Thread About Turkey

Birmingham/Istanbul Trip details:

1. You can buy tickets from www.kayak.co.ukand the cheapest will be from Birmingham (BHX) to Istanbul (IST)

2. You want to make sure that you get a Hotel in Old City (Sultanahmet) because that will be close to everything

3. Food is not a problem in Turkey but we careful with Halal/Dhabihah meat. Turkish people are not really into vegetables though!

4. Crime is not a problem in Turkey but be careful around the Takseem square area at night. This is the area where the protests happened

5. Places you want to visit:

a. Blue Mosque: Facing Aya Sofya across a small park and mirroring its domed silhouette, the early 17th-century Blue Mosque is one of only a handful of mosques in the world to boast six minarets. Is it really blue? Well, not noticeably, although all the walls are papered with fine İznik tiles. To view it as the architect, Sedefkar Mehmed Aga, originally intended, enter via what looks like the side entrance from the Hippodrome. Afterwards, pop your head into a building the size of a small mosque on the corner of the complex. This houses the tomb of Sultan Ahmed I, the man who gave his name to both the mosque and the neighbourhood.

b. Topkapi Palace: If there is one absolute must-see in Istanbul, it has to be the Topkapi Palace, home to generations of sultans and their wives, who were closeted in the famous harem. A collection of lush green courtyards and delicate kiosks, the Topkapi boasts a treasury to put the crown jewels in the shade, as well as views to die for over the Sea of Marmara, Bosphorus and Golden Horn. The secretive harem – really just the family quarters – is a warren of lushly-tiled rooms wrapped round a gem of a Turkish bath. Try to visit on a day when no cruise ship is in town to avoid the worst of the crowds.

c. Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum: Housed in what was originally the palace of Ibrahim Pasha, a favourite grand vizier of Suleiman the Magnificent, and overlooking the Hippodrome where Byzantine lovers of chariot racing once brought the same passion to their sport as modern Turks do to football, this museum houses a magnificent collection of gigantic carpets from all over the country. Its basement features reconstructions of everything from a fully-fitted nomad tent to a grand interior from a 19th-century Bursa mansion. Don't leave without trying a thick black Turkish coffee in the pretty cafe in the grounds.

d. Süleymaniye Mosque: Unmissable as you stand on the busy Galata bridge and look up at the city's historic skyline is the mosque designed by the great Ottoman architect Sinan for Suleiman the Magnificent. Newly restored to its original splendour, it is generally regarded as the finest of the 42 surviving mosques he designed for Istanbul. Unusually, it retains much of the original complex of social service buildings that came attached to it, including several madrasahs, a hospital, a library and a hamam. Locals come here to eat kuru fasuliye, the Turkish take on baked beans, in a street once haunted by opium addicts.

e. Galata Tower: Watery Istanbul is a city that cries out to be viewed from on high, and you can get a bird's-eye view of everything from the balcony at the top of the Galata Tower in Beyoğlu, the modern part of old Istanbul that, in pre-Republican days, was home to the city's foreign residents. Built in 1348, the tower once formed part of a sub-city belonging to the Genoese that stretched right down to the Bosphorus. In a footnote to aviation history, it was from this tower that Hezârfen Ahmed Çelebi flew across the Bosphorus from Europe to Asia in 1638, thus inaugurating the first ever intercontinental flight.

f. Basilica Cistern: The city's most unexpectedly romantic attraction, the Basilica Cistern, offers an insight into the complicated system that once brought drinking water into Istanbul from Thrace (an area of the south-east Balkans now constituting Turkish land n the European mainland, and a chunk of Bulgaria). Constructed in the sixth century and then forgotten for centuries, the cistern that once stored the water has been fitted with lights and music. Fish flitter around the bases of the 336 columns that support the ceiling. Don't miss the upside-down head of Medusa that forms the bottom of one column, proof that Byzantine builders saw Roman relics as little more than reusable rubble.

g. Aya Sofya: After decades in which scaffolding cluttered the interior of Emperor Justinian's sixth-century Byzantine masterpiece, the thrill of being able to experience the extraordinary spaciousness of this famous church-turned-mosque-turned museum is hard to overstate. Downstairs the building is largely empty; the best of the glittering mosaics lurk in the galleries upstairs. Newly opened are the tombs of several early Ottoman sultans and their slaughtered sons – before primogeniture new sultans immediately had all potential rivals killed. Before the end of the year, the city's finest carpets will go on display in the soup kitchen added after the church was turned into a mosque.

h. Ayasofya Hürrem Sultan Hamam: There are several magnificent steamy Ottoman bathhouses to choose from in the city, including the Çemberlitaş, Cağaloğlu, Galatasaray and Sülemaniye baths, but in 2011 for the first time it's also possible for visitors to try out the spectacular 16th-century Ayasofya Hürrem Sultan Hamam right in Sultanahmet Square and designed for Suleiman the Magnificent's scheming wife Roxelana. Think acres of marble, the sound of running water echoing around stupendous domes, and a massage fit for a sultan. You'll come out almost purring.

i. Bosphorus Bridge: The Bosphorus Bridge, also called the First Bosphorus Bridge or simply the First Bridge (Turkish: Boğaziçi Köprüsü, 1. Boğaziçi Köprüsü or Birinci Köprü) is one of two suspension bridges spanning the Bosphorus strait (Turkish: Boğaziçi) in Istanbul, Turkey; thus connecting Europe and Asia (the other one is the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, which is called the Second Bosphorus Bridge.) The bridge is located between Ortaköy (on the European side) and Beylerbeyi (on the Asian side).

j. Eyüp Sultan Mosque: The Eyüp Sultan Mosque (Turkish: Eyüp Sultan Camii) is situated in the district of Eyüp on the European side of Istanbul, near the Golden Horn, outside the Walls of Constantinople. Built in 1458, it was the first mosque constructed by the Ottoman Turks following the Conquest of Constantinople in 1453.The mosque rises next to the place where Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (Turkish: Eyüp Sultan), the standard-bearer of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, is said to have been buried during the Arab assault on Constantinople in 670. His tomb is greatly venerated by Muslims, attracting many pilgrims. Some of the personal belongings of Muhammad are preserved in the building that houses the tomb.

k. Dolmabahce Palace: On Europe’s side of the Bosphorus, the pulse point of the Ottoman Empire from 1853 to 1922 is a blend of many architectural traditions. As a result, the Baroque, Rococo, Neo-Classic and Islamic Dolmabahce Palace is a premier landmark in Istanbul.

l. The Bosphorus: As the waterway that divides two continents, the narrow Bosphorus has a notable place in history. With references to the strait in the Old Testament, the link between the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara and therefore the Aegean and Mediterranean, is impossible to ignore in Istanbul. For great views, book a day cruise.

m. Bazaars: Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar harken back to a bygone age of more than half a millenium ago. The two largest covered shopping complexes in the world contain thousands of shops and draw well over 500,000 daily visitors.

n. Rüstem Pasha Mosque: The Ottoman-built Rüstem Pasha Mosque sits in Eminonu, the old walled city of Constantinople. The district is home to some of the best and most indelible attractions in Istanbul. Rüstem Pasha Mosque’s claim to fame is an intricate network of gorgeous, geometric-designed tilework.

o. Pierre Loti Café: The Pierre Loti Café, named after the French novelist, naval officer and Turkophile, is famous for its spectacular views over the Golden Horn. Located in Eyüp, about 6 kilometers from the Galata Bridge in Eminönü, it is not exactly on the typical tourist path. So, if you’re in Istanbul for only a few days, you may want to think twice about going there for a tea. But if you’re not pressed for time, the commanding views are well worth the small ‘detour’.

p. Bağdat Avenue: Bağdat Avenue (Turkish: Bağdat Caddesi, literally Baghdad Avenue) is a notable high street located on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, Turkey. The street runs approximately 14 km (8.7 mi) from east to west in the Maltepe and Kadıköy districts, almost parallel to the coastline of the Sea of Marmara. The most important part of the street is the one-way traffic, avenue-like section, which is 6 km (3.7 mi) long from Bostancı to Kızıltoprak, within the district of Kadıköy. It can be seen as the counterpart of Istiklal Avenue on the European side in terms of importance and glamour.

Thread About Turkey

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