EKOL in Istanbul

[dianefish]

I have reviewed so many posts about EKOL in Kusadasi but few in Istanbul. Can you recommend a 2 day EKOL Tour in Istanbul along with the name of your EKOL Guide. I heard that Private Tours can't take you in the Hagia Sofia? This is why someone booked their 2 day tour through the cruise line. We are going on the Solstice in July. If you did a cruise tour, please recommend either the 2 day Best of Istanbul Classical Tour or the Byzantine/Ottoman tour.

 

Thanks!

[Hlitner]

I am a bit confused by the prior post. Hagia Sofia is open to the public Tues - Sun from about 9am to 4:30. We have been to Istanbul several times and found the city very easy to tour on one's own. However, you have to be cognizant of the fact that some of the attractions are closed one day a week. For example, Hagia Sofia is closed on Mondays and I believe that Topkapi is closed on Tuesdays. However, we were once in Istanbul on a Tuesday and a cruise ship was able to make special arrangements for their tours to get inside the grounds even though it was closed that day. But, several of the major attractions inside Topkapi (such as the Harem) were still closed to those tours. The Covered Bazaar (Grand Bazaar) is closed on Sundays as are many shops.

 

Hank

[dianefish]

We will be in Istanbul on a Friday at 2:00p.m. The ship departs on Saturday at 2:00p.m. We have to maximize our limited touring time as we are leaving our little ones on the ship in the kids camp. I would love to do a 4-5 hour tour each day seeing as much as possible. I prefer the smaller tours but have not hear of any names of EKOL Guides that people loved. I would consider another company or the Cruise Ship tour as a last resort. Please advise.

[cruisemom42]

Dianefish, I think what you may have read is that someone who was going to be in Istanbul on a day when Haghia Sophia is normally closed (i.e. Monday) was going to take a ship's tour in order to get in, as ship tours have special access to this site on days it is normally closed to the public -- but private guides do not have that same access.

 

Although I have read about 99% positive reports on Ekol in Kusadasi, I have to say that I have read a few less positive reports on their guides in Istanbul. Perhaps they don't have the same quality of guides available to them there.....

 

Istanbul is quite easy to do on your own using the very easy tram that runs quite close to the ships' dock area and goes directly to the old town (Sultanahmet) where the Haghia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, and Cistern are all clustered. The Grand Bazaar is also not far away from this area (another tram stop farther but also walkable).

[6rugrats]

I agree with Cruisemom42. Istanbul is an extremely easy city to see entirely on your own. All the major attractions are quite close to each other. We never used any public transportation as we could walk to them all.

 

We used the book, DK Top Ten Istanbul, and it provided all the information and maps that we needed. It's quite difficult to get lost in the Sultanahmet area, as you can always see the Blue Mosque and orient yourself.

 

At Topaki Palace they rent an audio program that will guide you through; it's very good and informative. You don't need a guide for the Blue Mosque. There are always guides at the entrance of the Haghia Sophia, but not sure why you would need to hire them either.

[Denverite]

We used EKOL for our Istanbul stop a few years ago. We had an outstanding guide named Murat Gurer. You can contact him directly (he has a web site so you can just google his name). This is from his web site: "Murat Gurer was rated by one of the leading tour companies' travelers in US among the "top 25 Tour Guides" of the world in 2005!" He was just outstanding and our review is still on his web site. Although Istanbul may be easy to do on your own, I really liked having the van and driver waiting for us and not searching for public transportation, and Murat was able to get us in and out of places quickly. If one place was crowded, we moved to a different place and then came back to the other place when it was less crowded. I thought Murat was really one of the best guides we have had on all our trips--he speaks excellent English and he has visited the US many times.