Istanbul

My daughter, Ally, has a job that has given her the opportunity to travel quite a bit. One of the places she has traveled to is Saudi Arabia. She traveled to Saudi Arabia for the first time in October, 2024. This past October, 2025, she was scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia again. We already had several trips planned for 2025, but when she said, “Mom. Do you want to meet me in Istanbul, Turkey after my event?”, I thought about it for about two seconds and said, “Yes!” I called my daughter, Sarah, and asked, “Do you want to go to Turkey with me and Ally?” She thought about it for about two seconds and said, “Yes!” Like mother, like daughter. So on October 29, 2025, Ally, Sarah and I were off to Turkey.

Sarah and I took off from St. Louis. Ally was flying to Istanbul from Saudi Arabia, so she was meeting us there. Now, when I say, “like mother, like daughter,” it’s not just about the love of traveling. Sarah and I are very much alike in another way. Neither of us has any sense of direction, and we frequently find ourselves lost and trying to figure out how to get from one place to another. Sarah and I arrived in Istanbul late afternoon on October 29. Ally was arriving later that night, so Sarah and I were left to navigate Istanbul on our own. Ally expressed her concern, stating that she hoped she would see us when she got there and that we would not be hopelessly lost. Such confidence. I am happy to say that Sarah and I were safely in the apartment when she arrived. We had successfully found the apartment. We had also found a restaurant for dinner and a grocery store for supplies. We were very proud of ourselves. I never had any doubt.

When Ally arrived that night, she was sick. There had been several people at her event that were sick and she apparently had caught what they had. One of the first things on our agenda the following day was to find some medicine for Ally so that she could feel well enough to explore. We went to a pharmacy. The lady who helped us asked Ally about her symptoms and then handed her two different types of medicine. She gave the dosage instructions. We didn’t have any idea what the medicines were, since the writing on the package was in Turkish. We were a little unsure about Ally taking the medicine, but the lady in the pharmacy was nice. Being nice is certainly a factor in deciding whether or not to ingest an unknown substance, right?

Deciding she couldn’t feel much worse than she already did, Ally took the medicine as directed by the lady at the pharmacy.

Whatever that medicine was, it did the trick. By the next day, she was starting to feel better.

Something about Istanbul I did not know-the city is full of cats. Everyone takes care of the cats. People set out dishes with cat food, and the city cats basically have a buffet wherever they go. These cats hang out in the restaurants, often having free reign in the dining area as the customers eat. Not sure how I feel about that, but that is the way it is. Sarah, on the other hand, was thrilled. Sarah is such a cat person. She has two cats of her own, and cats just seem to gravitate to her. She stopped everywhere we went to pet the cats.

As we were walking around town that day, we happened upon a cat museum.

The museum had paintings of cats, statues of cats, t-shirts with cats, and live cats roaming around. Sarah spent most of her time petting the multiple cats in the building. One of the cats did not want to be disturbed, and he let Sarah know how he felt.

I think Sarah’s feelings were hurt more than her hand. How dare the cat scratch the cat whisperer?

We spent that first day walking around, shopping at the shops near our apartment, and just kind of taking it easy so we could rest from the jet lag and so that Ally had a chance to have another day with that medicine. We all bought a head scarf, since we were planning to visit the mosques the next day. We went to the same restaurant where Sarah and I had eaten the night before. It was a quirky, artsy kind of place, with some resident cats who were friendly and crazy about Sarah. The food was good too.

The next day, we were on a mosque mission. Ally had planned most of this trip, and she had picked the places we were visiting that week. Head scarves in hand, we took off walking to the Blue Mosque.

We had to cross the Galata Bridge to get to the area where the mosques were. The Galata Bridge stretches across the Golden Horn harbor between Eminonu and Karakoy, and connects the old and new parts of Istanbul. There were many people walking and standing on the top part of the bridge. People were fishing off the bridge, kids were running around, and people were visiting. Below the bridge were several restaurants, where people could eat and enjoy a view of the water and the city skyline. It seemed like a fun place to be. But we were on a mission.

We arrived at the Blue Mosque. It was beautiful, and a little intimidating. The Blue Mosque is a fully functioning place of worship. It hosts daily prayers, major religious events, and state visits and ceremonies for dignitaries. It was commissioned by Sultan Ahmed l, when he was just 19 years old. Construction started in 1609, and was completed in 1616. It was constructed of marble, granite, and over 20,000 handmade Iznik tiles in blue hues. In 1985, the Blue Mosque was included in UNESCO’s Historic Areas of Istanbul as a World Heritage Site. It has undergone a number of renovations, and was reopened for worship on April 21, 2023 after six years of extensive restoration. It holds the tomb of Sultan Ahmed l, who was buried there after his death.

Here we are, ready to go in.

We got in line, putting on our head scarves. Once we got in, we had to take off our shoes as well. It was beautiful inside.

I thought Ally and Sarah looked cute in their head scarves.

I was kind of nervous (big surprise), because I didn’t want to do anything that would be disrespectful to their culture or their religion. I hadn’t researched as much as I should have, since this was kind of a last minute trip, so I wasn’t sure about all the rules of mosques. Plus, I was really tired of fighting that scarf. It was either falling off or covering my face. The girls finally took pity on me and helped me put it on correctly.

Relaxing outside the mosque.

Here is a good picture of the Blue Mosque.

We ate brunch at a restaurant before we headed to the next place on Ally’s list. I actually remembered to take a picture of my food a few times on this trip. This is what I had for brunch that day. I was able to identify almost everything. I wasn’t sure about the bowl of brown things, but after some encouragement from the girls and a very cautious nibble, I decided they might be dates.

Next stop-Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque.

The Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque was originally built as a Christian basilica for the Greek Orthodox Christian Church. The building of the first Hagia Sophia was commissioned in 360 A.D. It had a wooden roof and burned in 404 A.D. during riots from political unrest. It was rebuilt in 415 A.D. and burned again about a century later. The building was demolished in 532 and rebuilt in 537. In 1453, the Ottomans captured Constantinople, and renamed the city as Istanbul. The Hagia Sophia was renovated into a mosque, since Islam was the central religion of the Ottomans. Many of the original orthodox-themed mosaics were covered with Islamic calligraphy.

Our third stop that day was Basilica Cistern. The Basilica Cistern is also called the Sunken Palace. It is estimated that over 7000 slaves worked to build the cistern. It was constructed to store and supply fresh water to Constantinople (Istanbul). It can store up to 80,000 cubic meters of water. There are various statues and lighted areas that make walking through the cistern a little eerie.

Sarah got into the spirit of eerie.

Our last stop before heading back to our apartment was the Grand Bazaar. This is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. It has 61 covered streets and over 4000 shops. For someone who doesn’t even like to shop, this market was a little overwhelming. It was very crowded, and the people from the shops were yelling and trying to get people’s attention to draw them into the shops. If we showed the slightest interest, they started to very actively try to get us to buy something.

Some of the areas were full of spices. It smelled so good! We all bought some spices. I bought some spicy curry and I have used it several times since I’ve been home. I also bought some Turkish tea. The seller told me all of the health benefits of drinking this tea. I was worried that it would taste like Ally’s medicine, but it was delicious. It’s all gone now, so I guess I need to go back to Istanbul to get some more.

When we were finished at the marketplace, we made our way back to our apartment. Ally wasn’t feeling great yet and she was starting to fade, so Sarah and I went to a restaurant nearby and bought some take out to take back to the apartment. Like I have mentioned in previous stories, I’m not really a very adventurous eater. But Sarah talked me into getting a serving of just about everything on the buffet, even thought we were not really sure what a lot of it was. Most of it was really good!

The next day, Ally’s agenda had us headed to Prince’s Islands. We headed down to the Galata Bridge again. Sarah had to stop to pet cats along the way.

We crossed the bridge to get to the ferry station. We read all the signs, trying to figure out which ferry went to Prince’s Islands. No luck. We asked one of the security guards at one of the stations. He sent us down the pier to the ferry at the other end. That ferry was not going to Prince’s Islands. A guy selling food from a food cart told us we needed to down the stairs and walk across to the other side. We didn’t believe him. After all, he was not in a uniform and he was selling food from a food cart. How much did he really know about the ferries? We asked another person in a uniform sitting behind a window at one of the stations, who pointed to one of the ferries. Nope. Not that one either. We asked a woman, who kind of looked official. She was near what looked like a closed ferry station. She didn’t know where the ferry to Prince’s Islands was. We tried one more man in a uniform. He pointed to the same stairs as the food cart guy. He told us to go down the stairs and cross to the other side. We decided to try it. We finally found it! We could have saved a lot of time if we had not been so judgmental toward the food cart guy. We bought our tickets and gathered with the rest of the group waiting on the ferry. Now, I have an admission to make. I am not necessarily a great person to ride with on a subway or a ferry, or any other type of public transportation. I get nervous that I will get off at the wrong stop. In my defense, this has actually happened to me more than once. I have even been known to pull up google maps when I’m riding in an Uber or taxi. I’m sure the driver appreciates that. I repeatedly check the signs at the stops, check the little map thing over the seats on the subway, intently listen to the people announcing the stops, and pretty much sit on the edge of my seat until I get off on my stop. This does not really make for a relaxing ride, and apparently it really annoys my kids when they go with me. Here are the girls on the ferry, much more relaxed than me and trying not to look annoyed.

The views were very nice.

We spent some time exploring the island.

We had lunch at a little outdoor restaurant. My food was very colorful, but I was not crazy about the taste. I don’t like mushrooms, and this thing was covered with mushrooms. By the time I picked off all of the mushrooms, I was kind of over it.

This red blob, that looks like raw ground beef, was actually a tomato dip thing. It sounded good on the menu, but it was NOT. Ick. Not a great day to try to be a more adventurous eater.

Later that day, we found a little cafe. The girls had iced coffees and I had a soda. The soda tasted much better than the food I had tried earlier.

We got back on the ferry and went back to the city. We found a vegan restaurant for dinner. The food was delicious. This is a picture of the dessert Ally and I had.

They had some gluten free options for Sarah too. We intended to go back and eat at this restaurant the next day for breakfast, but the restaurant did not open until about 10:00 in the morning. No time for breakfast. Ally had an agenda.

That day, we went to Kadikoy. This is the part of Istanbul that is in Asia. Istanbul is very unique. Part of the city is in Europe, and part of the city is in Asia, so, of course, we had to visit both parts. Back to the ferries…..

Ally had heard about the murals in Kadikoy, but other than that, we didn’t really have a particular direction to go. We kind of wandered around the area, looking for murals, and looking for a place to eat. Remember, we had not had breakfast. The agenda.

We had a little trouble figuring out where things were. Sarah may have been getting a little hangry. Here is one of the murals.

We finally found this restaurant. The falafels were great!

We spent some time walking near the water, sitting on the benches, people watching, and taking pictures of the big Istanbul sign.

We got back on the ferry and headed back to our apartment. I really wanted a t-shirt or a beanie with Istanbul or Turkey on it, but I had not been able to find what I wanted. Ally and I went on one more search that evening, and I finally found a beanie I liked. We stayed in that night and packed, since we were leaving the next day.

Early the next morning, we left for the airport. Ally had trouble with her plane ticket, and the British Airways app wasn’t working, as usual. We had to stand in line for a very long time, waiting for the British Airway people to come to the counter to start working. Apparently, a lot of people had trouble with their tickets and the app, because several people were in the line. Ally was not happy, and she finally insisted that Sarah and I go to the gate and wait for her there. Early morning, people talking, and frustration-not a good combination for Ally’s mood. I didn’t want to leave her standing there, but the look on her face convinced me that I should go. I waited anxiously at the gate. She finally got through the line and got the issue resolved, and she made it to the gate on time. Whew. We boarded our flight and made it home safely. Another great trip!

Tips:

1. Tickets for the Blue Mosque can be found at several websites, including http://www.getyourguide.com, http://www.bluemosquetickets.com. We did not choose a guided tour, but tours are available.
2. Tickets and information about Basilica Cistern can be found at basilica-cistern.instanbul/en.
3. Tickets for the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque can be found at http://www.hagia-sophia-tickets.com or http://www.getyourguide.com.
4. I have always had really good luck with getting tickets and tours with http://www.getyourguide.com for tours.
5. Don’t be too judgmental of people who are not in a uniform. Sometimes information from locals is more accurate than information from more official looking people.
6. The Grand Bazaar is open from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, Monday through Saturday. It is closed on Sundays. It is free to visit, but you will probably spend some money while you’re there. The people working in the shops can be very persuasive. An article I read suggested to visit in the first couple of hours of opening if you want to shop when it’s less crowded. For some very good suggestions about how to plan your visit, there is a good article at istanbeautiful.com/grand-bazaar.
7. I don’t recommend dip that looks like raw ground beef. Ew.
8. We chose to find our way to, and wander around, Prince’s Islands and Kadikoy on our own, which is what we usually prefer to do. If you would rather have a guided tour of these places, http://www.getyourguide.com is a good place to start. You could also try http://www.localcityguides.com.