Post
by Scrubb » Mon Nov 12, 2018 7:36 pm
I stayed in the whichamacallit area, not Sultanamet, which was a mistake. The area on the other side of the strait, something or other square... Taksim. THat's it. Now, I wouldn't recommend staying there, but the walk over to Sultanamet the first morning was wonderful. I started in Taksim Sq. and wandered down Iskawhatever street with all the restaurants and shops, to the Galeta tower. Great photos from there, lot's of good people watching in the little square. Then walking down and across the big bridge, getting to the big mosque on the other side and looking around there - it had a small market in the yard that day. It was a great intro to the city, before I plunged into the big tourist stuff.
Also, I enjoyed seeing the 3 things that I had seen back in 1986 all over again - Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque, and Topkapi.
Lots of people recommend the cistern, accessible from near Hagia Sophia if I remember - I wished I'd checked it out. And it didn't seem to be on the tourist map when I was there 30 years ago, so you might not have seen it either.
Boinkity_Boink isn't much of an idiot