Questions for Otherchelebi!
 

Good day, Otherchelebi,

I will be traveling to Istanbul for the first time in November and have been reading trip reports on Fodors as well as on other forums. I have read your comments with great interest and would like to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind.

I would love to visit a jazz club and from your comments you have been to many of them. Would you be able to recommend one or two of them?

In response to a trip report from 2009, you mentioned neighborhoods such as Nisantasi, Sisli, Gayrettepe, Ulus, Levent, Bebek, Ayaspasa, and others. I would very much like to visit local neighborhoods. Is there a neighborhood that you would recommend over another for a first time visitor? Also, would it be easy to take a tram or train to these neighborhoods?

Outside of the major mosques and museums (Ayasofya, Blue Mosque, etc), are there smaller mosques that you would recommend visiting?

And finally, transportation. For the life of me, I’m having trouble understanding the Akbil. In your opinion is that worth obtaining?

I am an older, female, solo, AA traveler who likes to experience different cultures and experiences. Like many before me, I plan to stay in the Sultanahmet to be close to the major attractions. However, I’d like to spend a couple of days and get off the tourist path.

Any advice would be very welcome and much appreciated.

Thank you!

I think Oc is at a philosophy conference which runs through the 5th. If you don't get a reply from him, you might want to bring this back to the top then.

Thanks, Fra; I'll do just that!

ttt - Hopefully Otherchelebi has returned to see this...

OC has one more night at conference...

Thanks, Purduegrad; appreciate it!

We took an early ferryboat from Bandirma and are back at home. It is almost 11PM.

1. Jazz :
The best seems to be Nardis Jazz Club. Istanbul Jazz Center has had recent problems with the artists protesting the owner for maltreatment.
Another simple but fun place not far from Nardis, also near Galata Tower, is Atolye Kuledibi.
Q Jazz, has a fabulous location smack on the sea and may be worth the price you pay. It is located on the pier in front of the most expensive boutique hotel in istanbul, Les Ottoman.

Finally, Babylon may have a concert or two when you are here. Always pays to check their website and also the website of Biletix for tickets to all concerts. Problem with Babylon is that they do not have much seating and what seating they have is uncomfortable.

Actually, you may also check Ghetto which may have fusion concerts.

2. Neighborhoods :

Nisantasi is a must for upscale and hip. People watching, window shopping, cafes, restaurants (some very reasonably priced like Saray pudding shop and Hacibey doner), a good Pasabahce glass shop, our favorite jeweler, Arkaik, etc.

Besiktas is excellent for middle class folk watching. No tourists again and lots of regular people doing their thing. An excellent Black Sea Ravioli like "Sinop Manti" restaurant some good and cheap doner places, a large bookstore wth lots of stationary on ground floor, "Kabalci" There is also a naval museum on the seaside and boats taking off for the Asian side.

Ayaspasa is where we live. It is purely residential, just off Taksim and is only a good choice for apartments.

Cihangir is the fashionable bohemian area. Meaning it is getting more expensive. But still fun. Not many tourists but quite a few expats.

Bebek, on the Bosphorus is another lovely upscale area with beautiful but expensive restaurants as well as a Gloria Jeans Coffee Shop with the most fabulous view ever. Luca bar restaurant is where old goats and young bait hang out.

I would visit any mosque which strikes your fancy but definitely the small and well known Rustem pasha mosque at eminonu, not far from the Spice bazaar. You can also take a ferry from Besiktas to Uskudar and visit both Mihrimah Hatun and Semsi Pasa mosques, and walking towards salacak have terrific sunset photography of the old city over the Leander's Tower.

Akbil is now defunct, replaced bt the "Istanbul Card" , similar to a credit card. The deposit is 7-10TL which you should get back if you return it. You can buy it at a kiosk close to the Sultanahmet tram station. It is good on buses, trams, metro, funicular and regular commuter ferries. It is also cheaper to use than individual tokens. Each ride is something like 1.6-2 TL So loading it with 10TL will give you at least five rides. All metro stations and most tram stations also have machines where you can add credits to your Istanbul card.

Istanbul has great potential for getting off the trodden path but I do not know what your interests are. Some ideas are churches, synagogues, major foreign highschools (which were started mostly in the 19th century as missionary schools), The Florence Nightingale Museum (inside the barracks of the Turkish First Army), Walks along the Bosphorus. Boat trips to the lesser Princes' Islands and hikes or phaeton rides there. Day trip to Nicea, etc.

Hope this will help. And thanks Fra Diavolo and Purduegrad for helping.

Sorry, forgot to answer one question. Most of these neighborhoods will require either a direct taxi from sultanahmet or a tram to Kabatas and then a bus from Kabatas or a taxi from there.

i strongly advise that you get a decent map of Istanbul and familiarize yourself with the city and its neigborhoods beforehand.

By the way, I have a reasonably good review of Besiktas area on Trip Advisor.

Fantastic - thank you so much, Otherchelebi! Wonderful information, and I am looking forward to my trip.

Glad to see you had safe travels home. Hopefully, you'll be getting plenty of rest this weekend. Thank you again; I appreciate it!

I second mscleo's thanks. We intentionally planned a long time in Istanbul and rented apartments in both Sultanahmet (4 nights) and Beyoglu (5 nights) so we would have the time and opportunity to experience more than just the tourist highlights. (However, to not skimp on the touristy things, we're splitting the time in Istanbul with four days in Cappadocia and Ephesus.).

The apartments also give us an opportunity to avoid hotels filled with other tourists and the exclusive use of restaurants -- so we shop in the markets, learn to cook with local ingredients and experiment! Don't know how much you cook, otherchelbi, but if there's a special market we should visit, a food/drink we should be sure to try, or dish I should try to cook, I'd be most interested.

Purduegrad, I cook a great deal, mostly fusion and am a regular on the "What's for Dinner" thread on the lounge (except for the last month when I took a leave of absence.)

Buy some spices from the spice market to take back home if you are interested in using them. We buy from Bilge, owner of Ucuzcular, a knowledgable United States educated young lady.

I recently bought saffron (2gms), turmeric 150 gms, mace 20 gms, coriander powder 100 grams, green cardamom pods 50gms, fenugreek powder 50gms, fenugreek seeds50gms, muscat100gms, mustard seeds50gms, powder cinnamon50gms, powder cloves50gms,powde ginger100gms, sumak200gms, hot red pepper flakes250gms for my daughter to take back to Chicago.

They will vacuum pack all.

There are no specialty food stores at Sultanahmet.

The only two stores we like in Beyoglu are the pickle shop and the deli called Sutte in the Fish Market.

Vegetables are good everywhere. Saturday mornings, there is a natural produce market near Kurtulus.

There is a tiny deli and cheese market called Antre at Cihangir, which is the only place where I can find the Konya Blue Cheese, an excellent crumbly blue, much better than most Danish Blues.

Try the white cheeses of Itimat Dairy Factory stores (there is one just outside the spice bazaar on the bridge side) They also have an excellent Aged Kashar cheese (eski kashar) and very munchable string cheese.

the wine store in Cihangir called La Cave is where we usually buy our wines. They have some excellent cheaper Turkish wines also.

You will fall in love with Turkish tomatoes.

Try Hunnap, jujube if you have never eaten them. simple, a little sour, tastes a little like a green apple. Otherwise it will be tangerine and satsuma season.

Thanks, again, OC. This is wonderful information. I look forward to shopping -- and eating!

OC: & OTHERS LOVE YOUR COMMENTS.I WILL BE IN ISTANBUL IN 10/2012.CAN SOME ONE TELL ME THE SPICE SHOP OC HAS MENTIONED IN HIS POST"UCUZCULAR" WHERE IT IS LOCATED??

Ucuzcular is one of many many spice shops at the Egyptian (Spice) Bazaar at Eminonu.

If you enter from the Eminonu Square gate, walk the long body of the cross shaped covered bazaar and turn left at the intersection, the shop is about 30 meters or so on your left. If you have to ask, the letter "c" is pronounced as a the "g" in "gentle" and "u" is like "oo". And do not mind the tauts who will try to lure you into their shops.

OC:THANKS A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!