I’ll admit, I was a bit nervous about coming to Istanbul. Everything online is all about warning you about staying safe and not trusting anyone and the crazy prices on anything at all touristy. Was I scammed within 5 minutes of my arrival? Yes, absolutely. But it turns out I like the city anyway.
So, what happened? It was stupid, and I saw it happening, and I only blame myself (which possibly makes it worse). I got off the bus from Bulgaria, and went to buy a metro card when a man came over to “help” me put money on it. I didn’t want or ask for his help, but he insisted on standing there and going through the process with me, so I was already suspicious. Once this was done, he grabbed it from the machine and “gave it to me”, but really he gave me a different, empty card, that I then had to put money on again. I knew something was up, but it took me a moment to put it all together, and by then it was too late. I didn’t lose out on a huge amount of money, I was just left feeling like an idiot for knowing something was happening but not putting my finger on exactly what it was sooner. Anyways, we will call it a learning experience and move on.
I only had two days in Istanbul this time round – more of a transactional visit than a tourist one, as it’s one of the few cities with international flights to Turkmenistan, and also the place where I’m storing some of my meds for the next couple of months (yay, family members with international connections!). Nevertheless, I tried to make the most of my time here, see a few of the sites, and get a feel for the city.
I dropped my bags at my accommodation and walked to the starting point of the walking tour I had booked for the morning. I was early, so I popped into the Blue Mosque for a wee look before heading back to the meeting place. The walking tour took me for a wee wander through the “old town” and past some of Istanbul’s most famous monuments. Both the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia are undergoing renovations at the moment, so there is a bit of scaffolding around – I tried to avoid it in the photos, but it does mean that I couldn’t take those super-typical pics of each building. We also wandered past Topkapi Palace, the Constantinople Hippodrome and its Egyptian Obelisk, and a few of the surrounding streets – just a taster of the city, really, but a starting point.
In the afternoon I checked in to my accommodation, then went down and took a ferry over to the Asian side of the city. I didn’t really know where I was going if what I was looking for, so I just wandered around somewhat aimlessly, taking it all in. I’ll need to do some proper research so that when I’m back I can do it again properly. After a good wander, I stopped for dinner, then got back on the ferry to head “home”.
I spent the morning and early afternoon of the second day exploring another of Istanbul’s many neighbourhoods – Balat. It was an interesting wander, though I suspect it’s much more touristy now than it was in previous years. There were lots of little shops and quirky cafes, colourful buildings, and of course, cats. It was a nice place to spend the morning. Afterwards, I took the ferry back over the Golden Horn and wandered along the main shopping street on the way back to the hotel. In the afternoon, I made the trip out to the NZTE office to drop off my meds for safekeeping over the next couple on months, then had a quiet evening packing my bags and getting ready for the part that I’ve been both the most excited and the most stressed about – a group tour through Central Asia.
emilyonearth 
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