So Long and Thanks for all the Kebabs, Istanbul!

Tuesday, our final day in Istanbul, was rainy and overcast. We walked down the hill from our AirBnB and took the tram to the Basilica Cistern, another of Istanbul's major tourist attractions. Istanbul has no large natural sources of freshwater in the old part of the city. To solve this problem, the ancient Romans, and the Byzantines after the collapse of the western Roman empire, built a series of cisterns throughout the city over the centuries. The Basilica Cistern, the largest of these, was capable of holding 80,000 cubic meters of water! It's a pretty spectacular underground space, with some interesting columns that were taken from existing and ruined ancient buildings. This has been a pretty common practice throughout history. Next, we went to the archaeology museum, which is also near Topkapi Palace. The museum is undergoing a major renovation so unfortunately only about half of it was open. The star of the show is the Alexander sarcophagus, a wonderfully preserved stone sarcophagus that is more than 2300 years old.

Catching the tram on a rainy morning.

Inside the basilica cistern.

Thanks stranger for taking our picture!

A re-used medusa column base.

The mood lighting is a vibe.

More columns taken from other structures.

Perfect loaf cat. 10/10. No notes.

Walking around quaint tourist neighborhoods on a rainy day.

The Istanbul Archaeology Museum.

The museum has a lot of ancient statues.

We love a good veiled sculpture.

The Alexander Sarcophagus. Originally, this would have been brightly painted.

Amazing paint remnants - this is 2300 year old paint.

Next we had lunch at Dubb Ethnic, which had good Google reviews. In general, Google did not lead us astray - a far cry from the pre-internet days of horrible tourist restaurants. A mother/daughter pair of Croatians sat next to us and called the cats matchka - flashback to our Croatia trip! Paul ordered chicken Kabob but they accidentally made a whole mixed grill (and gave it to us for the price of just the chicken dish), we took the extra meat to feed city cats. David had pasta, which was decent, and we ate outside in a nice area under an awning. 

We continued with more museums since it was a rainy day. The Turkish and Islamic art museum is in an old palace. When we finished we hung out under a covering outside (but inside the museum grounds) overlooking the blue mosque, waiting for the rain to die down a bit. We then walked to Eminonu Pier and boarded a boat for a 90 minute Bosphorus tour boat. It went up the European side and down the Asian side. The rain held off, and we had a few moments where the clouds parted and there was nice sunset lighting. Along the tour we saw castles, palaces, and the oldest remaining waterfront traditional house/mansion (yali). The two women next to us had their own tour guide in Spanish, and David briefly spoke with them. We definitely recommend getting on a boat while in Istanbul. The ferries might be a better option if you have more time, since you can get on and off at different stops. There are even entier car-free islands with cute towns that people visit for hiking and lunch. Considering our limited time and the uncertain weather, our tour was definitely worth it and a good option if you have limited time (which we did, since we missed a whole day in Istanbul due to our cancelled flight).

On the way to lunch we passed by some more old columns.

The dip sampler at Dubb. Delightful!

David bucked the trend and got some pasta.

Paul on the other hand...got the meat mega plate (on mistake).

Holy cow that's a lot of meat.

This matchka (cat) was here for the meat plate!

The area around our lunch spot was really cute!

Obelisk and minarets.

Museum cats.

A cool device to help travelers find Mecca.

A carpet with a design of 1800s Istanbul.

We had to wait out the rain a bit, but honestly there are worse views.

David on the boat tour.

We went by Dolmabace Palace, which unfortunately we didn't have time to visit.

Some modern skyscrapers poking out behind a cute harbor area.

Obligatory boat selfie!

Ortakoy Mosque. We wanted to check out this area of town, but ran out of time.

Passing by Rumeli Hisari, a 15th century fortress.

The oldest yali in Istanbul, Koprulu Amcazade Huseyin Yalisi, from 1699, currently under renovation.

Yalis at sunset.

Yet another palace! There was so much to see.

The Maiden's Tower

Boats lining up to enter the Golden Horn.

After disembarking from our boat tour, we went to the nearby Egyptian spice market then walked across the bridge back to our AirBnB. We hadn't had pide (a Turkish flatbread) yet, so we had some for dinner at Bankalar Karadeniz, followed up by some ice cream, wrapping up our time in Istanbul.

The Egyptian Market, or Spice Market.

Turkish Delight in the market.

Pide for dinner.

On Wednesday we woke up at 6:30am and took the train to the airport. We had access to the Turkish Airline lounge, which was great since we got a nice breakfast and a fancy bathroom.

Super early in the morning is the only time you'll see this street so empty!

Yay, lounge access.

Next stop - Greece!

Istanbul: Coasters, Mosques and a Turkish Tasting Menu!

With just two full days left in Istanbul, we continued at a fast pace. We woke up around 8:30am on a Monday and took a taxi to Chora Church (Kariye Mosque), which has impressive Byzantine mosaics and frescoes from 1310-1317. It's not very large, but it's a worthwhile stop thanks to the fantastic level of preservation of the art. Just like the Hagia Sophia, the church was converted to a mosque after the Ottoman conquest around 1500 then turned into a museum in 1945 until it was reconverted to a mosque in 2020. This church/mosque was unique in that it was on the far edge of the city, near the old Roman walls and was considered (at the time) a more pastoral setting.

After visiting Chora, we then walked to the nearby section of city walls, which were, unfortunately, not in great shape. There's a small museum attached to a portion of the wall, but it was closed when we passed by. From there we wandered through the very cute and colorful Balat neighborhood. We stopped in a cafe and had iced coffee and a matcha, and talked a bit with some Australians who really liked the milk in their coffee drinks. The owner's super cute kid was chilling and watching videos. We walked around a bit, seeing the brightly painted houses, and walked past something that was filming (maybe a Turkish movie or TV show?).

Good morning lil pigeon friend.

Chora Church on a brilliantly sunny morning.

Many of the frescoes/mosaics have been touched up/restored since Chora became a museum.

Interior frescoes.

Also great mosaics.

Section of the wall that used to separate Constantinople and the wilds.

Balat neighborhood is hilly and less densely developed than Galata/more central neighborhoods.

Of course there were cats.

Makeshift cat houses. These were all over Istanbul. Sometimes they were wooden/steel like dog houses. These were waterproof cardboard.

Shop owners would park bikes in front of their cafes to prevent people from parking (and ruining their curb appeal).

Balat coffee shop vibes.

He's a sweepy kitty!

Turkish cinema!

There were a couple rows of colorful houses like this that were popular with tourists.

From there we split up - David continued walking around colorful Balat a bit more, eventually deciding to make his way to Suleymaniye Mosque. From there he cut through the Grand Bazaar to visit the Islamic Science and Technology Museum (which was near Topkapi Palace). This was essentially a walk across the entire Golden Horn - which was mostly very interesting, and only sometimes along big roads with lots of traffic. The museum was mostly empty and didn't have the best exhibits. After visiting the museum, he headed back towards the AirBnB (taking the tram) to siesta for the late afternoon while waiting for Paul to return.

Suleymaniye Mosque

Interior of the mosque.

Attached cemetery with cat guards.

View toward Galata and the Bosphorus from the mosque.

The Grand Bazaar.

A room inside the Islamic Science and Technology Museum.

Meanwhile, Paul took a short taxi ride to the Marmaray train station. This is like a long distance commuter rail, but runs at high frequencies and is the only train with a Bosphorus crossing. It was about an hour east, into Asia, to Tuzla Station, where the goal was to get the last coaster credits of the trip. From Tuzla it was a short taxi ride to Viaport Marina (ViaSea), where Paul rode his landmark 1000th coaster, Red Fire! He also got a bonus kiddie coaster credit that was not yet listed on the roller coaster database. Taking the train back west, he made a quick stop at Bostanci Luna Park for a wild mouse coaster. From there, Google said a bus was the best way to get to the AirBnB. There were great views from the bus while crossing the Bosphorus bridge.

Red Fire, Paul's 1000th credit.

ViaSea is a small but cute park.

And a little bonus park.

Crossing the bridge on the bus.

After reuniting at the AirBnB, we chilled on the roof for a bit before our dinner reservation at Aheste. We usually like having one or two splurge meals on big trips, and this was our fancy dinner out in Istanbul. Aheste has a tasting menu celebrating the rich history of Turkish cuisine and great cocktails. Some highlights were the Turkish rice dish and lamb neck "pizza." David wouldn't eat the lamb heart, but Paul enjoyed it. After dinner we headed back to the AirBnB and hung out on the roof for a little longer before turning in for the night.

Pre-dinner rooftop hang.

Suleymaniye Mosque from Galata.

Rooftop panorama.

Hello handsome!

Paul's favorite dish, rice with friend onions and herbs.

Tuna on fried filo pastry.

Grilled squid.

Lamb neck "pizza." This was David's favorite dish.

Stuffed grape leaves. Sometimes it's hard to tell what food is Greek and what is Turkish. 😉

Dinner vibes.

Dessert! Filo pastry with cream and fruit.

Just some random cats in a cafe. They really have the run of the city.

Galata Tower area is always hopping. Especially with nightly shows projected onto the tower.

One more day in Istanbul before we head to Greece. Spoiler alert... it was a bit rainy, but we did our best to not let that slow us down.