Slice of Turkey- Enchanting Istanbul 🇹🇷

📸 Taksim square

That city which always stood out in history books and documentaries, magnificent Istanbul had ever been on my travel wish list and finally the wait was over.

History 🎭 Extremely wealthy in history & culture, Constantinople used to be the capital of the Byzantine empire and one of the biggest and most eventful cities of those times and today. Situated on either side of the famous Bhosphorous strait, the city is party in European continent and partly in Asian continent. With dozens of UNESCO sites like the world’s largest cathedral of those times ‘the Hagia Sophia’ are iconic landmarks of this gorgeous city.

📸Hagia Sofia
Read more about it on

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul

My journey 🏃💕
Turkey provided an easy to obtain E-visa and I flew in Oman airways to arrive in Istanbul. The most memorable part of the flight was the Turkey ham sandwich they provided, which undoubtedly is one of the tastiest sandwiches I have ever had. Though as per visa requirements I had to prove details of my stay if asked, the immigration officers were super fast despite the long queues. Soon I purchased a sim card, took snaps of the metro line and hopped on to a train headed to Taksim square.
Few months ago, I had read and got extremely inspired by the book ‘Ghost train to eastern Star’ by travel writer Paul Theroux who had described his journey through Istanbul. I felt like reliving the path of renowned Morrocan world traveler Ibn Batuta, and felt excited to discover those streets which he explored a few centuries ago. I reached Taksim by around midnight and checked in to my hotel. No feeling is as good the joy of finally arriving your destination and getting greeted by a local, in this case being the hotel reception staff who was also a coincidentally a history school teacher!

📸 Beautiful Blue mosque

Museums & Bhosphorous cruise 🕌⛵

Soon I found myself a beautiful hostel facing the Bhosphorous. My mornings we’re magical having breakfast on the rooftop lounge watching ships pass the strait, mostly headed from the Aegean sea to the Black sea. About 8 years ago I had passed this strait too on a ship headed to Izmit wondering if ever I would be lucky to be on shore in such a beautiful city, but today the dream of being on land and watching the ships pass by came true!

📸Bridge across Bhosphorous

Mehmet was my new local friend and guide with whom I discovered the city streets and visited nearly all significant icons like the Hagia Sophia, Blue mosque, Dolmache palace, Topkapi palace, Grand Bazaar, Taksim and also had local Hookah while eating Balik-Fish another day.

📸 Lamps @ Grand Bazar

A girl from Alleppo!! 📑 I came across this book (much later) about the story of this Syrian girl who successfully escaped war despite being on a wheelchair, through an article on readers digest. However, I knew there were many Syrians who were forced to flee war torn home and had managed to start new life in Turkey. But I never thought I would be lucky enough to meet someone personally who experienced having to be a refugee, although she was from Iraq. Her family had also fled the war and moved to Turkey. As always, personal stories touched me more than history or culture.

Read the book on this link http://christinalamb.net/books/nujeen.html

But speaking of culture, food and music, it is a haven for meat lovers. From Lahmajun-Turkish Pizza to Doners and Durum rolls, all meat based food are available in plenty. More than the famous Turkish coffee I somehow liked the 3lira Turkish tea which always came in a curvy standard glass. This was authentic! I had chai few times every day and in the slightly cold weather, nothing was as good as a warm chai. Strolling through the old and new streets of this historic city is a fabulous experience especially if you are a history-culture lover.

📸 Amazing Van breakfast with Mehmet

It was time to head to the next destination by now, the western Aegean city of Izmir! Keep tuned in for the rest of the slices of Turkey 😊