May Wrap-Up and Signs - Istanbul Day 1

Friday, 1st May - A full day - In the morning Jose and I had a very relaxing massage and foot reflexology in preparation for our upcoming flight to Europe. In the afternoon I met up with 2 colleagues with which I used to attend French lessons. I had invited the teacher too and she popped over for a short while due to prior commitments. In the evening we attended the monthly Codfish dinner at the Portuguese Club.

Saturday 2nd – Went to the Spearwood library to read “Stories in Portuguese” to young kids. I met the other volunteer who had just started and who will replace me when I'm unavailable.

Spearwood library - kid's corner

In the evening I had an early Mother's day celebration with my son, daughter in law and grandkids at the local pub. (Mother's Day in Australia was the 10th of May)

Tuesday 5th - had my hair cut, and noticed the funny signs on the walls of the salon.

Wednesday 6th – Our flight departed Perth at 15,50h to Kuala Lumpur. 

Sign on the way to the plane

We landed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at 21,50h and had a few hours to spare until our flight to Istanbul at 5,30am.

At KL airport

At KL aiport

We first walked around (we just had our carry-ons with us), then visited "Rimba", an indoor 970 square mt tropical rainforest at Terminal 1, featuring a mini waterfall, indigenous trees, mist effects and immersive storytelling.

We had dinner at Grandmama's Kitchen (cheap and tasty). Wanting to rest we found some chairs in what appeared to be a quiet out of the way place, and tried to have a snooze, but I was unable to disconnect because people walking by would stand around chatting away to each other or talk loudly on their phones, even though they could probably see a few people were actually sleeping... so on to boarding gate!

We departed at 5,30am (7th May), were served a meal shortly after take-off . 

The flight was comfortable; service was good and the food one of the best I've had compared to other airlines. I even managed to get a few hours sleep and watched 2 films, both love stories.

DAY 1

Thursday 7th – Arrived in Istanbul at 11,20am. (6 hours behind Perth/KL). 

Istanbul is a city rich in culture and history, with the Bosphorus Strait dividing the city into Europe on the West and Asia in the East. It has been known by other names — Byzantium and Constantinople — and it has grown to become the largest city in Türkiye, and the most populous city in Europe with over 15 million inhabitants! Plus it welcomes about 20 million visitors a year!

At the modern airport, the Passport control lady behind the counter chatted away on her phone, and just threw the passports at the passengers, with not even a good morning, a welcome or a smile.

I had pre-purchased an Istanbul Explorer Pass which had a shuttle bus trip included, so we descended to the -2 level to get our Havaist Shuttle bus. The drive took about 1 hour to the Sultanahmet area where our hotel was located. On arrival at the bus stop at Kennedy Street, there was a short walk to the Obelisk Hotel & Suites,  conveniently located a few minutes walk from the Blue Mosque, Sultanahmet Square and Hagia Sophia, which was a bonus.

After our check-in and a quick refresh in our bedroom, we got out again to start our visits.

Hotel bedroom, view from the balcony with Arasta market and end of street (behind it was the Blue Mosque), hotel patie seen from breakfast room, sign not to feed cats and breakfast table

That first afternoon we visited a few entry-free venues which were in my carefully planned 3 day itinerary:

Blue Mosque –Free to visit. Open from 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM in Summer, and from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM in Winter. Closed to tourists during 5 daily prayer times for about 90 minutes.  Shoulders and knees must be covered, and women are required to wear a headscarf.

Built between 1609 and 1617, during the rule of Ahmed I, it's one of the most iconic and popular monuments of Ottoman architecture, with its 6 minarets, walls covered with over 20 thousand blue tiles …  It's free to visit, but unless you are Muslim you are not allowed inside during prayer times. Women need to cover their head, and both men and women need to cover shoulders and knees.

Then a walk around Sultanahmet Square – the area located between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, the former Hippodrome of Constantinople, you come across monuments that are centuries old:

Theodosius Egyptian obelisk - covered in Egyptian hieroglyphs, originally crafted around 1425 BC in Egypt, this 200 ton granite monument once stood at the great temple of Karnak in Luxor. It was transported to Constantinople in the 4th century AD at the request of Roman Emperor Theodosius the Great.

Walled Obelisk or Masonry Obelisk - Roman monument 32 mt high, restored in the 10th century by Emperor Constantine VII, and covered with gilded bronze plaques that portrayed the victories of Basil I, his grandfather. The plaques were removed and melted down by the Fourth Crusaders in 1204.

Serpent column - ancient 8mt tall bronze column originally created to commemorate the Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC and was moved to Istanbul by Emperor Constantine in 324 AD. The column originally featured 3 serpent heads, but these were lost or removed in the 17th century, with one head on display at the nearby Istanbul Archeology Museum.

Theodosius obelisk (1 & 2), Masonry Obelisk and Serpent column

German Fountain - an octagonal fountain with a domed golden roof, it was a gift from German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II to Sultan Abdulhamid II to commemorate his state visit in 1898, a symbol of the German-Ottoman alliance that would lead to projects like the Berlin-Baghdad railway and an alliance to fight on the same side in WWI.

Stone of Million - across the road from the Hagia Sophia, near the Basilica cistern, is what remains of the Milion, the centre of the world for the Byzantine Empire, formerly a four gated arch that served as "Kilometer Zero", from where all distances were measured to every corner of their vast domain.

German Fountain and golden dome, Stone of Million

To complete this area, right in the middle between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia sits the Hürrem Sultan Fountain, a 16th century white marble fountain, gifted to the city by Hürrem Sultan, the wife of Süleyman the Magnificent. 

After visiting these amazing monuments, we walked to Gulhane Park, behind Topkapi Palace. The gardens still had a lot of tulips. Although associated with the Netherlands, tulips are actually native to Central Asia and were brought to Europe via the Ottoman Empire.

Tulips at Gulhane park

Sculptures at Gulhane Park, Left bottom photo: fountain outside cistern, dated 1329

There we visited the Gulhane Cistern,  (Free, open from 10am to 6pm).

Much smaller than the Basilica cistern, it is dated between the 5th and 7th century, and was discovered by chance in 1913, during work to turn this outer garden of Topkapi Palace into a public park.

The Gulhane Cistern building

  

Inside the Gulhane Park cistern

Although we still had time to visit the Spice Bazaar or the Grand Bazaar we were quite tired and decided to return to the hotel, stopping at a Tea & spice shop where we bought a few teas and chocolates for the family in Portugal, at highly inflated prices I might add, we should have bought them at the bazaar another day.

Tea, spices, sweets and chocolates

Past the magnificent Blue Mosque, illuminated after sunset...

Just next to the mosque, on the way to the hotel we walked through the Arasta Market, at the end of the street where the hotel was - with small stores selling carpets, souvenirs, clothes, bags, pottery... not as busy as the Grand Bazaar and apparently also cheaper.

We had dinner at Al Kaşık Lokantası  just 2 or 3 doors from our hotel.(Lokanta = traditional unpretentious Turkish restaurants with a selection of daily meals).

They had a selection of about 7 or 8 different foods, mainly stews, 3 or 4 soups and a few desserts to choose from. The staff were very friendly and accommodating, and with the exception of the cook, they all spoke English reasonably well, and the food was reasonably priced.

Apparently you are meant to get a tray, choose the soup, mains, dessert and drink; pay and sit down to eat. We chose a soup and sat down to eat, then went to the counter again and chose a meal, then later a dessert, and only then did we pay :) 

They asked about us, talked about football with Jose, and at the end offered us coffee or tea. I had a delicious Apple tree, which became a favourite. It seemed to be quite popular with tourists in the area too.

The restaurant near our hotel and a delicious baklava

                                                          Map of our day 1 walk

Also linking to Tom's signs. Please check his blog for signs from around the world!

https://backroadstraveller.blogspot.com/2026/07/signs2-eugene-v-debs-hall.html