Istanbul, Turkey

I’ve just returned from a fantastic trip to the fabulous city of Istanbul and I must admit, I was totally blown away by the place. I’d wanted to visit the city for years but just hadn’t got round to it, however earlier in the year a friend of mine who is a frequent visitor there asked if I’d like to go for a long weekend at the end of April and I jumped at the chance especially as I’d be going with someone who knew the city well. On arriving at Istanbul airport we made our way to our lovely hotel in the Sultanahmet district and as it was very late at night, decided the best thing to do would be to get a good night’s sleep before taking on all the sights fresh the next morning. One thing I hadn’t expected was being woken up at 4.30am by the Muezzin calling everyone to prayer from the Blue Mosque – what a brilliant experience and one I won’t forget – it was so different from anything I’d ever experienced before. Next morning the Blue Mosque or Sultanahmet Mosque to give it its true name was the first port of call on our meanderings. To put it plainly, it’s one of the most spectacular buildings I’ve ever seen and really takes your breath away with its sheer scale. From there we crossed the road to visit the Hagia Sophia, a museum and former mosque and originally a Byzantine church – another great building and very interesting inside as you can still see the original mosaics pertaining to its Christian origins as well as the elements from its conversion to a mosque. To complete a truly memorable first day, we took ourselves off to Topkapi Palace where we visited all the various pavilions, lovely tended gardens and the Harem. Topkapi Palace really deserves the best part of a full day, so maybe I’ll spend some more time there on my next visit. Next day, after some lovely Turkish meze the night before we took a rather nice boat trip which criss-crosses the Bosphorus all the way from Istanbul to Anadolu Kavagi almost at the entrance to the Black Sea. It gave a different perspective to the city and really helped me get my bearings on the layout of the city as well as getting some good photographs too. As it was a rainy day, it kept us under cover too and was a great diversion from the busy streets. Our final day begun with a visit to the Spice Bazaar in the Eminonu district and the Rustem Pasa Mosque nearby which is decorated with some beautiful Inzik Turkish tiles and well worth the detour, followed by the Museum of Islamic Science which explains the developments of various scientific processes through the ages that took place in the Islamic world including developments in astronomy & medicine. Of course, I only really scratched the very surface of this bustling, vibrant, cosmopolitan city, so that gives me the perfect opportunity to return there where I’ll be visiting the Grand Bazaar, Taksim Square the Istanbul Modern Gallery to name but a few sights as well as soaking up the buzz of the Beyoglu district. Can’t wait.