Back in April we flew to Rome from Turkey. And, as we were flying from Sabiha Gökçen Airport, it meant we got to spend a night in our favourite city, Istanbul. It all coincided with a meet-up with some other bloggers…which meant going out for drinks…which of course meant ending the evening with a late …
It’s 8:30 pm and bus drivers, driver’s mates, crew, desk staff, travellers and those who have come to wave off the travellers are milling around the various buses, lined up in Fethiye otogar. Most buses to Istanbul set off at 9 pm so tickets are being checked, bags are being loaded, cigarettes are being smoked. …
Souvenir shopping; it’s never been something that tops our agenda while exploring new places. In fact, it doesn’t even make our agenda, most of the time – but Istanbul is different. Istanbul has the power to tempt even the most reluctant of shoppers (that’ll be us) to part with even just a little of their …
Three weeks back when we were flying to Italy, our flight was leaving from Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport on the Asian side of the city. On the rare occasion we’ve flown into Istanbul (we’re fond bus travellers, as you know), we’ve landed at Atatürk Airport on the European side, so our Sabiha Gökçen experience was …
On Monday, we posted that in a couple of weeks time we will be flying to Rome from Istanbul. Albeit a very fleeting visit, it does mean that we’re going to be able to squash in a bit of time in our favourite city before we fly and we’ll be staying overnight, somewhere around the …
The first time we ever went to Istanbul we studied guidebooks carefully for all the must-sees; where they’re situated, what days they’re open, how much the entrance fee is. It was like a military operation because a trip to Istanbul was the fulfilment of an ambition for both of us. We wanted to make the …
We’ve been looking forward to doing this post for some time for a couple of reasons. The first reason is because of the visual effect – I’m a sucker for mixed, vivid colours. The second is because all these mixed, vivid colours spill from our friend’s shop in Kapalı Çarşısı (known as the Grand Bazaar …
In Istanbul, tucked away in the back streets of Beyoğlu is the old area known as Çukurcuma. There’s always an area of any city that becomes the place to see, to be seen and to know about. While we were living in the UK in Manchester, this area was the Northern Quarter. And, during the …
Regular visitors to this blog will have worked out long ago that we’re not big on covering all the main tourist sights of Turkey here. It’s not that we don’t want to! The problem is, we only started this blog a couple of years back when we’d already made numerous visits to Turkey and lived …
Most tourists visiting Istanbul for the first time are likely to be staying in Sultanahmet – the area boasting Sultanahmet Camii (the Blue Mosque), Aya Sofya, Topkapı Palace and the Basilica Cistern (aka Yerebatan Sarnıcı). And, of course, wherever there is a glut of tourists, it naturally follows that there is a glut of expensive souvenir shops, bars …