When choosing locations on this trip, sometimes multiple factors come into play. Istanbul had some interest due to its historical and cultural significance, but it also had direct flights to South Africa so it made it worthwhile to include as a stop, even for the short two days we had there. With only a little bit of time, we just touched the surface but felt we got a good taste of what it is like.
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia means “Holy Wisdom”. It was originally built as the main cathedral of the Eastern Orthodox church with the current structure being the third version of the church and was completed in 537 AD. At that time, it was the largest indoor space in the world and was the first to use the pendentive dome architecture that is common in Istanbul. It was a church until the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 at which point the minarets were added and it was converted to a mosque. Today it is called Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque.
Blue Mosque
Across a garden and courtyard from Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque is the Blue Mosque, also called Sultan Ahmed Mosque. It was built by the Ottomans in 1609 and includes many blue titles, hence its name.
Ortakoy & Ferry
For our adventures the next day we decided to visit the Ortakoy neighbourhood which Julia had read was a good place for some traditional foods and markets. It was on the other side of the river so we decided to give the public transportation a try by taking a tram part way there and walking the rest of the way and then taking a ferry back down. It turned out to be a bigger adventure than we were counting on.
After asking questions about getting a pass for the tram and ferry we were told we could buy the cards next to the green building and one card should work for all of us. However, after trying that, the card only worked for me and wouldn’t let the rest in. Turns out there is two card types, the All-Day pass which is only for one person (the one we got) and a Chargeable card that you can tap as many times as you want to get in as many people as you want. After observing people entering with both, we figured it out and Julia went back and got a card for the three girls to use.
The ferry travel back was just as interesting. I got through with my All-Day pass, but there wasn’t enough charge on the card to get all the girls through since it wasn’t clear to us what the per ride cost was. We all eventually got to the waiting area and asked the attendant if this was the right spot to get back to the terminal we wanted, we were told that it was. A ferry arrived and in the crowd of people getting on and the attendant not there anymore we were unsure what to do. We saw our destination listed on the ferry and decided to join and unfortunately, it started headed up the Bosporus Strait toward the Black Sea, the opposite direction for where we needed to go. It eventually did get to our destination, but not until going almost all the way to the Black Sea and then turning around and heading back the other way. So we ended up going on an extra three hour tour of Istanbul, and had to disembark and repay to head back the other direction. Thankfully we had the time and eventually got to where we wanted go!
On our walk to Ortakoy we passed the Dolmabahçe Palace, which was the largest Sultan palace in Istanbul. It would have been an interesting place to visit, but we had to pick and choose and just took pictures as we went by.
The Ortakoy area.
The area is famous for Kumpir which is a baked potato that is then mashed with a bunch of butter and topped with a plethora of toppings of your choosing.
The area is also known for waffles.
The ferry terminal we left from in the Ortakoy neighbourhood with a unique little mosque there. As our ferry was leaving (in the wrong direction) another ferry came in which we suspected was the one we really wanted.
A fortress along the Bosporus Strait, part way to the Black Sea which we weren’t planning on seeing 
It was a beautiful ferry ride, just a bit long.
Grand Bazaar
Our flight the next day wasn’t until the evening, so we had time to take a walk to and through the famous Grand Bazaar of Istanbul. It is pretty big, and the archecture is pretty cool, but having been in lots of markets now, we were a bit disappointed. It felt a bit like a mall vs a market to us, and a lot of the stores repeated and there wasn’t as much variety as we have seen elsewhere (lots of jewelry and spice shops).
The Old Bazaar inside the Grand Bazaar was all done in brick.
Around Town
A restaurant close to our hotel that had the ladies in the front window making gozleme (Turkish pancakes). Most are savory and we got a potato one and a beef and cheese one which we enjoyed, sitting at a low table with cushions (which we didn’t enjoy as much!).
Enjoying Turkish coffee and roasted chestnuts, which could be found at almost every corner.
Some of the smaller pedestrian only streets by our hotel.
We walked by many large and amazing bakeries with massive displays and huge varieties of baklava.