Turkey - Istanbul

I love Istanbul! This city has an amazing load of ancient sites and cultures. If you have an opportunity even just for a stop over in Istanbul, jump to it!

I personally like the train/tram network in Istanbul. Announcement on the train is in Turkish first, follows by English, and then... they also announce the nearest places of interest! Now isn’t that smart & tourist friendly? The train connects Ataturk airport to the city centre. Most of the stops are situated within walking distance of the place of interest, so you really don’t need to walk around figuring out your way. Download the train network map from here.














The highlight of Istanbul includes:

• Sultanahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) (nearest stop: Sirkeci)
• Hagia Sophia
• Grand Bazaar (nearest stop: Sirkeci)
• Topkapı Palace (nearest stop: Sirkeci)
• Spice Bazaar (nearest stop: Eminonu)
• Bosphorus cruise

All of these places are on a single train line, the Zeytinburnu – Kabatas Tramway. That should be enough to fill 1 or 2 days stop over in Istanbul.

For the Bosphorus cruise, the most common starting point is in Eminonu, right in front of Spice Bazaar.














You can choose to take the private tour operated boat or the public ferry. The private boat tour sails on the Asian side all the way to the end of Bosphorus and sails on the European side on the way back (or vice versa). The whole cruise takes about 1 to 1.5 hour. You can easily buy the ticket for this cruise in front of Eminou, from a sales guy and bargain the price a bit. I got mine for 20 Lira / person.














The public ferry is actually a public transport from 1 port to another port, so you must plan where you wanna go first. It does not operate on Sunday and most public holiday. For price comparison, for almost the same distance, you can cover only with 6 Lira. The only thing you need to worry about is the ferry time schedule. Download the ferry time schedule from here.