Image Copyright 2008, by Gryffindor, GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

Istanbul has been around a very long time – for longer than the Turks have been in Turkey.  It swarms with people, having once been the largest city in the world, with as many as 17 million reputed to be there during its peak season.

In addition to being steeped in history and abounding with people, it is unique among all cities in being located in both Europe and Asia.

The architectural feature that predominates is the dome.  In old buildings even quite small spaces that elsewhere would be spanned by a length of flat roof will have a dome or two instead.  By the end of your stay you will be all domed-out, and with nearly 3000 active mosques in the city, you may feel within a day that you would have seen enough mosques.

If you wish to walk to most of the historical sites then you should stay in or near the Sirkeci area.  From here it is a short walk to see the Hagia Sophia and Blue mosque that face each other over an ornamental garden with a pond, the Hippodrome, the cistern.  There is the Topkapi Palace that dominates the skyline of the old city.  A little further afield is the Grand Bazaar.  A taxi ride away is the Egyptian (Spice) Bazaar.  And everywhere there are itinerant vendors plying their trade with varying degrees of honesty.

For this day we choose the touristy way: A Bosphorus cruise that includes a visit to a leatherwear fashion show, a tour of the elegant Dolmbahce Palace, a view of the city from Asia, and a tour of the Egyptian Market.

At the start of the tour you get collected from your hotel.  In my case they decided that they could not get the bus through the street the hotel was in because the double-parked cars left too narrow a lane for it to pass.  So I started off with a brisk walk of some blocks to where the bus was located.  Onboard I was assigned a sticker number that corresponded to my pre-booked tour.

The bus then hurtled to a meeting point where it was met by other buses and after much standing around the passengers where eventually sorted by tour and language.

Egyptian Bazaar

The Egyptian Market is still the chief spice market in Istanbul, and unlike the Grand Bazaar it is extensively used by the locals.  There is a heady scent of spices, which used to come via Egypt in the 17th century when the bazaar was erected.  It has ornamental entrances and is L-shaped.  It is roofed over with a series of domes.

We encountered more delicious flavours of Turkish Delight than we ever imagined existed.  There were also a surprising number of jewellery shops, which seemed to have a later start than the spice traders.

Outside, waiting for the bus the local vendors specialised in selling colognes and cheap watches.

Overshadowing the building is the Yeni Camii, a striking mosque.  The bazaar rents were intended to subsidise the maintenance costs of the mosque and as such form part of the same precinct.   The area used for ritual cleansing by congregants is between the mosque and the market.

Bosphorus cruise

From the Bazaar we were taken to the quay for the Bosphorus Cruise, from just north of the Golden Horn to just north of the Rumeli Fortress.  One got to see how the other half lives in Istanbul, with many imposing and beautiful residences along the sea.  The cruises are a major attraction and many cruise vessels jockey for prime position as one passes the sights, including a private island owned by the Galatasaray sports club.  We also caught sight of the yacht once owned by the last Sultan that was later used by Kemal Ataturk, the founding president of modern Turkey.

After a diversion to a leather showroom where a brief fashion show of modest merit was presented in order to sell lovely but very pricey leather fashionwear, we had lunch of spicy boiled chicken (altogether more delightful to taste than the rather bland description suggests, thanks to the Turkish mastery of exotic spices) at a restaurant facing the sea.

Dolmabahce Palace

This is an important part of the Turkish patrimony and is dedicated in part to the hagiography of the first Turkish president, who died there in 1938.  All the clocks in the palace were stopped and set to 9:05, the time that he died.

The palace is under military guard, the guards being selected in part for being tall.  No more than 6000 visitors are allowed on each day, who shuffle through wearing little plastic packets over their feet.  Even the handrails on the staircases are out of bounds and there are attendants who remind you of that should you put a foot wrong.

The palace is sumptuous and the grand hall most extraordinarily luxurious, while the household section (the harem) had a slightly less formal aspect to it.  One is not permitted to take photographs anywhere in the building, which is also strictly enforced.  The grand hall was designed to impress visiting dignitaries.  It doubtless succeeded.  The already large space is further expanded by trompe l’oeil effects  rising into the heavens, and the room is dominated by an immense crystal chandelier, a gift from Queen Victoria.  It was incongruously  dangling above a vase, giving the impression that the vase is there to catch it if anything was to go wrong.

Being part of a tour group was a decided advantage at this palace as one was whisked through the waiting crowds and is guaranteed entrance.

Asia

We then passed over the Bosphorus bridge, that we earlier had sailed beneath, and had a good look at the European part of the city from Camlica hill, in Asia, before returning to our hotels.

So, if a day is all you have whilst stopping over in Istanbul or there on business, our suggestion would be the Bosphorus tour as it includes the cruise, Dolmabahce Palace, lunch and a ‘step over into Asia’.  It costs around 60 Euro’s which is good value for money, being a whole day tour.

This is definitely a DIY travel destination, where unless you are doing an extended trip, you can do it with minimal agent assistance and mostly by yourself without too much hassle.  For example, the Bosphorus cruise can be booked on line.

Call-back

In our experience a call-back service is the best answer.  It should be one that you are billed for later rather than a pre-paid one.

How call-back works: you phone a designated number, let it ring once and put down.  The service then calls you back automatically almost immediately.  When you answer, you are prompted to dial the subscriber number and you are put through.

Most call-back services are based in the USA, which means that you get the more favourable US rates instead of the higher rate that the hotel would charge you.

Call-back with a mobile phone

In order to avoid the bother of having to access the Internet in order to keep changing the call-back number, it is convenient to use the call-back in combination with a mobile phone.  That way the number stays constant even when you move between countries.

For this you need an “international” SIM card and a GSM phone.  The SIM card can be obtained from the same service provider as the call-back service, and they frequently also rent or sell suitable GSM-compatible phones.

The number is usually Estonian because Estonia has a very liberal phone system (and is the country that Skype came from).  Anyone phoning your number will pay the international call costs to Estonia.  You will also be able to receive SMS text messages from anywhere in the world, which the sender pays for.

Limitations

Check if the phone you intend using is compatible with your service provider.  For instance, we found that a Nokia 95 could not send SMSes with a United World Telecom SIM card.  The similar but older Nokia N70 is fully compatible, which we only found out by experiment after returning home.  As a result we could not send text messages whilst travelling across Europe.

We suggest that you select a service provider that states phone compatibility on their web site.  One such company is One SimCard, who have an exhaustive list of compatible GSM phones.  (If you are aware of others please feel free to register and add a comment.)

For travel within the US different arrangements will have to be made as it is a stronghold of the CDMA phone system.  Cheaper calls can be made with a mobile phone and direct dialling rather than call-back.