Istanbul -- Advice & Attractions?

[weezy00]

Yea for sure, I will post back here.

[flipstah]

Originally posted by TurboMedic
Istanbul is beautiful, but vast. It wasn't our favorite part of Turkey, but theres so much to see.

First off, the place to stay is in the Sultanamet district. This is essentially "historical" Istanbul. Its older, smaller, more run down, but walking distance from all of the major things. It was easy to grab some food, coffee, shisha, and just hang out in the old town.

We paid for everything in Lira without any problem. I don't think I'd take ay USD, and the majority of bank machines we visited had the option to withdraw in USD, Lira and Euro, so you can really just take a token amount and see what serves you best.

As for attractions, we didn't venture off the beaten path too far in terms of seeing modern Istanbul, it just didn't have the appeal to us with the clubs and everything else. We stuck to getting lost on foot in tiny streets, and seeing the true sites. Obviously the easy ones are Topkapi palace, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, Little Hagia Sofia, University of Istanbul, Grand Bazarre (really, don't spend much time there), Bosphorus boat up to the black sea, Spice Market, Basilica Cystern, hippodrome

Most of Istanbul is safe, they do say the University area is less safe, especially after dark. As well, Taksim Square, while neat to see, is the center of a lot of protests, so its nothing special. Despite warnings about areas, we really had no issues wandering around on foot at any time of day. Most of the residents in the area were friendly, it was the merchants that were less so. Obviously YMMV, maybe we got lucky, but we were there twice for a few days each time and never felt threatened or unsafe once.

Big thing with Istanbul is its much less friendly than the rest of Turkey, and you get ripped off far more often from food vendors, etc.

How long are you there for??

I would recommend seeing the rest of turkey....We backpacked around from Istanbul to Antalya (by air obviously), to Cirali, to Fethiye, to Pammukkale, to Selcuk, to Cappadocia/Goreme, and back to Istanbul in 3 weeks.

Goreme was by far the most amazing place.....friendly, scenic.

Thanks for this. Staying in the old city (Sultanamet).

[A2VR6]

Originally posted by flipstah


Thanks for this. Staying in the old city (Sultanamet).

Go hit up a few places that Anthony Bourdain went to in no reservations... We went to one of them (i think it's Tatbak since it was near Taksim) and it was amazingly good.

[flipstah]

Originally posted by A2VR6


Go hit up a few places that Anthony Bourdain went to in no reservations... We went to one of them (i think it's Tatbak since it was near Taksim) and it was amazingly good.

IT'S LIKE YOU READ MY MIND.