Istanbul visit, Wifey had blisters.  In a grand effort to minimize the amount of luggage we brought, she didn't have any real alternative shoes.  As a result, our day began with a walk to our neighborhood mall which has a downstairs anchor Carrefour. She just knew it would have band-aids.   Hubby was a trooper and very gracious about walking a mile out of the way for band-aids.  

ALong our walk, we saw many of these signs which were recently put out after a successful election.  They read, Thank you, Istanbul!  

Once we arrived at Carrefour, played a few rounds of charades with the staff, we learned they didn't sell band-aids.  Our gracious assistant kept repeating "Eczane" to us.  Which of course had no meaning whatsoever that we could understand.  Eventually, another employee led us out of their store and pointed .... to a pharmacy on the same floor of the mall ... named Eczane.  Since this occurrence, we've seen them everywhere.  

Now, thoroughly bandaged, we hopped on the friendly neighborhood Marmary and set out to go exploring!  At the end of our ride was the train station where the Orient Express passed from West to East.  This train route was the inspiration behind Agatha Christi's story, "Murder on the Orient Express".  What a cool piece of history!

From here, we took another train, searching for the stop, Edirnekapi!  Found it! 

 I'm in love with this lady's scarf who we sat across on our way to visit our next old building!  It looked like marbled metallic stone!  LOVE!!!

After disembarking the bus above, we began walking.  Here you can see plants growing out of small soft-sided dirt pouches in the side of a wall.  They were in various geometric patterns.  

Our first stop was the Chora Church, built around the 14th century.  This church is famous for its Byzantine mosaics.  It was quite an adventure to find it, as its quite a ways from the Sultanahmet area where most tourists congregate.  

Ceiling art

And a Close Up!

A fresco on another room's ceiling.  This painting is of the Judgement. 

Jesus

After checking out the art, we stayed in the area for lunch at Asitane.  This restaurant is connected to a local hotel and serves dishes from old Ottoman Royalty Chef cookbooks.  

You follow a small alleyway to the back of the hotel to find the outdoor seating.

A panorama of my view.  Sorry for the exposure issues.  Moving from shade to full sun does that :) 

NICE table setting :) 

Wifey had Lamb (left) ... hubby Veal (right).  Both were excellent and for the most part, eliminated the need for dinner later in the day.  

And did you forget?  Wifey ordered Ayran too.

After the Chora Church, we explored the Grand Bazaar.  We were in search of a few spices, and maybe something to bring home and add to our home decor.  Here is a shop where we ended up purchasing a 7 spice mix.  

The Grand Bazaar is HUGE.  According to Wikipedia (awesome source, I know, it has over 60 streets and 4000 shops! 

Thursday in Istanbul - The Food Edition

We have friends who are living in Istanbul and learning Turkish and were able to meet up and have dinner Thursday night!  Wifey enjoyed some sort of cheese filled bread.  The veggies were amazing along with it.  Hubby enjoyed a sampler plate.  Minus his yogurt covered dish.  Wifey enjoyed that :)  Everything's better with a little sour yogurt on it!

Mint Ayran!  Yes Please!

After dinner, we walked around a bit and enjoyed the city!

Wifey loves a man confident enough to hold his woman's purse.  

Fisherman 

Multicolored Umbrellas as Decor!  Awesome! 

Earlier in the day, we walked to a local mall to explore and had lunch while we were there.  Wifey chose Burger King.  She ate a burger, not pictured.  

Hubby chose Bursa Kebap Evi.  He ate some sort of Donar wrap.  Wifey joined him and ordered an Ayran.  It's a theme.  

Both meals were great, for a mall food court!  

Blue Mosque

Our second stop on our first morning in Istanbul, we visited the Blue Mosque. It is located just across a large courtyard from the Hagia Sophia.  Since the blue mask is still an operating place of worship, we brought along clothing to comply with the dress code they're in.  After a few wardrobe adjustments, we found the visitor entrance and entered the mosque.  Most surprisingly, at the door, we were provided with small plastic bags in which to carry our shoes while visiting. 

We expected to see interesting blue tiles at Mosque, with a variety of elegant rooms to view. We were both disappointed. Wifey did find the women's prayer room tucked in the back of the facility interesting.

In addition, the visitor section is separated by a bar of sorts from the active worship section. It reminded wifey of the bar separating the judge and attorneys from the non-participants in a courtroom.

Sweet that they provided plastic bags for our shoes!  We kept the bags and were able to repurpose them later during a shopping experience.  

Here you can see half a ceiling and a sheet printed to mimic the view that would be behind it.  We're guessing renovations?  

If in Istanbul, should you visit the Blue Mosque?  Absolutely.  It's practically next door to the Underground Cistern and the Hagia Sophia so the marginal cost is very low.  But have realistic expectations :) 

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