Istanbul - Istiklal Street, Topkapi Palace and Sultan Ahmet Mosque

We woke up early on Friday morning intending to visit Topkapi Palace, but upon arrival discovered the lines were really long, full of tour groups and with more arriving by the second.

So we changed our plans and hopped on a tram to Kabatas across the Golden Horn, and hopped onto a Funicular railway that takes you the last bit of the way to Taksim Square.

Taksim Square is located in Modern Istanbul, and is is a popular place for both locals and tourists alike, with lots of hotels, shops and restaurants in the surround area.

Taksim Square has been in the news recently because of all the protests taking place in opposition of the development of a shopping centre on the site of Gezi Park. Protesters were attacked by police with tear gas and water cannons. 

While the protests started because of the fear of urban development in Gezi Park, they soon escalated to various issues, such as freedom of expression and against the Turkish Government. During the clashes with police over 4,000 people were injured and seven killed.

We had been watching the news in the lead up to our trip, and the activity seemed to have died down, so we felt it was safe to visit without incident. The protests had been one of our main reasons for choosing to stay in the Old Town area of Sultanahmet, rather than Taksim.

Istanbul's public transport uses tokens that look like Connect Four pieces. Having not read much about Public Transport in Istanbul, we had to guess much of it, and were a bit sceptical when these popped out of the machine.

Nevertheless, we popped them into the ticket barriers and got onto the tram without incident. we then used two more on the Funicular up to Taksim Square.

There's not much to see in Taksim Square itself, mostly just a lot of empty space and concrete. In the middle is the Republic Monument, unveiled in 1928 to commemorate the formation of the Turkish Republic in 1923.

The tram runs from Taksim Square down Istiklal Street

Before heading to the popular pedestrian only shopping street Istiklal Street, we stopped in Gezi Park for a wander round the place that sparked so may protests.

It's one of the smallest parks in Istanbul, and one of the the only green spaces left in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul.

Afterwards we headed down Istiklal Street, one of the most popular shopping streets in Istanbul. On the weekend, over 3 million people can visited in just one day, so we were glad we arrived early before everyone else got up!

Istiklal Street is 3 km long, and is pedestrianised, with a tram running down the centre. The street is full of big name stores like Mango and Zara, plus independent boutiques, tea houses and restaurants.

The buildings are beautiful and we were glad the street wasn't too busy so we had time to stop and take photos and admire the architecture.

Walking along the street, ever so often will be a hidden courtyard with a beautiful church or Mosque hidden away. The St. Anthony of Padua Cathedral was one we only saw when we had almost walked right past.

Right around lunchtime we came across a Shake Shack, only recently opened a month earlier. We couldn't walk past without stopping, so we had a very un-Turkish lunch of burgers and cheesy fries while watching pedestrians walk past on the street below.

The lower end of Istiklal Street is full of music stores, selling every kind of instrument you can imagine.

The Galata Tower was built in 1348 and used to be a Fire watchtower, it now houses a restaurant and a balcony offering amazing views over Istanbul. It was so cloudy that day that we didn't bother going up, knowing we'd not be able to see much.

We headed back up Istiklal Street, which was now absolutely rammed with people, we had to go through back streets to actually make any progress up the street.

We hopped back on the tram and got off in Karakoy, on the Istanbul waterfront. Karakoy is one of Istanbul's oldest districts, and very busy, with trams and ferries and cruise ships all departing from here.

We walked across the Galata Bridge was built in 1992, to replace a Pontoon bridge that dated back to 1912 that used to move with the waves. The Galata Bridge connects the New Istanbul of Karakoy to the Old Istanbul of Eminonu.

Eminonu is the site of the Yeni Cami (New Mosque) and the Egyptian Spice Bazaar, it is also the central transport hub for Istanbul and has been for centuries.

Halfway across the bridge we walked down and underneath, where you can get a great view towards the New Mosque, and where restaurants line each side of the bridge looking out over the water.

Bradley with the Süleymaniye Mosque behind him

Looking towards the New Mosque

We sat outside the New Mosque for a while, which was constructed between 1597 and 1663, and is a beautiful building and much quieter than the more famous Blue Mosque.

Now getting towards the late afternoon, we walked back towards Sultanahmed to see how busy Topkapi Palace was in the afternoon.

There were almost no lines either at the ticket desk or to get in, obviously visiting in the afternoon is a better option as I would imagine a lot of tour groups have this as their first stop.

Home to Sultans for almost 400 years between 1465 and 1856, Topkapi Palace was the heart of the Ottoman Empire, ruled by a Monarch with hundreds of concubines and children.

Topkapi Palace was named a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1985 and is one of the best examples of palaces from the Ottoman period.

The Palace is now a Museum with hundreds of relics, such as weapons, clothing and jewellery from the Ottoman period.

The Palace has four main courtyards and lots of smaller buildings that used to contain a Hospital, Mosques and bakeries.

Our first stop was the Harem, which by itself contained over 400 rooms. It was the home of the Sultan's mother, wives and concubines plus all his children and their servants. Honestly how many women does one person need!

The mosaics and tiles throughout the Harem were amazing, and have been preserved so well.

We didn't know much about the Palace when we went, content just to wander around the beautiful surroundings, admiring the buildings and the gardens.

You can't tell too much, but my right eye was extremely swollen and red our whole time in Istanbul, I think from a Stye but I'm still not sure what it was!

The Palace overlooks the Bosphorus and we had amazing views towards New Istanbul and also the Asian Side across the water.

We stopped for a chat with some lonely looking lions in the gardens overlooking the Bosphorus.

After leaving Topkapi Palace we were talking to a Turkish man who advised us to visit Sultan Ahmet Mosque today, since it would be really busy on the weekend, so we took his advice and headed off to the Mosque. 

Turkish people are so friendly, though the guy we spoke to was trying to sell us a carpet, he didn't give us the hard sell and didn't pressure us when we said no.

The Sultan Ahmet Mosque is probably the most famous sight in Istanbul. It's called the Blue Mosque because of the beautiful blue tiles that line the roof of the interior.

The Mosque was built in 1603 and is still a working Mosque. It closes to visitors 45 minutes before the Muslim Call to Prayer, which occurs five time daily, so you have to time your visit carefully to both avoid crowds and visit when it's open.

I had never heard the call to prayer before arriving in Istanbul, it's a loud call played over speakers throughout Istanbul and goes on for some time. The first call is usually at about 4.00 a.m., with the last call in the evening about 10.00 p.m. The Call to Prayer is translated as:

God is Great
There is no god but God 
Muhammed is the Prophet of God
Come to prayer
Come to salvation
God is Great
There is no god but God

In the morning this is altered slightly with an extra line that roughly translates to 'It's better to be at prayer than sleeping'.

Going inside the Mosque, you must cover your legs, arms, head and shoulders. Scarves and robes are available for you to wear while inside. The Mosque is free to entry, but you can leave a donation upon exiting, which we did.

You must keep your head covered the entire time you're inside. We did see a few tourists taking off their head scarves to pose for photos and were shocked that people were so disrespectful to other people's cultures.

Once outside, we stopped for a hot Boza drink. It's a sweet drink made from wheat and covered in Cinnamon, delicious and thick, it had a similar texture to something like eggnog.

As it was approaching dinner time, we wandered through the Old Town and we stumbled across Aloran Restaurant, which we had tried to find the previous evening but obviously went in the complete wrong direction.

We had Mezze to start, and they also brought us a huge puffed up Naan bread, to have with Olive Oil and Pomegranate Oil, which was delicious.

Bradley ordered a Beef stew called a Guvec, which is cooked in a clay pot over an open fire. The top of the pot is then broken off and poured onto your plate!

We finished with some Turkish and Apple tea. The apple tea was a bit too sweet for me, I prefer the Turkish tea, without sugar, though traditionally you  add a couple of teaspoons of sugar.

We stopped at the Blue Mosque again on our way back to the hotel. It is almost deserted in the evenings and lit up beautifully. I couldn't resist taking more photos, half the photos I took in Turkey must have been of the Blue Mosque!