This winter my family went to Istanbul, Turkey for a three day vacation. This is the perfect time to visit Istanbul because they just expanded their mass transit system. The new metro system was put into place to help with traffic congestion, which can be an issue when you’re trying to get around the city. The metro is actually a much better way to get see all the sites in Istanbul. The expansion is consisting of four new lines that will make the metro grand total to 40 miles. This is a great advancement for turkish tourism as it has been much harder to get around Istanbul in the past. The metro will make it much easier for tourists to see both the european and asian sides of Istanbul without ever having to take a car ride! Here is a summary of our trip to Istanbul, which involved a little bit of metro transport.
- Day 1: In the morning we arrived into Ataturk International Airport. When we reached the hotel we dropped off our baggage and took the hotel shuttle to the Spice Market. The Spice Market was gorgeous. There were tons of stalls everywhere selling turkish delights, spices, hazelnuts, cheese, fish and much more. In the winter the spice bazaar moves indoors. Each shop having its own little section. Some of these stores have been there for so long that they have decorated the stores with their signs and brightly colored displays. We spent about two hours at the Spice Market buying tea, spices, and turkish delights. Then we took the shuttle to where the Bosphorus River cruise started. Conde Nast Traveller says,”No trip to Istanbul is quite complete without a cruise down the Bosphorus, the strait connecting the city’s two surrounding seas. The view is incredible, as the boat motors past Ottoman empire–era homes and palaces.” Our cruise was one hour and showed us the Europe and Asia side of Istanbul. After the cruise ended we took the shuttle back to the hotel.
- Day 2: We started early in the morning again taking the hotel shuttle, but this time we went to The Blue Mosque. Unfortunately, some carpet seller tagged along with us while we were touring the Blue Mosque. On the other hand, the mosque was amazing. The details of the tiles really were the highlights of the whole mosque. We did manage to lose the carpet seller and continued on to the Hagia Sophia. Conde Nast Traveller stated,”This basilica-turned-mosque-turned-museum is another architectural wonder of Istanbul…Hagia Sophia is still one of the finest examples of Byzantine architecture.”This is a real sight to see. The Hagia Sophia is huge. The main highlight here was the gold mosaics. The church was turned into a mosque when the ottoman empire took over and many of the mosaics were ruined. Now the city of Istanbul is trying to restore the church back to its original state. After the Hagia Sophia we headed to the Basilica Cistern.
- The cistern was built during Emperor Justinian’s empire. It has many marble columns, two that have Medusa’s head on them. Then we went to the Topakapi Palace. According to Travel and Leisure magazine,”When you travel to Istanbul, one of the many sites you won’t want to miss is Topkapi Palace.” At the Topakapi Palace we saw the Harem which is the Royal Family’s living quarters and the Treasury, where all the most valuable items are kept. The Harem was over all amazing but the best part was the tiles. They were magnificent! The treasury was quite beautiful as well. The best part though was the three spoons diamond. It was about 80 carats! Next we headed for the Grand Bazaar. It’s this huge indoor marketplace lined with shops on every side. After that we went back to the hotel.
- Day 3: All we did today was tour the Dolmabache Palace and walk around Eminonou. From outside the Palace looked beautiful but from the inside it was even better! All the rooms were lined with crystal chandeliers and intricate furniture. The biggest chandelier weighed 4.2 tons, in the Grand Hall. The Grand Hall, was the most spectacular room in the whole palace. We also saw the Harem, but it wasn’t as fancy and brilliant. For the rest of the time we just roamed around the city. Eminonou is the shopping district in Istanbul. The next day we left to come back home.
- http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-guide/istanbul
- http://www.cntraveler.com/galleries/2014-12-01/the-coveteurs-guide-to-shopping-and-sightseeing-in-istanbul/7
- http://www.dailysabah.com/istanbul/2015/04/19/istanbul-expands-mass-transit-network-with-new-line
Apoorva, I agree with the other commenters that more detail is always better when describing your sightseeing. I think your trip sounds awesome and I wish I could go there as well since I’ve never been to that part of the world. It seems like it would be an awesome experience even if for only three days! Also, I’m insanely jealous that you got to see the Hagia Sophia because it is an absolutely breathtaking work of architecture!
Stephanie, we only went for three days because it was a stopover on our way back from India. It was very cool! I got to learn a lot about the turkish culture. Thank you both for your comments, I’ll definitely try to go more into detail next time. Also I like the idea of matching the pictures up with the text.
I like how you made your post in chronological order, but I would split the paragraphs into more, smaller ones. It’s just more visually appealing and makes reading the text more enjoyable. You could place the pictures you put at the end in between these paragraphs to make a lot of text not look like so much. Your trip sounds really cool! I agree with Stephanie, go into detail about fewer things instead of trying to cover everything.
It is really cool that you went to Turkey over break. That had to be such a cool experience. I would really like to know more about your trip. In this post, you cover everything so briefly, for the future I would recommend taking more time to tell us about each site. Also, what made you go for only three days? Turkey is quite a hike to just head there for a weekend.