Saturday, 29th September 2018
Neighborhood
My daily reminder of how out of shape I am. We usually went to explore the city during the day, came back to the apartment for a little rest, shower and getting ready, then we would leave again in the evening. I really started to hate stairs after this, haha.
I saw these cats many times during our stay and they would usually chill on the car roof like on this picture.
Coffee and lunch
We had coffee and lunch at a place called Cozy Pub & Restaurant. By the time we got up, got ready and found a spot to eat, it was already lunch time.
That day I was in a mood for a chicken salad, not a typical Turkish dish but I really like it.
Sultan Ahmet mosque and Aya Sofya
German fountain on the Sultanahmet square.
Close-up of the fountain.
Aya Sofya or Hagia Sophia was an Orthodox church turned into a mosque and now it is a museum.
We didn't go inside the museum because the line was way too long but now I kind of regret not going inside. I would definitely do it if I visit Istanbul again.
There is also Hurrem Sultan Hamam where you can also go. I saw some pictures on the Internet of how it looks inside, seems pretty nice.
This area is sooo crowded with tourists since this is one of the main sights of Istanbul. In the middle of all that, there was this dog, sleeping on the grass like nobody's around. :)
For some reason, I don't really have a good picture of the Sultan Ahmet mosque or Blue mosque. There's also some construction going on, maybe you can see it on the picture.
Galata bridge
Somewhere along the way, I took this picture where you can see the top of Galata tower.
Another crowded area, where boats go from one side to the other.
We managed to find a good spot at the Aruna cafe & restaurant with a really nice view.
Another coffee of the day.
The view.
Time to move on...
Crossing the bridge
The view over the bridge and restaurants. It's interesting to see all the people casually fishing on the bridge.
We are up on the Galata bridge now.
Selfie time!
View from the Galata bridge.
Other random pictures of the day
Our friend recommended us this place to try baklava. It was one of the things on my Istanbul to-do list! The place is called Karakoy Gulluoglu. First you go to cash desk, pay and get a receipt, then you go to the service part, show your receipt and get served your order. I got the one where you can choose 6 pieces so I got all different baklava ones. The cost was 23 turkish lira and it was the best baklava I ever tried.
A random store that I found interesting.
Metro selfie on our way to meet our friend for dinner and a drink where the rest of the group was suppose to gather. Later we went out to Dorock XL in Kadikoy, which is located on the Asian side of the city. On Friday night we went to the same place - Dorock, but in Besiktas, which is on the European side. Interesting thing is that both nights the same band was playing and we still had a lot of fun! :)
I don't really have any photos other than this one, outside the club, where these two dogs were sleeping. Other interesting thing, at least for me, was the fact the security in front of clubs won't let the men inside if there's no women in his company. So whenever some of our male friends came later and wanted to join us, one of the girls had to go outside and pick him up.
That's everything for day 3. We stayed out until the early morning, I think it was almost 7am when we got to the apartment. I still don't know how I managed to stay awake that long. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed another Istanbul post, there's two more to go until the end of these series. Have a great weekend everyone! :)
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