Almost two weeks ago we returned from an amazing 12 night trip to Turkey. We'd wanted to visit Turkey for a while, but were slightly overwhelmed with all the planning. Thanks to websites like Tripadvisor and Turkish Travel Planner, it wasn't as hard as we thought, the hardest part turned out to be deciding where to go since Turkey is a huge country.
We decided on Istanbul and Cappadocia, with a visit to the Coastal towns of Kas and Cirali in the South of Turkey to end our trip.
We've spent the last week sorting through 1000 photos whilst planning our next three trips to Poland, Scotland and Norway respectively, which is why we're only just catching up on our blog posts.
Alright, lets get started!
After an early morning flight from Heathrow, we arrived in Istanbul to beautiful blue skies just after lunch. We'd arranged a transfer from the airport to the Hotel Novano, in Sultanahmet, Istanbul's Old Town. After driving through a maze of one way streets, we finally arrived and checked into our lovely, but tiny, room.
The hotel is only a five minute walk to the big sights, the Sultanahmet Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and the Basilica Cisterns. So after dropping off our bags we headed straight back out again.
Alright, lets get started!
After an early morning flight from Heathrow, we arrived in Istanbul to beautiful blue skies just after lunch. We'd arranged a transfer from the airport to the Hotel Novano, in Sultanahmet, Istanbul's Old Town. After driving through a maze of one way streets, we finally arrived and checked into our lovely, but tiny, room.
The hotel is only a five minute walk to the big sights, the Sultanahmet Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and the Basilica Cisterns. So after dropping off our bags we headed straight back out again.
Hagia Sofia
The Sultanahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) and Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia) are two of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen, they give that same surreal feeling upon seeing it as when we saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The two buildings are built directly across from each other, with a big park in between them. There were people everywhere, just outside enjoying the sunshine.
Sultanahmet Mosque
Seeing the Blue Mosque peeking through the trees
Next to Sultanahmet Mosque is a promenade called the Hippodrome of Constantine, which used to be the Sporting and Social centre of Constantinople, or what is now known as Istanbul.
There are two huge Obelisks in the centre of the square, the Walled Obelisk and the Obelisk of Theodosius. The Walled Obelisk was placed in the square in 357 AD, whilst the Obelisk of Theodosius has stood in the same spot since 390 AD.
These beautiful lanterns were all over Turkey, we would have loved to have brought a couple home but they never would have fit into our carry on luggage! They had the most amazing colours.
After exploring some of the Old Town and getting our bearings, our first stop was Hagia Sofia, which is now a museum but has in the past been both a Greek Orthodox Basilica and a Mosque. Hagia Sophia was a Cathedral from 537 to 1453, and then a Mosque from 1453 to 1931. It was then separated from any religion and opened as a museum in 1935.
Hagia Sophia has many similarities to the Blue Mosque, and served as inspiration when the Blue Mosque was being built in 1616. Up until the Blue Mosque was opened, Hagia Sophia was the central Mosque in Istanbul.
The interior of Hagia Sophia is covered in mosaics and has huge marble pillars, with Islamic discs prominently on display at the front of the Museum.
When Hagia Sophia was built, it was the largest of its type in the world for 1000 years until the Cathedral was built in Seville.
The inside is amazing, exactly like a cross between a Cathedral and a Mosque, with the Islamic discs and Chandeliers really the only things differing the interior from being a traditional Church. The main Church is also huge in size, with towering ceilings and big arched windows.
Mosaics of the Virgin Mary and Child with Justinian I and Constantine I at the Imperial Gate
It was late afternoon by the time we exited Hagia Sophia, so we headed across the road to the Basilica Cisterns, the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that run underneath Istanbul. The cistern is about 105,000 square feet, and used to provide water to Topkapi Palace and the Great Palace of Constantinople.
The Cistern's ceiling is supported by hundreds of tall marble columns lit at the base and surrounded by maybe a meter of water, being capable of holding 100,000 tons of water. It is very dark and quiet, and every so often you'll feel a little drip of water going down the back of your neck, adding to the eerie feeling of being a couple of stories below ground.
Walking through the Cistern, you follow a raised, winding walkway, weaving through the columns, with fish gliding silently beneath your feet.
In the north west corner of the Cistern are two columns, with the bases carved into the shape of a Medusa head. It is not known where these heads came from, and tradition dictates the bases are turned sideways and inverted so as to inhibit the power of the Medusa's gaze.
We left the Cistern and discovered night had fallen while we were below ground. We stopped into the hotel to grab a jacket and headed down the street for dinner. We had the most amazing food while in Turkey, we had at least two courses for each meal, everything was so delicious and so cheap.
We ended up on a small balcony overlooking the street below and ordered a carafe of Turkish wine while we looked over the menu.
Most of our meals started with a Mezze platter, full of Vine Leaves, Babaghanoush, Hummus and olives. We got into the habit of ordering this whenever we had lunch or dinner and comparing the dishes to the previous day or week. The food just kept getting better, and it was interesting to see the flavours change slightly depending on where we were in Turkey.
After our huge meal and a bottle of wine between us, we rolled ourselves home to bed, tired after a full day of exploring but excited to discover more of this amazing city the next day!
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