Istanbul 2023 Part 2

Tue 26/12/23

We started our day today by strolling through Gulhane park, just 5 min walking from our hotel which took us to Sarayburnu which is at the tip of  promontory of the Golden Horn estuary where the Bosphorus Strait meets the Sea of Marmara. The park is located adjacent to Topkapı Palace. The entrance to the park is free.

kitty at Gulhane Park

Gulhane park

Gulhane park

Bosphorus view from Sarayburnu

After taking pictures at Sarayburnu with the Boshporus strait as the backdrop, we walked to the Grand Bazaar or Kapalı Çarşı which originated from 1461 selling jewellery, clothes, turkish sweets, lanterns, leather, artisananl crafts such as plates, teapots, vase and trays; perfume, handbags, spice, and food. There are also cafes inside the bazaar to have a snack or drinks.  Drinking fountains can also be found in the bazaar. We only took pictures first as we wanted to survey the place before buying anything.

Grand Bazaar

inside Grand Bazaar

a cafe inside the Grand Bazaar

Turkish souvenirs inside Grand Bazaar

Next we walked to Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı or Egyptian bazaar) which originated from 1664 selling spice, food & textile. We also only took pictures first as we wanted to survey the place before buying anything. Outside nearby the bazaar were stalls selling pet food and accessories. No wonder the cats and dogs of Istanbul are well fed. 

Spice bazaar entrance

inside Spice Bazaar

pet food and accessories sold outside near Spice Bazaar

We took a moment to rest a bit at the park near Yeni mosque. We then braved ourselves into the Spice market to buy saffron. We bought 2 types of Iran saffron - for cooking which cost TRY 140 per gram (we bought 3 grams) and for drink plus cooking which cost TRY 250 per gram (we bought 3 grams). The price was displayed so we didn't bargain. Total cost was TRY 1170 which we paid by credit card. We bought it at the Gozde Kuyumculuk shop. 

park near Yeni mosque

Next we wanted to buy some Turkish scarves so we tried to survey the shops outside the bazaar first. We did find the "scarves street" but somehow the shops are not selling the pattern and style that my mom wanted. So we decided to go back to the Grand Bazaar to look for the scarves. We randomly chose a shop selling the intended scarves, but there are no price on display. I have read from online reviews to bargain at half of the asking price. True enough, when I asked for the price from the seller, he quoted TRY 350, so I tried to go with TRY 150. He then dropped the price a bit to TRY 300, but I asked for TRY 200. We finally agreed at TRY 200 per piece. We bought 7 pieces, so the total price was TRY 1400. 

scarves street

Shopping task being completed, we went back to our hotel to keep the goods in our room for safekeeping. After refershing ourselves, we went out to find lunch. Unluckily today, we ended up having a so-so lunch of Iskender doner and adana kebap for a total of TRY 700 and could only pay by cash. Avoid at all costs! Unfortunately I did not take the picture of the café hence couldn't recall the name. 

Adana kebap

Iskender doner

To try to forget the bad episode, we decided to cross the Golden Horn to Karakoy and take the Tünel furnicular on the F2 metro line. We topped up our Istanbulkart and made our way to Sirkeci tram station. Unluckily again, the first tram didn't stop so we had to wait almost 20 minutes for the next tram, only to be packed full to the brim. We hopped on the full tram as we didn't want to wait any longer. We alighted at the second stop at Karakoy. It turned out that the ride was not too far and it is possible to walk back from Karakoy to Sirkeci via the Galata bridge as there is a pedestrian walkway. 

The  Tünel furnicular was a really short 90 seconds ride up to Beyoglu. Although short, it was quite a steep climb, a la San Francisco. The Tünel is the second-oldest fully underground urban railway in the world, established on 17 January 1875. The fare costs TRY 15 per person.

Tünel furnicular

steep climb on the streets of Beyoglu

Not far from the Beyoglu stop is the Tunel - Taksim nostalgic tram or the T2 metro line.  But it wasn't operating when we got there, so we just took pictures of the heritage tram. From there we walked to Galata tower, however it was under restoration, so we couldn't get good pictures of it. It was originally built as a watchtower during the Byzantine period prior to 1204 and is now a museum. 

at Beyoglu

Tunel - Taksim nostalgic tram

Galata tower

From Galata tower, it is already halfway to Tünel furnicular stop, so we just continued to walk downhill until we reached Galata bridge and proceeded to just walk across the bridge. The bridge was filled by fishing enthusiasts on both sides to try and catch some fish. 

fishing from Galata bridge

We enjoyed the sunset view of the Bosphorus strait at Eminonu and then walked back to our hotel to refresh before venturing out again to buy some Turkish delights or lokum. We chose Hafiz Omar which is located not too far from our Senabil hotel and bought 3 boxes of pre-packed lokum and a pack of 500 gram of chosen lokum with 5 flavours consisting of almond, fig, promeganate, coffee and pistachio. We also bought a box of roasted Turkish coffee bean. The total cost of the lokum and coffee is TRY 918.75

enjoying the Bosphorus strait from the bridge

Hafiz Omar

yummy lokum from Hafiz Omar

It was then time to call it a day and pack our luggage as we would be leaving Turkiye the next day.