It’s gritty, it’s cosmopolitan, and its people are some of the nicest that I’ve met. I was excited to arrive in Istanbul, but I had no idea what a truly breathtaking city awaited us. There is something special about this city – and I think it’s the unique snippets of daily life unfolding against that jaw dropping skyline, paired with the kind and welcoming nature of the Turkish people. From the sky punctuated with the silhouettes of gulls, the simit (circular sesame bread), corn and roasted chestnut sellers on every corner, to the unmistakable scent of the fish wraps mingling with the salt air of the Bosporus, Istanbul is an incredible place. 

We spent four nights in Istanbul, and it gave us a great amount of time to explore different pockets of the city without rushing around. Prior to our trip, I had been caught in an indecisive bind about which part of the city to stay in, looking everywhere from my trusty Lonely Planet (more on that later), to the depths of Reddit and other travel blogs to try and figure it out. Everything I’d read repeated the same mantra: “It’s touristy and more expensive, but if it’s your first few days in Istanbul, stay in Sultanahmet”. This was all well and good, but I’ve seen how many tourists come to Melbourne and stay in Docklands, which would cast their whole experience of the city in a different light. I wanted the Fitzroy of Istanbul, not the CBD. 

After reading a lot, I was stuck between three options: Sultanahmet, Kadıköy and Karaköy. Kadıköy is on the Asia side of Istanbul and accessible by ferry, which sounded beautiful but time consuming. Karaköy sounded kind of vibey but I had read mixed things, so again wasn’t sure. In the end, I went with the prevailing logic and chose Sultanahmet. We had our reservations about staying in this area, but ultimately I think it was the right choice for our into to Istanbul. With Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern and Topkapi Palace just steps away from our hotel, this allowed us to visit each morning before the hordes of tour bus and cruise ship crowds arrived. When they did, we used the rest of the day to explore places further afield – such as spending the day in the aforementioned Karaköy and Kadıköy. 

If you told me that even when walking through one of the most visited places in the world, I would be surrounded by the sweet scent of jasmine, I would have struggled to believe you. But that is exactly the case in Sultanahmet. Another dilemma I had was which hotel to book in the area itself, and I ended up going with Şebnem Hotel. In the end, it was literally around the corner from all of the other choices I was considering and right near the Four Seasons which I think is evidence of a prime locale. Sebnem boasted both positives and negatives, but we ended up staying there again for one final night of our trip, so overall yes I would return, but there are a few things to keep in mind. On the positive side, an amazing and kind Syrian cook prepares the breakfast each day, and it is up there with some of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had. This was my introduction to the abundance of Turkish breakfasts, and it was one I heartily embraced (if you ask my denim shorts, perhaps too much, but life’s for livin). A massive spread of different delicacies awaited us each morning, from fresh fruits and veggies to cheeses, olives, salads and Turkish dishes, along with baskets of fresh bread. Almost as good as the food was the view, with the terrace overlooking the Bosporus an amazing place to start each day. All of the staff went above and beyond, giving us heaps of tips about things to see and do, along with directions on how to get there and Turkish tea (çay) and coffee. Overall, the pricing was super cheap for our stay (approx $120-150 AUD per night) which, when we realised the location of the hotel comparable to the others we were looking at, won us over. The downside would be that perhaps the room reflects this pricing, and the maintenance and cleanliness of the room and bathroom were under par – but again, this may just reflect the price, and we would probably stay again. 

The location in Sultanahmet meant that we hit the main sights early. This (of course) called for caffeine, and aside from North Art Coffee (more on that soon), I also had a great coffee from Kahverengi Roastery. This was expensive, but an excellent strong coffee and well located near the Basilica Cistern if you end up visiting. 

In terms of the main touristy sights in Sultanahmet, we did check out the Grand Bazaar and I had even thought that we may spend quite a while there (based on my Lonely Planet book’s recommendation), however I was very underwhelmed. I did expect it to be touristy, and perhaps you may feel differently if you are into glitzy or knock-off designer goods, but I am not. We got out of there pretty quickly. The Spice Bazaar was similar, but the markets around it felt a smidge less touristy and so I enjoyed it a bit more, even though all I bought was multiple baklavas to munch on (delicious). We also visited the Blue Mosque (of course), but again – go early. It was stunning, but by 9am was getting packed with people. The gardens between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia are obviously also often busy but also so beautiful, particularly in the early mornings or at sunset. It’s a perfect example of the kindness that many people in the city show to the cats, bringing them food and petting them, all against the stunning backdrop of the exquisite architecture – and also excellent people watching. On the afternoon of our first day, we literally messaged our friends who had also visited to ask, “Was everyone insanely nice to you too?”, being used to having our guard up in popular tourist destinations. They had also had the experience of super friendly locals that matched our own. From shopkeepers that got chatting and ended up sharing  ‘must visit’ lists with you, just so you would have a good trip, to the service almost everywhere being above and beyond, it cast a lovely feeling over our experiences. 

For general ‘things to know’ before your arrival, I would say that if you are coming from Australia, you should set your expectations about how much things will cost. While we found accommodation to be very cheap, we ended up realising that in many circumstances eating out was approximately the same price as it would be at home.Türkiye’s inflation is crazy, which combined with the weak Aussie dollar meant that I’m pretty sure I paid about $10 for a coffee on more than one occasion (oops). When you’re looking up restaurants, just be aware that the pricing on menus is unlikely to be accurate – even if they’re only a few months old, prices constantly increase. It’s certainly not helped by the fact that because of the inflation, everyone quotes prices in euro as opposed to lira, which is also not great compared to AUD. If you’re getting cash out prior to arrival, I wouldn’t worry about lira and would just bring euros. You should definitely get an Istanbulkart, the metro card, which is super handy for trams and the ferry. Our hotel actually lent us a card for our trip, and two people can share one! Just pass it back over the turnstile (not illegal as far as I’m aware, because it’s a flat rate per tap-on for the trip). One other element that I wasn’t sure about prior to our trip was how conservatively to dress. You may see from these photographs that I ended up falling back on a maxi dress and overshirt a lot. The particular black maxi dress that I seem to only have photos in (I promise I packed other things!!) happened to have a very low back, so to be on the safe side I just popped a linen shirt over. This isn’t strictly necessary and you will see people dressed in an array of outfits, including short dresses and shorts, however I always like to err on the side of caution in terms of respecting the local culture. While there were many women showing a lot more skin than my low-back dress would have, Türkiye is still a Muslim country. 

Getting the Bosporus boat tour on the first day was a great way to get our bearings and check out the vibe of the city. Coming off the back of a 5am arrival into Istanbul from Australia, we opted for the 4-6pm tour instead of the later one – but if you have the option (and don’t think you’ll fall asleep during it) I would go for the later one so you get to catch the sunset. We arranged this through the hotel but there are so many people on the promenade at Eminönü selling tickets, I wouldn’t stress if you haven’t arranged it you can more than likely just roll up and get a ticket on the spot. 

After a very long sleep, on our first full day in Istanbul, we woke early and walked from our accommodation to Süleymaniye Mosque. It was absolutely jaw dropping, from the intricately detailed features and the cemetery alongside covered in hydrangeas, to the incredible vista looking out across the Bosporous and to Asia on the other side of the river. If you forget a headscarf, you can borrow one there – keep in mind that modest dress is required, including for the guys (no shorts)! Arriving as early as we did, the streets were quiet and peaceful with vendors slowly setting themselves up for the day. It meant that there were plenty of quiet corners to stop and take it all in, and it was a perfect walk through Istanbul as the city slowly woke up. 

From Süleymaniye Mosque we walked down the hill towards the Bosporus, crossing over the iconic Galata Bridge. All hours of the day and night, fisherman are draped over the sides, casting their lines over the bustling strip of restaurants that take up prime position under the bridge below. It’s such a uniquely ‘Istanbul’ scene, particularly backdropped by the sprawling buildings and grand silhouettes of the mosques in the background, that (without sounding too over the top) it was one of those moments that really make you appreciate how special it is to experience such wildly different pockets of the world. Jetlag, what jet lag?! 

After crossing the bridge into Karaköy, we made our way up the incredibly steep hills to the Galata Tower. It’s a ‘must visit’ destination in all the Istanbul To-Do Lists, and clearly busy day and night. In saying that, it was still a cool area if you just ignored the fact that you were one of a million other tourists. We ended up at a cafe called Walton Breakfast (below, but not inside the Walton Galata Hotel) for brekkie – perfect for ditching my hangover. Hangover, you ask? Isn’t this your first full day? Yes, dear reader, you have read that correctly. Due to an unfortunate combination of what I suspect to be jet lag and dehydration, the few drinks I had over the previous afternoon and dinner (literally few – I am talking 3!!) rendered me extremely hungover on day one. Learn from my mistakes here. ANYWAY. Let’s get back to Walton. Amazing service and a delicious brekkie of menemen (omelette kinda vibe, unfortunately not photogenic), a latte and a freshly squeezed orange juice (GOAT tier with a hangover), I was back and ready to continue the explorations. I would also like to note how much we had already done this morning while I was powering through. Not to pat myself on the back or anything, but geez. 

Rejuvenated and hanger staved off for a brief moment, we continued on. Of course, 36 hours had passed in a foreign country and there was one thing I hadn’t even considered yet – shopping! We walked back down the hill and towards a boutique I had earmarked to check out, in the process stumbling upon a very cute laneway lined with cafes, bars and shops. Not everything was open (it was a Sunday), but I located Mae Zae and it was totally up my alley. Knick knacks and handmade items line the walls, and while a lot of it was out of my budget, I came away with a brightly coloured linoprint from artist Burçin Barbaros that I can’t wait to add to a future gallery wall. 

Now is our time to circle back to the Lonely Planet book. While there’s something unmistakably exciting about flicking through the pages of a fresh guidebook – however long it may be before you set off on a trip – I didn’t find ours particularly helpful in Istanbul. Perhaps it’s the fast-moving nature of Google Reviews (or our over-reliance on them), but the cynic in me thinks that once a restaurant or place has found fame and steady trade through inclusion in one of these guidebooks, they can become complacent in their quality, resulting in disappointment. The good news is that you are currently reading this journal and not a guidebook, so you’re probably fine. There was an exception to that rule in Cappadocia, but I’ll save that for another journal. 

It’s no secret I love myself a bit of tourist tat, and Istanbul serves it up in spades. In saying that, beyond a few magnets, I wasn’t fussed by most of the shopping. So much of it was knock off designer goods (not my style) and while Turkish rugs and Kilims totally are my style, during our first dew days in the country I just couldn’t be bothered trying to ensure I wasn’t getting ripped off and was actually buying quality – and realistically, with the non existent strength of the Aussie dollar, I was thinking that I probably couldn’t afford quality anyway. It was only at the end of our trip when we had one last night in Istanbul that I ended up getting a flat white at North Art Coffee and venturing into his rug shop upstairs. Even if you aren’t in the rug market, I would recommend stopping in for brekkie or a coffee – this place is owned by a guy called Mustafa that used to live in Australia and he nails the Aussie-style coffee. With 30 minutes until the taxi to the airport arrived, I took my chances with Brandon’s frazzled patience and ducked upstairs to look in Mustafa’s shop. We ended up buying a rug and luckily enough, he was already making a shipment to a rug shop literally two minutes walk from our house in Melbourne, so we avoided going over our baggage or paying to have it posted. I obviously didn’t survey the local rug market as this was the only shop I looked in, but for excellent service I would totally check out this place – look for either North Art Coffee or Mamcon Rugs upstairs. 

My two great loves (aside from trashy magnets, and I suppose Brandon) are pottery and textiles, so apart from that impulse purchase, I couldn’t resist buying a painted mug to take home – that I am sipping tea from while I write this. While much of the pottery is similar, throughout my stay I began to be able to pick the nicer stuff from the factory-made (to an extent), and I ended up loving Iznik Classics. Yes, much of it I had seen elsewhere, and it was definitely geared to tourists, but the shopkeepers weren’t pushy, the designs gorgeous and the prices reasonable compared to other places I came across. They had a couple of outposts in Sultanahmet, one on the street and one in a Bazaar near the Grand Bazaar. 

In terms of eating in Sultanahmet, we ended up going back to the one restaurant more than once. Low key, family run and reasonably priced, it was an easy choice in an area that is notoriously touristy and overpriced. The maps link is here, it’s called Hayat Cafe. We actually asked our hotel if they had any recommendations for us on the first night, and while the view of the place they showed us was amazing, it was so expensive – I’m talking $35AUD for the cheapest entree on the menu. We said thank you, had a beer, soaked in the view, and left to eat in a more relaxed establishment. 

As I’ve mentioned, I was so torn on whether to stay in Kadıköy or not, so I was really looking forward to getting over there and checking it out. Catching the ferry was a delight, and I was curious as to whether it would be a substitute for the Bosphorous boat tour that we had done on the first day, but it wasn’t. It was nice but if you have the chance, definitely do the boat tour too. Stepping off the ferry in Kadıköy was a vibe. Wandering past the waterfront cafes, we headed straight to Tellalzade Sokak, a street lined with antique shops. We arrived early, and stopped for a Turkish coffee on the corner – nothing fancy, just a great spot on the street to take it all in. After a good amount of time fossicking through stacks of vintage post cards and much less practical items to take home (no, Brandon, we cannot buy this random antique ivory box, also that’s probably fake, also if it’s not fake we really don’t want it??), we got another coffee at Coffee Manifesto. The area of this coffee shop is very vibey and I can imagine that it gets busy later on in the day, as it’s lined with bars and restaurants.

Keen to try a unique dish that I’d heard a lot about, we walked around the corner to Kadıköy Midyecisi to try their stuffed mussels. The mussels are cooked and served stuffed with spiced rice, which you can buy by the piece and with a choice of three sauces. I am a bit iffy on seafood at times and I really wasn’t a fan of these, or the deep-fried mussel roll we got (not my selection, is all I will say…). It was fine and I’m glad we tried it, but I don’t know if these just weren’t great or I just don’t like seafood this way – I think I prefer my mussels in a bowl of garlicky white wine sauce with some crusty bread. 

After lunch, we walked to ruth.brandstore, which stocks brands like Ganni and Acne, and has the cutest cat curled up in its front window (classic Türkiye). Across the road from ruth is a local kind of vibe kebab joint. Because I hadn’t eaten much lunch (after choosing to leave most of the mussels for Brandon), I grabbed a homemade lemonade and a doner wrap. The  tiny, bustling shop packed with locals shoulder-to-shoulder eating their no frills – but delicious – lunch is my favourite kind of meal. Finally, we caught the old-school tram back around to the ferry area, and went for a walk up the Main Street, but quickly got out of there. It was absolutely packed and not my vibe at all, feeling like Cavill Avenue in Surfers Paradise. Overall I loved the vibe of Kadıköy, but in the end was really happy with our choice in terms of where to base ourselves for the trip. 

Another area that I loved was Beyoğlu, that we kind of stumbled upon by accident. Karaköy is in Beyoğlu, which you may recall was my third option for where to stay in Istanbul. While it’s certainly busy and not ‘undiscovered’ by any means, we spent the evening walking through the streets, music spilling out of windows and live radio bars broadcasting. It felt very trendy, and very much like Northside Melbourne (if that assists you to get the vibe). We were actually headed to one restaurant for dinner when Brandon spotted a sign for a rooftop bar (that I had completely missed). Following the very welcoming hostess, we wove through the maze of the restaurant, into a tiny elevator, up a few treacherous-looking flights of stairs and emerged to a drop-dead-amazing view across the city. We were so stoked.

The original reason that we had ventured to Beyoğlu was in search of an antique shop that I’d saved from my online trawling (find it here). At 6:30pm on a Sunday night, it wasn’t open, but a handful of others along the same street were – piled high with a mind-boggling amount of surprisingly well sorted items. Aside from the antique shops, I stumbled upon my favourite kind of store, a vintage style postcard and poster store called Eskiyeni Vintage Art & Prints. We ended up buying re-print of an old Orient Express advertisement that I can’t wait to add to a future gallery wall (just need to stop spending my money on trips and instead buy a house – minor hurdle). For dinner – when we eventually got there – we went to Babel Cafe. Between a slow-cooked lamb dish and a mezze platter teamed with a basket of pita bread, we were full and happy. I would definitely eat here again. I honestly think that now I’ve had the chance to stay in Sultanahmet, which is where I would still recommend for first-timers, for a second trip to Istanbul I would try to stay somewhere in this area. 

On our final night in the city, we hopped on the tram and headed to Balat, known for its narrow streets lined with colourful picture-book terrace house facades. While it was actually so cute and this square was bustling with people spilling out of the tea and coffee houses, it was also busy. I couldn’t help but wonder if this area was a previously quiet residential area, that had been overrun with tourists. This is just a hunch though, and not something that I had directly heard – but it seemed to be the case to me once you stepped away from the main ‘instagrammable’ spot. After a wander, we sat down for a dinner of babaganoush, pide and salad, served alongside the omnipresent basket of bread (in hindsight, those shorts not fitting is making more sense now). Instead of catching the tram home, we wandered along the shorefront, taking in the fishermen, the groups of people set out on picnic blankets drinking tea (I could really get around this as a social activity at home), and – of course – watching the many cats.

As you can probably tell by this mammoth journal following a four-day stay, I fell in love with Istanbul. I can truly say that I have never visited a city quite like it. If you have the chance, I would urge you to go, and spend more than just a night or two if possible. Even though we visited quite a few spots, I still feel as though we only just scratched the surface of it and all it has to offer – from the food, to the people, the cats (of course), and the steep, winding streets holding so much history.