This trip was planned to celebrate a special birthday 🎂. It was going to be a do-it-yourself type of holiday with me booking the hotel through booking.com as well as booking the airport shuttle online. So there was a lot of nervousness before the trip. I was also paranoid about us getting sick, as you feel that if a holiday is booked though an agent there is more assurance or security (I could be wrong), and you can liase with the agent if such an issue occurred. We flew with Emirates and booked our flights with Save Travel. The flights were R9 900 pp.
But everything went smoothly from the start. The airport shuttle (Tranigo) in Istanbul was on time to pick us up. The costing for 2 was about R700. I was worried that we may be late, and that we would not be able to contact them, as we decided that we would not be buying a sim card as it was too expensive. The hotel Sunshine Taksim Suite proved to be the best choice. We paid about R12 000 for 2 people. The hotel proximity to Taksim Square and Istiklal Street as well as the staff were exceptional. Ali and Volkan were the best hosts ever💓💓💓
We arrived late at around 2.30 pm so there was not much to do. The next day we arose early and walked down Istiklal Street not expecting anything to find along the road. We were surprised, as we managed to locate the Galata Towers and a few other touristic spots. We also managed to find the subway and looked at the routes and did a bit of planning. And I must say there were surprises around every corner navigating the streets of Istanbul. The people were so friendly, and it was not easy to get lost. We took the subway and the ferries and found places without the assistance of Google maps or data. We took the subway to Halic and walked across the bridge with the intention of going to the Spice Bazaar but ended up going in the opposite direction. We soon asked one of the locals and they pointed us in the right direction. The bazaar and surrounding lanes were packed with people. We managed to sit down and have some kunefe at one of the cafes (I wasn't so impressed with the taste). Someone was even handing out free baklava and I couldn't resist not taking one.
The next day we decided to explore the Cihangir area. We walked right down that steep road leading to the Galataport. I remember carefully walking down that steep road so as not to slip (and it could have easily happened). We explored a bit of Galataport and luckily there was a subway that could take us back to Taksim. We asked one of the locals and he said we could take the subway line to Kabatas and then take the funicular to Taksim.
The next day we decided to walk down to Karakoy. Once we reached Karakoy with directions from locals, we ended up walking in the opposite direction (again). We managed to locate the Halic line and took the subway back to the hotel.
During the next two days we explored the Asian side. First we took the ferry from Karakoy over to Kadikoy and then the next day to Uskudar. In Kadikoy we found a nice shop selling Turkish delights. There was an incident that was so amusing. I had bought cherries and we were waiting at the ferry station and noticed that the cherries were missing. We thought that they had fallen somewhere, and were a bit disappointed that we weren't going to tuck into them once we reached the hotel. Luckily by some miracle hubby noticed the familiar packet on one of the seats. In Uskudar we walked all the way up to the lovely neighbourhood of Kuzguncuk and saw all the colourful houses. We also walked back to town. We came across an open bazaar selling clothes and makeup. See another surprise😊
On the only Saturday that we stayed here, we decided to go to the Cevahir Mall as the weather didn't look to good. I got a few bargains here, as well as a mirror that I couldn't find back home. But the trains and the subway stations were so crowded😬 It rained heavily the following day. We decided to brave the weather and take the Dolmus to Besiktas. We were a bit worried as we couldn't locate a Dolmus station when we arrived in Besiktas, and wondered how we were going to get back to the hotel. We walked from Besiktas to Galataport in the rain, and had a coffee here and then caught the subway back to the hotel.
On the 5th June we decided to explore the Sultanahmet region. We were excited to see Ali at the Taksim Square train station. We did stay around Sultanahmet when we first visited Turkey way back in 2018. Hubby remembered this region well. To me it looked different and a bit run down. Gulhane Park was so stunning way back then, but now it seemed so run down. We thought we would take the Eminonu subway back to the hotel but didn't realise that it was taking us in a loop, and we decided to jump off at the station where we took this line. We eventually caught the Kabatas subway (I remember it being very crowded) back to the hotel.
When we got back from Sultanahmet, I decided to ask Volkan from the hotel how to take the ferry to Eyup. The directions that I received via the internet was to take the ferry from Kasimpasa Pier. When we walked down to Karakoy, we realised that we could take the ferry from this harbour. Over the next few days we took the ferry to Eyup (we took the cable car here, such breathtaking views from here) then to Balat and Fenner. After visiting Balat and Fenner we decided to walk past Galataport and take the funicular to Taksim (what a long walk that turned out to be). The previous day we walked from Karakoy up to Taksim, now that was a steep walk 😫
For our breakfast we used to have the rolls with butter and doritos bought from the local supermarket (and the cheese that we brought from home, such cheapskates!). For lunch we used to grab whatever we could find along the way. In Uskudar we had a nice doner meal at a cafe and in Fenner we had the cheese pancakes and mantie. We even had a stuffed simit (I think that happened on the second day, in Taksim). For supper we used to buy chicken doners and have it in Gezi park. The ones from Haci Kebap near Taksim (can't remember the exact name) were the best. We also had the stuffed potatoes in Istiklal Street (I wasn't too impressed😞)
On the last day we decided to stay in the hotel and pack. We left the hotel around 12pm. Ali helped us with our bags to the Havaist bus station. We felt sad leaving. The trip was so memorable and will always be close to my heart 💓.
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