Middle East Tour 2019 First Destination: Istanbul

None of our major destinations for this trip was in Turkey but after lots of research ( I mean a lot ) to find the best deal for getting to middle east from New Zealand, we decided to fly to Istanbul, with reasonable connection flights to Jordan and Egypt.

It was our third time in Istanbul and the first time in the new Istanbul airport, it was massive but reasonably easy to exchange minimum amount of money to buy bust ticket and find our way out with great bus connection to major Istanbul suburbs. We used Havaist buses to get to Sultan Ahmet where our hotel was. The bus drops you in front to Hagia Sophia Mosque. We decided to stay in Istanbul for three days rather that flying directly to the next destination, because first of all we did underestimate jet lag effect of 24 hours flight and didn’t went well and second of all, who does need an excuse to stay few days in Istanbul, certainly not us!

We were also waiting for few friends to join us in Turkey to explore our next country together. We certainly took it easy on ourselves. Got lost in the back streets of Grand bazaar and the old towns and stopped for a cup of coffee.tea with baklava as much as we could.

The other interesting thing that we did, was exploring the area called Balat in Istanbul. Once an old neighborhood for Jewish citizens of Istanbul, it is becoming a trendy tourist spot for tourists with lots of cafes and bars pop up in the back streets of this quiet neighborhood. The main attraction is for sure, the colorful stunning buildings more than the trendy cafes but I always had the mixed feelings for the areas losing their true soul because of tourists presence and this area was definitely one of them. Still we definitely recommend visiting this neighborhood for half a day. Definitely worth a visit!

I’ll try to dedicate a separate post on how to visit Balat, without getting exhausted as like most of Istanbul, you need to climb seriously uphills and downhills to appreciate the area.

We have spent rest of our time wandering in the old alleys of Sultan Ahmet area and enjoy the old colorful buildings before moving on to the next destination. We do enjoy staying in touristic part of Istanbul ( Sultan Ahmet area) but I really believe that where to stay in Istanbul depends on how many times you’ve been to Istanbul. If you’v already been there couple of times, you probably prefer to stay in much more quiet places in Istanbul and to be honest you have plenty of options. Even staying in Sultan Ahmet, there are few tricks to find more laid back less touristic spots to choose from.