[Expat voice] İstanbul trip at a glance

Many spots located throughout İs-tanbul remain on my mind, such as the great Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapı Palace and Kız Kulesi (Maiden Tower). The more I read about the history and saw pictures, the more I wanted to visit those places. I visited İstanbul in 2005 and 2008, but only for a short time since I was traveling to Alanya. There was no time to go sightseeing in İstanbul.

The Blue Mosque, also known as the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, is one of Turkey’s most famous and historic mosques. Before I came to Turkey, every time I saw a picture of the mosque in magazines or on the Internet, I always thought, “When will I ever get to visit this mosque?” I needed so much money. But now my dream has come true as I live in Turkey, and I have had the chance to visit the great Blue Mosque. It was a wonderful experience because I don’t know when I can visit it again since I currently live in Alanya, which is 15 hours away from İstanbul by bus, or by plane we must go to Antalya by bus (two hours) then fly to İstanbul, which takes approximately 45 minutes.

The first time I arrived in İstanbul (Atatürk Airport) was in the evening of April 9, 2005. We (me and my husband) went directly to the bus station to catch a bus to Alanya. Two years later in 2007, I went to Indonesia for vacation. I returned to Turkey in the evening, so we couldn’t go anywhere again. Then we just traveled back to Alanya.

Preparing for a day in İstanbul

On Nov. 1, 2009, I went to Indonesia again. Then when I came back to Turkey, this time I arrived at İstanbul International Atatürk Airport at 6 a.m. in the morning, so this time we had a little time in İstanbul. A few days before my flight to Turkey, I sent a message to my female friend in İstanbul asking her whether she would have time to be my guide when I visited. She was nice enough to reply, “Yes.” When I arrived at the airport on Nov. 29, 2009 after going through passport control and getting my bags, I waited for my husband in front of the airport. He came to the airport by metro. Then we headed to my friend’s house in near Forum İstanbul. Her husband picked us up from the metro station. We rested for some time at their home. We began our tour around 9 a.m. By metro we headed over to the Sultan Ahmet Mosque.

Finally, I was visiting the Sultan Ahmet Mosque. The famous historic mosque with six minarets is a legacy of the Ottoman Empire. In the mosque, I felt the spirit of glorious Islam. I couldn’t say a single word to express my feeling at the time. I remained silent while looking at the ornaments inside the mosque. I wanted to stay longer, but time was going so fast that we needed to continue along our route. We took pictures inside and outside the mosque. Even if I couldn’t explore this mosque to the extent that I wanted to, it was a really great experience for me. I was satisfied that I had finally been there.

Then we continued in the Sultan Ahmet area. The Hagia Sophia is located directly in front of the Blue Mosque. We planned to visit the Hagia Sophia, but that morning there were long lines for ticket purchases. We didn’t have much time so we had to scratch the Hagia Sophia off our list. We were content with taking pictures in front of it. Then we continued and visited the streets around the Hagia Sofia, which contain old wooden houses.

We passed Topkapı Palace, and it was a pity that it was closed. I just took a picture in front of the glorious imperial palace. Then we continued walking through Soğuk Çesme Sokak (one of the back streets near the Hagia Sophia), which also contains old wooden houses standing beautifully on the sides of cobblestone pavement. My friend explained that those houses are for rent, similar to villas in sea resorts. When we were on that street, we, of course, took more pictures! I saw two people in front of one of the houses, and it seemed like one of them was a real estate agent of some sort and the other appeared to be a customer. It looked like they were trying to strike a deal. Then after they shook hands, the agent left the house for the customer’s enjoyment. At the end of that street, there was a green painted house with a sign reading “The sixth president of Turkey, Fahri Korutürk, was born in this house in 1903.” Then I realized just how old the houses on the street were, and I thought that they had done a good job maintaining the homes as they looked brand new.

I saw Yerebatan Sarnıcı (the Basilica Cistern) located at the corner of Yerebatan Caddesi, but I couldn’t visit it because of time constraints. We had to go back to my friend’s house. And too bad I couldn’t visit Kız Kulesi because it is far from the Sultan Ahmet area, and we didn’t have much time to go there. Maybe next time when I visit İstanbul again I can visit those places. I am curious about the legend behind Kız Kulesi -- that it is a tower built by a king to protect his daughter from an evil witch.

The trip was nearing an end, and we felt very tired because we had been walking from one place to another. I spent a little bit of time enjoying some döner and ayran at a cafe. Then we went back to my friend’s home. It was a race against time because we had to be at the airport before 3 p.m. to catch our flight back to Antalya.