My son and I flew Turkish Airlines over April vacation week from Boston to Hong Kong. On our way home, we opted for a 36-hr layover in Istanbul. Thanks to many of you who answered my Q in my previous query.

Our HKG-IST flight arrived at 4:55am. Originally we were going to take the Havaist Bus 11 direct from the Airport to Sultanahmet. However, a few months ago I read on TA that they have suspended this route. I ended up contacting our hotel to have them arrange a car transfer (€50 each way). The whole operation is a bit perplexing to me. We were told to look for a sign outside Gate 13. I was also contacted on whasapp, asking me to call when we are there. When we showed up, we were told by a guy to wait. After waiting with another person for about 10 minutes, we followed the guy to the car pickup area. The other person was put on one van and we were on a different van. The rest was uneventful and the journey was quick due to how early it was on a Saturday.

I was glad we arranged the ride with the hotel - our hotel is literally next to the Sultanahmet tram stop, and cars aren't allowed there. So our van stopped at the park across the street and the driver brought us to the hotel. I think it would be difficult if I were to take an uber or another car transfer company, and being dropped off 2 blocks from the hotel, I might have trouble finding the hotel on my own.

For those who were curious: we deplaned at 5:15am at a bus gate. Got through immigration and retrieved our luggage by 5:45am. (we have Fast track so maybe it's a bit quicker?) Got on the van around 6am and at the hotel by 6:45am.

It was too early to check in, and our hotel was nice enough to offer us free breakfast even though our stay hasn't even started. But breakfast doesn't start until 8am so we went out for a walk. Again, our hotel (World Heritage Center Hotel) is right by the Sultanahmet tram stop, so just steps away from the major sights. At this hour, it was deceptively quiet and serene. We took a bunch of pics of the Blue Mosque, then walked to Gülhane Park as it's the peak of their Tulip festival, and back to the hotel for 8am breakfast.

Blue Mosque at 7am

Tulip Festival in Gulhane Park

After breakfast, our first stop is Basilica Cistern. It's my fault I didn't do in depth research beforehand - I had a link to buy tickets online but the link didn't work. By then at 9am, the tourists have poured in and I was stunned by the sheer number of people in line. Locals can get in for free with tickets from kiosks, but tourists have to buy theirs from the ticket window (₺ 1950). Luckily we only stood in line for maybe 15 minutes, but I was also stunned by the number of people being admitted - it was literally hundreds during our time standing in line. I guess what I didn't realize is how big the Cistern is, and it really can absorb hundreds and hundreds of people. The place is pretty amazing especially with the lighting. I would say we spent about 45 minutes there.


Next is Blue Mosque, and it was confusing for us as to where the entrance was. We first went inside the courtyard, only to realize we have to go back out for the tourist entrance, which has a long line. We were in line for maybe 15-20 minutes? Inside the Mosque it was also fairly crowded, but definitely beautiful especially with its Itznik blue tiles.

Itznik tiles inside blue mosque

By then it was almost lunch time, so we walked along the main drag along the tram line, found an currency exchange and exchanged $100 USD. There are probably some better rates elsewhere but for just $100, it wasn't worth hunting around just to save myself $2. We then picked a random restaurant for lunch. I had lentil soup and a salad, my son had lamb shish kebab. That plus a bottle of water came out to ₺2020.

Next is Grand Bazaar, which our hotel manager told us to go for a look and pictures, but do not buy anything from there. I was surprised by how wide the aisles are and lined with shops! I had imagined it to be like european mercados, with stalls instead of actual shops. The place is big and so easy to get lost! We did enjoy looking at all the displays with everything so vibrant.

Grand Bazaar

Then we headed up the hill to Süleymaniye Mosque; again the hotel manager told us there is a nice view of the city from there. I'd say the view is okay... we also went inside the mosque since we were there already.

View from Süleymaniye Mosque

Süleymaniye Mosque dome

Then we walked to the Spice Bazaar. Between Grand Bazaar, Süleymaniye Mosque, and Spic Bazaar, we had to navigate through very crowded streets. If I thought our trip to Japan last year was crowded, Istanbul old city might be even worse.

I love the interior decor of the Spice Bazaar. I also love all the displays at all the stores. It was hard to resist the sales people... and eventually we succumb to the charm of one particular store staff. He was v enterprising as he was showing us the different spices, then offered us a cup of tea (pomegrante for me; mango for my son). The tea is so hot that it is impossible to drink it quick, so you're basically stuck in their store sipping the tea slowly while getting bombarded with all the sales pitch. I actually didn't really mind the sales pitch as we were interested in buying some spices anyway. In the end we got 200gm of Ottoman Spice and 200gm of mango tea (powder) for ₺1600. We probably fell into the biggest tourist trap but the guy was genuninely nice and charming...


Spice Bazaar

We were pretty beat by then (it was 2:30pm and we've been up for many hours!). My son asked to take the tram back to our hotel instead of walking. The hotel manager told me that trams take contactless so I don't need to buy the Istanbulkart. So we walked over to Eminönü tram stop, only to find contactless doesn't work! We decided to walk back to our hotel instead, given that it's really only a 20-min walk at most. We got back to our hotel around 3pm and laid down for a much-needed nap.

to be continued...