Grad Trip Day 3 & 4: Istanbul, Turkey

DAY 3: 21 MAY 2014

The day before, we thought we had too much time in Istanbul.

But after meeting up with Jie Han last night, we had too little time now!

The itinerary for the day was fairly simple.

Bosphorus cruise in the morning, and the remaining of Sultanahmet after lunch!

We met up with Amanda's friends for the cruise ride.

The boat departs from the jetty right beside the Galata bridge, further away from the New Mosque.

Each ticket costs 12 liras, and the entire ride takes about ninety minutes.

If you would like to spend more time, there is a full bosphorus cruise option that allows you to

alight and explore some areas before catching another cruise boat.

View of the european side

The ride was actually quite nice and scenic.

We decided not to visit the Asian side because of the language barrier and there

were more things to explore on the European side too.

But being on this cruise ride, we got a glimpse of the Asian side!

After the cruise ride, we went to get lunch at one of the many fish restaurants situated

under the Galata bridge.

This time, we decided to try out their traditional fish burger, which is actually a grilled fish sandwich. 

 Turkish tea (Cay)

 Fish burger

Although the meat was really tasty and tender, I had to fish the bones out of the meat every

single time I take a bite.

I am used to eating a whole steamed fish back home, but this was plain tedious.

The fish had so many bones!!

In the end, Michelle and I gave up and left half of it on the plate.

After lunch, we parted with Amanda's friends and headed to the Topkapi palace.

Topkapi palace was the primary residence of the Ottoman sultans for around 400 years.

Now, it has transformed into a museum, allowing visitors from all over the world to view the

important relics of the Muslim world up close.

 Topkapi Palace

Initially, we thought it would only cost 20 liras to get in.

I guess we didn't do enough research because the entrance fee for the palace was 30 liras instead.

I would have gone in if it was 20 liras, haha.

But having said that, we were not really into history and museums, 

and so we decided to skip the palace and save that money for something better, which we did.

We spent the rest of the day shopping for souvenirs at the spice bazaar and Istiklal street.

We managed to try out borek too, which is a type of Turkish baked filled pastry!

Really yummy, a must try in Turkey!

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DAY 4: 22 MAY 2014

Today it's our island adventure day!

I have never heard of Princes' islands until we met some Singaporeans along the way,

and they mentioned it to us.

So, we decided to spend our fourth day in Istanbul at Princes' islands!

We left our apartment at 7.30am and slowly made our way to the Kabatas ferry terminal.

We were trying to catch the 8.40am ferry to the furthest island, Buyukada.

It is best to reach the terminal early as there was a huge crowd waiting to board the ferry

fifteen minutes before the ferry even departs.

The timetables can easily be obtained online or at the respective ferry terminals itself.

For a return ferry ticket (Kabatas - Adalar), it costs 10 liras per person.

We finally arrived in Buyukada after a two hours ride!

The interesting thing about Princes' islands is that motorised vehicles except for service

vehicles are forbidden.

People can get around the island by foot, bicycles or horses!

In our case, we decided to use the money we saved from the palace entrance to rent a bike.

It costs 15 liras to rent a bike for the whole day.

It is also important to ask the shopkeeper for bicycle locks because you will definitely

need to lock your bikes if you wish to make your way to the monastery.

 Pretty horses

View from the peak

I must say, the climb up to the monastery was the worst out of all the hikes I had

to do throughout my whole trip.

Although it was said to only be a kilometre away from the bottom of the slope, it was so

exhausting as it was up slopes all the way!

I was suffering from water retention in my feet and the climb was even more tiring for me!

But having said that, the view from the peak was definitely worth the climb.

Being trapped in the city all year round, it was indeed nice to see nature and clear waters.

Decided to reward ourselves with gelato!!

It was especially yummy that day since the weather was really hot!

On a side note, having tasted Turkish ice cream, I definitely prefer gelato as my ice cream!

Turkish ice cream is just a little too thick for my liking.

But you definitely have to try Turkish ice cream at least once in Turkey, and play along with them!

So that sums up our last day in Istanbul!