So after our Gallipoli tour, we were almost literally thrown on a Pamukkale Travel bus to Istanbul as it rolled off the ferry from Canakkale to Eceabat. We were on this bus for 6 hours as it took us to Istanbul, but was comfy 2+1 seating and we got provided with a lot of food and drink. Not much to note except when the bus got stopped at a Police Checkpoint just outside of Istanbul. The Police only looked at our Passports, but collected all the ID's of the Turkish people and took them off the bus. A few people looked worried, maybe even panicked - one guy across from us, fairly young, called someone on his phone as soon as the police were off and had a rather hurried/panicky conversation. I wondered why - since military service is compulsory in Turkey, perhaps he was a draft-dodger? But all ID's got returned and after the Police left the same guy across from us called presumably the same person and had a very relieved sounding conversation!
Getting from the bus terminal to our accommodation was a little bit interesting shall we say. Our Gallipoli tour guide had arranged a transfer for us, but needed us to get the staff at the Pamukkale Travel office to call him so he knew what particular office in the bus station we were at to tell the driver - apparently there are a few. Getting the staff to call our guide wasnt easy but eventually we got the message across and our driver (who spoke no english) came and collected us, mid-phonecall on his phone. In fact he was constantly on the phone to different people and his driving was a bit erratic - at least every so often I could see signs for Sultanahmet, the area where we needed to go to know that we were going in the right direction. When we got to Eminonu he stopped and tried to google maps our hostel, but it does not appear on Google Maps and I thought our guide had told the driver a nearby hotel instead but apparently not. We kept trying to say to go to the Hagia Sofia which was close and walking distance, and eventually we managed to direct him pretty close to the hostel and got him to drop us off on the side of the street. No one was at the hostel to check us in when we arrived and went inside - we'd told them our approximate arrival time and after 10mins I called the whatsapp number. Talking to the owner, he told me it was the same room, the key was in the door and if we happy to do check-in tomorrow morning after breakfast we could do that then. Fine by us - it meant we could go straight to bed!
Same place as last time - and same room. The air seemed less stuffy this time, the shower handle in the Red Bathroom had been fixed but during our stay some kind of repair work took place in the Nice Bathroom which had most of the red floor matting taken up, exposing the floor tiles. Also it had a new shower head in the shower - which was already cracked!
So upon our arrival at the Hostel we saw two Istanbul Museum cards on the counter with a note - they were free to take, still had 2 days validity and had only been used for the Hagia Sofia. There are about 7 or 8 museums you can use them for, so we grabbed them and used them to visit the Topkapi Palace and after the Archaeological Museum. The palace was fascinating, and the card even worked for the Harem section which was extra. The palace was not ostentatious, even dowdy in areas but some areas very definitely beautifully adorned. The Archaeological museum we didn't see all of, and was not anything in particular that we had not seen elsewhere - such as the Pergamon Museum in Berlin or the British Museum. However all was excellent value thanks to our unknown benefactors!
One of the things we decided we'd do while in Turkey was have Shisha - the Arabian smoking machines. We've both done this before, but never together and since it was a big part of the culture in Turkey we figured why not. Sasha had researched it, and found a venue near the Grand Bazaar which was considered local amd one of the best places for it, but also tourist friendly. So we went, were shown to a seat, ordered an apple flavoured Shisha to share and a turkish tea each. The shisha came, with two disposable plastic mouthpieces for the pipe and the contents heated by hot briquette pieces (a coal derivative) put on top. We were not the only tourists there, but there were a lot of locals too. So we sat back and relaxed, drank our tea and puffed the apple-hinted smoke in turns.
When we were halfway through our tea there was an almighty crack sound on our Shisha stand, and a bunch of material appeared in the small table our teas were on and on our shisha stand. Sasha and I were startled but it really gave the lady across from us a fright - part of the ceiling had fallen down onto our stand and table! The staff quickly cleaned it up, got us new teas as some of the stuff had landed in our drinks and offered to move us although assured us it was not going to happen again - maybe next week. We decided to stay put as they were good seats! We stayed a while, had some apple tea and even tried some mini donut-like things from a vendor who came round, I thought they might be hot but they weren't although they were absolutely dripping with honey when you bit into them.
We went early on our last morning in Istanbul to join the queue for the Hagia Sofia, we weren't the first in the but we weren't far back either. It too is under renovations inside which spoil the visual effect somewhat, bit its a very pretty and ornate Mosque inside - but at the end of the day it is just a Mosque, and after an hour we had done it all. Glad to have gone but can't say I was wowed by it.
Through some research we discovered that in addition to the multitude of operators doing the tours, one of the major ferry companies did an afternoon 2-hour Bosphorus cruise for 12 Lira (about 2.50 Euro) - as opposed to the 15-20 Euro everyone else seemed to want! No commentary but a decent ship and the same circuit, we had a very pleasant trip up the Bosphorus and managed to score excellent seats up the back of the ship on the upper deck giving a very wide panorama!
So April is supposed to be the Tulip Festival in Istanbul - Tulips apparently originate from Turkey, not The Netherlands! So they are trying to "take tulips back" and promote their Turkishness. We saw signs for the tulip festival when in Istanbul first time round but only saw them in gardens around Topkapi Palace, but this time they erected a giant Turkish Carpet of Tulips in Sultanahmet during our stay. Would probably not have lasted long, the Tulips were all in plastic crates and I doubt they would have been watered.
We were now onto the roundup of Turkish food, and one thing I wanted to have was a Turkish Pot Kebab or Testi Kebab - cooked inside a terracotta pot and then broken open to eat the contents. Sasha did her research anf found a place called the Old Ottoman Cafe & Restaurant. When we arrived we were told to choose any table we liked, so we chose one and was about to sit down when we were told not that table - how about the one next to it! That was fine, we sat down and I ordered a Turkish beer finally and Sasha ordered Sherbet. We'd seen lots of Sherbet jugs in the Palace, so were keen to know what it was. Its a deep red liquid which tastes of spices - cinnamon and masala were two which I could pick out. Very tasty and sweet, while the beer was pretty standard. We ordered the Testi Kebab for 2, our waiter sats no - you will have the Testi Kebab for 1 and one Ottoman Special and share the two. We went along with this which was great as the Ottoman Special was I think Barbequed Chicken in a Cheesy Tile, extremely tasty! As was the Beef Testi Kebab. We even got complimentary dessert - the peanut thing again as well as some teas.
We partook in Fish Sandwiches (Balik Ekmek) from the same vendor on the front of his boat at Eminonu, and they were every bit as tasty - his lemon vinegarette is quite something! We also did a picnic of snacks in the Palace grounds for the other lunch, breakfasts have been our Muesli and for our last dinner in Istanbul we went back to Ortaklar - our 3rd visit there! Sasha had the Tomato Kebab, I had the "Ali Nazri" I think it was called in English - in German its called "Alien Art", meat chunks with chips on top on a bed of cream cheese, some mushrooms and Turkish bread. We got dessert this time - Kunefe, which can be best described as a kind of cooked rosti of coconut, what seems to be cheese and a heavy honey infusion and the end result is just so delicious!
We did unfortunately get scammed of sorts while in Istanbul - walking around near the port area, a shoe shiner unknowingly lost his brush from his kit as he was crossing an intersection so I picked it up and gave it to him. At the other side of the intersection he set up and insisted he shine/clean my shoes, as a gesture of thanks. After saying no a few times I gave in and let him, then he did Sasha's. We were hoing to give him a little bit if money anyway but then at the end he wanted 90 Lira for having done our shoes - it was not a gesture of thanks. We actually didnt have 90 Lira - not quite - but I started making out we had nothing more than a 50 Lira note and some coins, I certainly didn't want him to know we had a whole heap of Euros on us too. In the end we parted with the 50 Lira note and the coins (probably 55-56 Lira all up), us parting with money for something we didn't actually want or need and him ending up with less money than the tried to get. I actually dont know whether the losing of the brush was deliberate in order to scam us of some business, it didn't seem like it - he may have genuinely lost the brush and then took advantage of the situation. Either way, lesson learned - be firm and say no. At least we had clean shoes, not that they stayed that way for long!
Summing Up - Istanbul
Second time round in Istanbul was quite different than the first. Coming back to it from the week away around Turkey felt a little bit like coming "home" - back to familiar surroundings, where we knew where everything was and how it worked already. It was perhaps also more enjoyable because of that - no need to stress with the unknown and with a lot of time in Turkey under our belt, we knew how it goes. Or at least mostly, getting scammed by the shoe shiner caught us unawares.
Overall I had a really good time in Istanbul. Its expensive compared to the rest of Turkey, overrun with people compared to the rest of Turkey - in fact it seemed as busy as London on occasion, too many people walking on crowded paths and cars going nowhere fast.
Some people say Istanbul is their favorite city in Europe. I don't think I'd go that far personally, I enjoyed it a lot but I wouldn't say its the best. Not sure what the best would be though if I had to choose, Istanbul probably makes the top 10 though. We did not completely fill our days jam packed here, partly because we needed to relax a little but also for a city of 20 million people (14mil on paper) there is not a huge wealth of things to do - unless you're in the position to scour the Bazaars for things to buy and take home. We saw many things we liked, but we have no room in our luggage which is already almost too-full - they also would not survive another 3.5 months of travel anyway!
"Book-ending" Istanbul at the beginning and end of our time in Turkey was a practical measure - it was the only logical or even feasible entry and exit point for us on our travels. It was a great way to do it though!
Summing Up - Turkey
With mention of the political situation, I believe Turkey is still officially in a State of Emergency following the failed coup over a year ago. Police seem to be everywhere, but we never felt unsafe or that the place was a powderkeg just waiting to go off. Strangely enough we got an email from the NZ Safe Travel website (whom our journey is registered with) with asvice for Turkish travel around ANZAC day and saying to avoid Istanbul and Ankara except for essential travel! Theres quite a few pictures of Erdogan around (the President they tried to depose) but not anywhere as many as those of Ataturk - he is everywhere you look pretty much! Oh and one thing of note too - you cannot access Wikipedia in Turkey, it just comes up with an error. I think that's deliberate - whether that's always been the case, or a new measure since the failed coup I don't know.
So what were the highlights? Goreme definitely, with its alien landscape and our Hot Air Ballooning adventure, plus yhe amazing Cave Hotel and its staff; getting to see Troy, and Gallipoli (apologies for my waffled-post about the Gallipoli part); Istanbul with its unique feel and catching short ferries between continents; lots of interesting and strange things to see, great food, all the Turkish Tea, the Dondurma Ice Cream and all the friendly cats! Not so great was the Istanbul hostel, definitely the worst of our accom in Turkey but I would say not the worst we've ever had (though its up there); the shoe polishing scam artist; and the amount of time spent travelling on buses or planes around Turkey was not ideal but necessary - though in saying that the bus travel was unexpectedly good and cheap too. Definitely though Pamukkale Travel was my favorite bis company we travelled with due to all their service on board!
Two weeks was a very decent amount of time to spend in Turkey - I would not have wanted to do any less, and if I was to do it again I don't know that I would change much. Originally I wanted to do a sailing trip on the coast, but that wasnt possible for time of year plus time we had - I dont mind missing out on that at all, because I do think we will visit Turkey again at some point in our lives. Theres still coastal Turkey to see, plus Eastern Turkey - at the moment a bit if a no-go area due to the Syrian conflict on the border. Hopefully by the time we're in a position to revisit Turkey, that will all be over! Two weeks is also equal with our longest-ever holiday that we've done together, which was to Spain (not counting going back to NZ-Aus for Chrismas 2016). From now, we will be the longest we've ever been on the road together and that won't stop until we hit NZ in August. One country down - a few more to go!