Istanbul Travel Blogs - Page 5

a 6 day trip to the World's Fifth largest city in population !

Love Istanbul .. i go there a couple times a year for bussiness .

Istanbul was technically my first stop in this European excursion, albeit in transit (on my way to Hamburg), but  saving it for last has its merits and miseries. On the one hand, coming at the end of the trip assured my good friend Orkun's presence in the city and his undivided attention, as t…

Amazing City

A had a friend of a friend of a friend in Istanbul. That helped, but I had honestly booked this trip with no plan. Yes, I wanted to see Hagia Sophia, but I was in Istanbul for five days with no real game plan. This was all back in October 2007.I flew into Sabiha Gokcen, the airport on the Asian sid…

La luz entró fuertemente en las ventanas de la habitación, y eso que aún eran las ocho y media de la mañana. La gente se fue despertando poco a poco. Como siempre, era Chema el último en incorporarse. Su estilo "piedra" a la hora de dormir contrastaba bastante con el mío en este tipo de viaje…

When I wasn't working, I spent almost all of my time in turkey eating lamb, smoking shisha, drinking beer, tasting baklava and enjoying the beautiful views of the Marmara region.

okay all in all the turkey was a great place but it was freezin cold and i had to stay in the hotel room last few days :(

On my way from Berlin to Singapore, I stopped over in Istanbul for a week. This is a unique city with 14 million people who all seem to be going in different directions at the same time. This is a city of stimulating sights, sounds, smells and tastes. I must return!

I had many mixed feelings about my travel in Turkey. This being my first Muslim nation: Would I be welcome?, Would I feel comfortable?, Would my knowledge of the religion be challenged?, What food choices would I have? As an American, there are many "givens" that we are taught about this region of the world. In just one word the "givens" equal fear. My travels have morphed into journey to dispell myths. I embraced Turkey to try to dispell this myth. This is what I learned:

I have been to Taksim many times now but this trip I took alone.  It was a beautifil day, I had no plans so I was able to get lost and find my way back to where I needed to be.  I wondered around the town took back streets just to see what was there...it was amazing just watching the poep…

I have to admit I went into Turkey expecting the worst.   My sole interaction with Turkish people until this point had been the many dirty, dodgy kebab shops that can be found all over the world. The Turkish endemic in Vienna was particularly bad and the youths there cause a lot of problems…

A week-end in Istanbul

I don't even remember how we decided to go there. There were lots of places we wanted to visit. Istanbul was one of them. Price of flights were quite cheap. We found some CouchSurfers there to host us. Yeah, I think that's it for the decision. Why was it on the list ? Alex studies history and art h…

I am studying Classical Studies at university, and so leapt at the chance to go on a university visit to the great historical sites of Western Turkey. It was colder than expected, but an amazing place which I want to return some day and explore further. Such a shame I couldn't go again with them to Tunisia this year due to heavy dissertation workload!