Istanbul sight seeing tours

The last 2 days in Istanbul were spent visiting the various historic tourist sites with the guide. Kanen was our guide on the walking tour of the old town and took us around the Blue Mosque, Topkapi palace and the most impressive of all the 6th century AD Hagia Sophia mosque with its 6 Minarets. It was built as a church before the birth of Islam and then converted to a mosque by the Ottomans. It was a museum from 1934 until 2 years ago when it was declared as a mosque again with daily prayers and hence women were required to cover their heads inside. The chandeliers and the paintings on the ultra tall ceilings and the dome were magnificent to say the least; pictures cannot do justice to the awe this place evokes especially knowing it was built 1500 years ago when humanity barely had any modern day resources and infrastructure for construction. There were throngs of visitors when we were there around 3pm because of the closure of the mosque from President Erdogan’s visit earlier in the day, which Parishi-Anya and Chintan got to witness while we had gone for lunch with Kanen to a kabeb house cafe in old town. With ongoing construction in the Blue Mosque and Kanen’s advice on how underwhelming it is from inside we decided to skip it.

Another long standing art in Turkey is hand-woven carpets and we got a small demo at a store of how various knots are made and how tedious and intricate the whole process is. The 100s of carpets were gorgeous in their workmanship, colors and designs- each a piece of art in itself.

We got some more of our Grand Baazar shopping fix before the Whirling Dervishes show which I impulsively skipped on seeing the hair salon for my turn for a make over! My dresser and I managed to communicate through nods and Google translate and I enjoyed my Turkish coffee they treated me to during the cut. Parishi, Anya, Keya and Heli joined the hair cut party, leaving the show early for their hairdos. Chinmay was the only one who apparently enjoyed the ceremony as they describe it as, a trans like meditative experience for the dancers and the audience.

Biryani Palace for dinner gave us our desi food fix. The first batch of paneer tikka masala was decent, the vegetable Biryani was bomb. Our guide, Suleyman for the final day was quite a gentleman. A short bus ride away was the Dolmabahce palace perched on the Bosphorus with it’s beautiful tulip gardens and pond. There was a 20 minute long line to go inside and it was packed with its narrow passages between the different rooms. The Turkey 🦃 chase in Turkey in the gardens later was the highlight of the visit for the kids. The boat ride through the Bosphorus strait offered views of the palace and other sites including the vast Rumeli castle and various mosques.

With chilly weather outside, it also offered some siesta time inside before our lunch at the Vegan Cartel a hole in the wall restaurant we found online. They served healthy and delicious food, the falafel wrap was filling. Chinmay and Kahan enjoyed their Sheesh kababs, but the daal tadka was the show stopper with perfect flavors of ginger and turmeric. Lemon cheese cake and brownie desserts were mouthwatering as well.

We wrapped up the tour soaking in the panoramic views of this beautiful city from the Celamic hill where the kids enjoyed their rolling down the grassy hill game.

The group split up between the Spice Baazar visit, leather jacket shopping and the hotel after. Kahan, Digish, Neha and I walked through this much smaller and manageable Baazar with only 150 shops and sampled some delicious Pista and rose petal coated Turkish delights. Kahan’s agenda of joining was successful with the various samplings of dry fruits and other treats at a few stores. We packed Burger King for the kids’ dinner on our walk back to our hotel.

The plethora of view restaurants and cafes this city offers is mind blowing. City lights bar at the Intercontinental hotel was the Grand finale night out and we couldn’t have found a better spot to appreciate this city lit up at night around the Bosphorus with the bridges, mosques, towers- a testament to centuries of history co-existing with modern day Istanbul with it’s beautiful young crowd drinking, smoking and dancing the night away at this covered rooftop bar.

The Misty Martini 🍸, the awesome company and the drop-dead gorgeous views from the glass windows on our last night out in Turkey 🇹🇷 was a fitting climax to an exciting week of our Turkish tale.