May 2 – Istanbul City Tour

This is our last day of seriously touring in Istanbul and in Turkey.  We started in the Ortakӧy neighborhood that is right under the Europe steel tower.  We were there early so not much was happening.  Too bad we had breakfast as there were lots of shops selling loaded baked potatoes and waffles.  It was a slightly older neighborhood with small windy streets, lots of shops and cafes, and nice views of the Bosphorus.

On the shore of the Bosphorus was the Ortakӧy neighborhood (too early, not much going on)

and the small and pretty Ortakӧy Mosque.

We also had some rather unobstructed, if distant, views of Hagia Sophia.

From there we headed over to the Balat neighborhood.  This is a Jewish quarter where Jews settled after expulsion from Spain.  It is another pretty neighborhood right on the Golden Horn with windy, narrow and sometimes steep streets.

On one of the steep streets we saw the Greek school.  It is a beautiful, large old brick building.  It is still in use, but the school has a very small student population now of only a dozen or so.   

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More Balat Neighborhood
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We then made the rather torturous drive up steep, narrow streets to the Pierre Loti area on one of the hills.  Pierre Loti was a French author who lived in the area for a while.  The views up of the Golden Horn and it’s outlet to the Bosphorus were great. 

We could see a lot of mosques from this viewpoint.

There were a number of tombs on the hillside just beyond the viewpoint. 

This bird posed very nicely for his picture.

After enjoying the view we ordered lemonade at the nice terrace café.  

Then it was off to our next stop.  Except we almost didn’t make it out.  There streets were very narrow and there were cars and vans parked on both sides, resulting in only one lane for traffic.  Unfortunately, it was NOT one way traffic.  For the longest time none of the parking and traffic staff did nothing to help move traffic.  We were in basic gridlock for about a half hour.  After one of the parking guys stopped traffic long enough to clear the block we made it a block.  Then it backed up again.  Eventually Erdal got out and managed to get some traffic stopped long enough to clear the block so we could move forward some more.  Really weren’t sure we would make it.  What a mess.

We then headed over to the Galata Tower.  The tower was build in 1348 as watch tower.  Today is a national holiday and the end of Ramadan so the crowds were out in force.  Erdal already had tickets to the tower but the entire national parks computer system was down and wasn’t scanning tickets.  So the line really crept.  But we finally made it in.

The elevator took us most of the way to the top and we had to climb stairs to the last two levels.  The views were 360 degrees and were great.  Glad we had the patience to stay in line for a too long wait.  But it was worth it. 

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More Istanbul
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This was our last site.  We made it back to the hotel late afternoon and said our goodbyes to Belal and Erdal.  They were great through the entire trip.  We will miss them. 

We rested for a while in the room and then headed out for shopping and dinner. 

We hit a nearby Hafiz Mustafa baklava shop.  They have been around since 1864 and make some of the best baklava in town.  We bought some baklava for us and a small box of Turkish Delights to take home to the grandkids.  Paul doesn’t care much for them but Mary likes them.  If the grandkids don’t like them then she will take them.

The we found a small restaurant with great falafels and hummus and had a nice Turkish dinner.