Singinalot's 2023 Land Trip to Istanbul, Cappadocia, Rome, Amalfi Coast, & Florence

August 22, 2023

After the cistern, we walked along its adjoining street, past the panoramic restaurant we had eaten at earlier, through several shops. One tried to sell me a very good quality knock off Louis Vuitton, but I passed…not without seriously considering it though!

We turned left down a street with a brightly lit restaurant greeting us and beckoning us in.

my helloumi salad

and my chicken kabob

Nate got chicken casserole which now became his favorite dish in Turkey. You will see this a few more times.

August 22, 2023

the chicken casserole pic flipped 🙈

Time for bed…tomorrow we will visit Topkapi Palace!

HBE4 · August 22, 2023

3 hours ago, singinalot said:

"Um. Let's talk about my hair". 😅

57 minutes ago, singinalot said:

Ordered by Justinianus I (527-565), Byzantine Emperor, the cistern is called among Turkish people as “Yerebatan Cistern” (the Subterranean Cistern) owing to the marble columns that rise up from the water and seem to be countless. The cistern is also called “the Basilica Cistern” as it is located on a place formerly known as “the Stoa Basilica.”

Built on a 140-meter long and 70-meter wide rectangular space, the spacious cistern covers 9.800 sqm area, in total. The cistern is 9 meter high and has 336 columns with a capacity to store 100 thousand tonnes of water. The cistern is also home to a “tear column” with tear-like decorations and two “Medusa heads” which are considered to be among the masterpieces of the Roman sculpture.

Beautiful. Amazing, in a somewhat hauntingly kind of way.

And probably easier on the hair too. 😉

August 22, 2023

11 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

"Um. Let's talk about my hair". 😅

Beautiful. Amazing, in a somewhat hauntingly kind of way.

And probably easier on the hair too. 😉

oohhh that’s such an accurate description! hauntingly beautiful indeed.

and definitely better on the hair 🤣

auburngirl · August 22, 2023

We are going to be in Istanbul in November at the end of a cruise. We will only get 1/2 day on Friday and a full day on Saturday. Would you recommend hiring a tour guide or doing it on our own? What have been your favorite attractions in order? Your posts are making me excited about our trip! Thank you!

sherrihall128 · August 22, 2023

Luckily, I have a cruise that ends in Istanbul next year... otherwise, I'd be finding a flight and packing my bags right now! I love your pictures. The city looks so safe and walkable. I can't wait to go visit. Also, lucky for me, Turkish Airlines has non-stop roundtrip flights from Seattle (where I live) to Istanbul, so the 12 hour flight won't be so bad. So excited! Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

#55worktoplay · August 22, 2023

4 hours ago, singinalot said:

Ordered by Justinianus I (527-565), Byzantine Emperor, the cistern is called among Turkish people as “Yerebatan Cistern” (the Subterranean Cistern) owing to the marble columns that rise up from the water and seem to be countless. The cistern is also called “the Basilica Cistern” as it is located on a place formerly known as “the Stoa Basilica.”

Built on a 140-meter long and 70-meter wide rectangular space, the spacious cistern covers 9.800 sqm area, in total. The cistern is 9 meter high and has 336 columns with a capacity to store 100 thousand tonnes of water. The cistern is also home to a “tear column” with tear-like decorations and two “Medusa heads” which are considered to be among the masterpieces of the Roman sculpture.

Wow!

BonTexasNY · August 23, 2023

I love the bits of history you include with your fabulous pictures.

Looking forward to seeing more.

Instead of clicking the "like" button to your every entry, please know in advance that I like them all!

Ozark_Kid · August 23, 2023

I keep noticing on buildings, menus etc things a spelled in English. It reminded me of when I visited Cambodia. The younger generation spoke good English . Do you find that many that speak English in Istanbul?

August 23, 2023

16 hours ago, auburngirl said:

We are going to be in Istanbul in November at the end of a cruise. We will only get 1/2 day on Friday and a full day on Saturday. Would you recommend hiring a tour guide or doing it on our own? What have been your favorite attractions in order? Your posts are making me excited about our trip! Thank you!

oh I’m so excited for you! November seems like it would be the perfect time to be there. I think if you can get around easily and prefer freedom/flexibility, it’s best to do on your own.

Our favorites in Istanbul:

the Basilica Cistern

the bosphorus tour

drinks along the galata bridge

istaklal street

16 hours ago, sherrihall128 said:

Luckily, I have a cruise that ends in Istanbul next year... otherwise, I'd be finding a flight and packing my bags right now! I love your pictures. The city looks so safe and walkable. I can't wait to go visit. Also, lucky for me, Turkish Airlines has non-stop roundtrip flights from Seattle (where I live) to Istanbul, so the 12 hour flight won't be so bad. So excited! Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

Thank you so much! You will have a great time! Excited for you to experience Turkish airlines, too

11 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

I love the bits of history you include with your fabulous pictures.

Looking forward to seeing more.

Instead of clicking the "like" button to your every entry, please know in advance that I like them all!

thank you my friend! So much more history to come.

6 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

I keep noticing on buildings, menus etc things a spelled in English. It reminded me of when I visited Cambodia. The younger generation spoke good English . Do you find that many that speak English in Istanbul?

We found the younger generations did speak fractured english for the most part…but i will say (spoiler alert) when we went to the asian side, they spoke far less and we had a hard time communicating even with google translate

August 23, 2023

We woke up this morning and felt like we needed a quick visit to the gym. The hotel has a small but adequate fitness center.

Edited August 23, 2023 by singinalot

auburngirl · August 23, 2023

On 8/21/2023 at 4:17 PM, singinalot said:

Turkish currency is a lira which equates to about 27 lira per USD. We paid 260 lira for both of us for the 1.5-2 hour tour. I say 1.5-2 hour because it's listed as 1.5 hours, but when it's all said and done it's about 2 hours. That's $9USD for 2 people up and down the Bosphorus....I mean...YES!

https://turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Istanbul/Sights/Bosphorus/turyol.html

This tour was 100% worth it and a major highlight of our trip. Be sure to sit on the left side of the boat and UPSTAIRS! The boats leave on the hour. We got there at about 2:30 so early enough to board and get good seats.

A map I found online of the ferry ports:

facing the start of the Galatea bridge from our seat on the ferry

a good view of the Galatea Bridge…here you can see the two level split with the restaurants on the bottom

IMG_0659.mov 53.97 MB · 2 downloads

here we are passing the Galata cruise port. 🙂

IMG_0662.mov 55.57 MB · 2 downloads

What time of the day did you do this?

August 23, 2023

28 minutes ago, auburngirl said:

What time of the day did you do this?

we got our tickets at 2:30pm and the boat left the dock at 3pm.

they leave on the hour all day, though, so could go at any time!

sherrihall128 · August 23, 2023

1 hour ago, singinalot said:

we got our tickets at 2:30pm and the boat left the dock at 3pm.

they leave on the hour all day, though, so could go at any time!

Do you have to plan ahead, or can you just show up at the dock? Also, do you know the latest time of the cruise? Thanks for the tips!

August 23, 2023

1 hour ago, sherrihall128 said:

Do you have to plan ahead, or can you just show up at the dock? Also, do you know the latest time of the cruise? Thanks for the tips!

no need to plan ahead! we just walked right up! I’m sorry, I did not take note of how late they run, but I do know that they go through the evening.

August 23, 2023

we grabbed some lunch from the Barbecue House. food and service were good, but we had our second encounter with a scammer here. As we were eating, a man came up and said we had arranged to meet him there for a tour and showed us a picture he had taken of us from the street. Nate and I both argued with him and the waiter came over and shewed him away. Kind of creepy….

after lunch we made our way to the grand bazaar. It is HUGE and we felt lost the entire time inside of it 🤣

August 23, 2023

August 23, 2023

I thought I’d pause here and comment on overall conversation, safety, begging, etc. that we experienced in Istanbul specifically.

I was not nervous at all to go as a Christian, American woman to a muslim country and in general I did not find it to be an issue. The only time it was, was when we visited the mosque and Topkapi Palace’ holy relics.

Sometimes, in conversations, I’d ask a question, but then the person would answer Nate rather than me. I believe this is part of their culture in some areas, so it didn’t bother me, and it honestly rarely happened.

I also believe that begging is outlawed there, thus the scammers. That also wasn’t off putting to me as homeless/beggars are everywhere in the states.

I felt very safe on my own and as mentioned, walked around a few times on my own.

Most people were incredibly nice to us and welcoming. Several of our waiters would sit and talk to us about America, cruise lines, and think that we were from Miami because that’s how they recognize Florida. 😆

dani negreanu · August 23, 2023

9 hours ago, singinalot said:

Our favorites in Istanbul:

the Basilica Cistern

We've been twice to the Cistern. Once in 2000 on a land trip, and then in 2014 on a cruise stop. I was roaring to return. I've found the atmosphere eerie.

It was a huge difference between the 2 visits -- In 2000 the women were not wearing head scarfs, whereas in 2014 most of them were covered from head to toes.

My "inner rebel" kept asking herself why they go through with it, seeing the men with them wearing short sleeves and being bare headed. Hot weather, etc. 😢

August 23, 2023

47 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

We've been twice to the Cistern. Once in 2000 on a land trip, and then in 2014 on a cruise stop. I was roaring to return. I've found the atmosphere eerie.

It was a huge difference between the 2 visits -- In 2000 the women were not wearing head scarfs, whereas in 2014 most of them were covered from head to toes.

My "inner rebel" kept asking herself why they go through with it, seeing the men with them wearing short sleeves and being bare headed. Hot weather, etc. 😢

eerie is a great way to describe it. I think of how many people built it, have walked there before us, used the water when it was full, etc.

and yes! i quite often questioned how the women do it. i know it’s a sign of respect and modesty and their custom, but just for the 10 minutes I had to wear head scarfs and not even the full on coverups, I was quite literally dying from heat. They are some strong humans!

August 23, 2023

After making our way through parts of the grand bazaar, we headed for Topkapi Palace.

https://muze.gen.tr/muze-detay/topkapi

The palace entrance is a stone’s throw from our hotel. I mentioned on our first day that we were actually dropped off by the car service close to the palace entrance because of security.

We got to the palace having not purchased tickets in advance. The line was not too long, but they only had one cashier working and we waited 45 minutes. When we got to the counter I asked for 2 tickets to the palace and 2 for the harem, which is a separate ticket and said to be well worth the it “As popular belief would have it, the Harem was a place where the sultan could engage in debauchery at will. In more prosaic reality, these were the imperial family quarters, and every detail of Harem life was governed by tradition, obligation and ceremony. The word 'harem' literally means 'forbidden' or 'private'.”

Alas, no luck for us. The ticket agent said we were too late to have enough time to see the harem. If we hadn’t have already been waiting in line so long, I probably would have said ok let’s come back tomorrow.

But we ventured on and entered the palace grounds.

The second courtyard and imperial council featured below:

the ceiling 🥰 I loved how ornate and different the carvings are from things we’ve seen elsewhere in Europe.

Istanbul truly had its own style.

Edited August 23, 2023 by singinalot

August 23, 2023

Perhaps because of the disappointment in the non-harem tickets or perhaps because I’ve been to Versailles and a few other palaces, I was not as impressed with Topkapi. This is why it is not on my list of top things to see. I honestly don’t even know now if even seeing the harem would have made it excitable for me. It was beautiful though, and those views are amazing!