New Year in Istanbul

The New Year in Istanbul is one of the most breathtaking event that you can partake! What could be more enjoyable then "to kill two birds with one stone" by discovering one of the most beautiful city of the World with its cultural and historical heritage and spend the New Year eve near the Bosphorus.
Thousands tourists arrive every year to Istanbul to celebrate New Year holidays. That`s why you should start to plan your trip at least two months before. Otherwise, it will be problematic to find an apartment to rent or free room in a hotel to book.
If you want to visit historical places and museums, it would be nice to arrive to Istanbul few days before the New Year eve. You will need at least 3 days to visit all famous historical places and one day to have a small tour to Prince`s islands.

The weather in Istanbul in December is a bit chill, but very comfortable for walking outside for a long time. It is about +6 degrees in a day time.
In the middle of December, streets and shops in Istanbul are decorated with a lot of flash lights and look fascinating. It is a great time to go shopping. There are lot of shops with a various type of goods and clothes, jewelries with a special prices and discounts. To go shopping in Istanbul you can visit outlets or you can find lot of small shops, walking along main streets in Kadikoy, Moda or other areas in Istanbul.

So, what exactly you can do at The New Year eve in Istanbul? Istanbulers used to celebrate the New Year eve at home with family, or with friends in night clubs or restaurants. However, if you will go to the center, you will meet a crowd of drunk teenagers, especially in the Taksim square. So, this is defiantly not nice place to go.

One of the most beautiful event in the New year in Istanbul is a line of fireworks along the Bosphorus. Sparks of fireworks give mesmerizing reflection in the water. To be able to see it from the best places, try to book a table in a restaurant on the Galata bridge, from where you can have really incredible view on fireworks.

Also, you can choose one of the good night clubs to go and celebrate the New Year in Istanbul. Some of them have outdoor terrace with a dance floor on Bosphorus, like Reina club. And some of them are placed on roofs, from where you can enjoy incredible view, for example "Istanbul 360" in Taksim.

And one other variant to celebrate the New Year in Istanbul, it is to order a fish from a fish restaurant near you and celebrate at home with friends. But, I am sure, that you came to Istanbul not to stay at home. )

Whatever you choose, I wish you to have amazing trip and the best New Year eve in Istanbul!

Turkish simit

One of the most famous turkish bread simit. You can find it everywhere in Istanbul, near the farry boat station, on the street.

If you have been in Istanbul, I am sure that you have seen the simit. It is not possible not to see, because it is everywhere. On the streets you can buy it in small carts or in market stalls.

So, what the simit is? The simit - is a very tasty, round bread, strewn with sesame. Usually, in Turkey, people eat simit with a tea, served in a special small glasses.

Young people like to feed sea gulls with simit from the deck of a ferry boat. Flock of sea gulls, that are used to be feeding in that way, just attack the boat and catch small pieces of simit in the air. 

 

You can follow the link with a video in our YouTube channel to see how enjoyable it is.

Turkish simit recipe

 Ingredients for simit:

• Flour (3 cups);
• Salt (2 tsp);
• Water (1 cup);
• Sesame;
• Yeast (1 tbs);
•  Oil (1 tbs);
• Molasses (4 tbs)/

Mix a flour with a yeast, salt and vegetable oil in a deep bowl till the homogeneous consistence of the dough. Cover it with a plastic wrap and let it grow up at least one hour. 

Take another deep bowl and mix molasses with a tbs of water.

Cut dough for six parts, roll to make long "tubes", and twist tubes together, connect two sides to make a circle.

Dip simit in to the molasses and then dip it to the sesame. Again leave dough to rise for an hour and then put it to the fridge and bake 25 minutes on 220C.

Bon appetite! Affiet Olsun!

Boza - fermented turkish drink

Most of people, who have traveled to Turkey used to think that the most popular drinks in Istanbul are: coffee, tea, yogurt and raki. However, there are a lot of different drinks that are not that popular among a foreigners that arrives to Turkey or live there. And one of them is Boza.

Boza it is a fermented drink, made from wheat and served with a cinnamon. Boza drink consist a lot of vitamins and carbohydrates and famous in Turkey, like a very healthy drink.

Boza is very old traditional drink that was popular in Ottoman Empire. The fermented drink was a regular drink for army, and famous with it`s good influence on soldier`s health.

The boza include very low percentage of alcohol, about 1%. Specific taste of Boza makes that drink maybe not very popular among the tourists, but to understand if you will like it or not, it is only one way - to taste it.

So, how to drink Boza? 

Usually you can find the Boza in a plastic bottle with a small package on it with spices. All what you should do it is to open the bottle and to pour the liquid in a cup, open small package and add spices in the cup, mix it and drink.

Put spices to the Boza

  

Traditional turkish dessert. Lokma.

The lokma - delicious Turkish dessert made from sugar, yeast and flour. The dessert usually served with the sugar syrup or honey.

You will never find the lokma in a sweet-shop, supermarket or cafe and restaurant. The lokma is a kind of street food. In Istanbul it sells open air and not everywhere.

Lokma

The lokma is very gooey, that`s why it is always served with a toothpicks. You should thread the lokma with a toothpick and put it to your mouth and enjoy the taste.

Lokma is very old traditional turkish dessert that is famous from The Ottoman Empire and popular till nowdays. 

How to cook The Lokma.

Ingredients:

For lokma.

1. 1,25 cup of warm water;
2. 1 teaspoon of sugar;
3. 1 teaspoon of yeast;
4. 1 teaspoon of salt;
5. oil;
6. 2,2 cup of flour.

 For the syrup.

1. 1,3 cup of water;
2. 3 cups of sugar;
3. 2 big spoon of lemon juice.

Put sugar and yeast to the warm water and mix it till sugar and yeast will melt. Leave it for 10 minutes. Put flour and salt to a bowl and mix. Add warm water with sugar and yeast and mix again. Cover it and leave it in a warm area for two hours. Then make small balls usung a spoon and hands.
Heat the oil and put balls into the oil and fright it two minutes on each side.

Mix all ingredients for the syrup and put hot, frighted balls into the syrup.

Bon appetite!

 

How to get from Sabiha Gokcen airport to Sultanahmet

Most of tourists wonder about how to get from Sabiha Gokcen airport to Sultanahmet area in Istanbul. 

These are few ways how to do that. If you have enough time you can use transfer (Havatas) to get from the Sabiha Gokcen airport to the Kadikoy ferry boat station and then go by ship to the Eminonu. In the Eminonu you will need to use the speedy tramway to get to the Sultanahmet station. All ships departure due to the timetable, and sometimes it can take time to wait for departure. In fine, your trip will take at least 2-2.5 hours.

However, if you want to save your time you can use undersea railway Marmaray. It will be the most faster way to reach the Sultanahmet area.

From Sabiha to Sultanahmet by Marmaray

• You should take a bus Havatas near the entrance of the Sabiha Gokcen airport. You can see it easily with a huge name on the bus "Havatas". That transfer will take you straight to the Kadikoy.

• Arriving from the Sabiha Gokcen to Kadikoy you will see a column with letter M. This is a metro station (M4 line). Use that line to get to the Ayrilikcesme station.

• When you will get to the Ayrilikcesme metro station, you will see the Marmaray railway with the same station name - Ayrilikcesme. This two stations (metro and Marmaray) are in the same area, so you can find it easily. 
• Use Marmaray railway to get to the Sirkeci station.
• Go out on the street from the Marmaray railway platform and find a tramway station in front of the entrance of the Marmaray.
• Get in to the T1 speedy tramway and get out on the Sultanahmet station.

Marmaray station on the right. In the left you can see the rails of speedy tramway.

To make your trip easier, I prepared for you the info-graphic chart that you can download, print and take with you to your trip from the Sabiha Gokcen airport to the Sultanahmet.

Please, mention that with Istanbulkard you can save more money and your trip from the Sabiha Gokcen airport to the Sultanahmet area will cost at least 2 times less. 

The Grand Bazaar Istanbul

The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul you can find in the historical central European part of Istanbul, not too far from the Egyptian Bazaar and the Eminonu ferry boat station.

Sometimes tourists mixed the Grand Bazaar with the Egyptian Bazaar. However, this is two different places, that are not in the same area.

An entrance to the Egyptian Bazaar is just in front of The New Mosque (Yeni Cami), on the Eminonu station. But, the Grand Bazaar is a little bit far.

You can take a tramway T1 to the Beyazit-Kapalicharsi station from Eminonu to get to the Grand Bazaar. It will take about 5-7 minutes.

The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the oldest and one of the biggest bazaar that was opened in 1894. Nowadays, it comprises about 4000 shops with different kind of goods. 

Inside the Grand Bazaar there are four fountains with a drinking water.

Strolling throgh the Grand Bazaar you should be very careful with your wallet. It is very crowded place and a lot of professional pickpockets are working there.

Also, you must bargain before buying something. Its a traditional "game" and absolutely necessary if you don`t want to pay 3 times more then it costs. ) 

Weather in Istanbul in December

If you are going to visit Istanbul in December and don`t know what is better to take with you, let me give you some advices.

Weather in Istanbul in December usually is not very cold and can reach about +12 degree in day time and drop down till +5 degree. You have to mention about it going to go out from home for an all day tour. It will be better, if you will take a coat and a sweater. Sweater you can put to your beg and to wear it at the evening, if weather will change. 

Some days in December in Istanbul are really sunny and warm, some are rainy and chill. So, will be nice to have am umbrella or a raincoat with a hood. 

December is nice to visit Istanbul. It is not hot and you can visit a lot of places without suffering of the hot weather, joasting in the crowd and stay in a lines to visit historical places. 

I am sure that weather in Istanbul in December will not disappoint you!

Weather in Istanbul in December

What to see in Istanbul. Day 4. Buyukada island

I hope you was enjoying your three days trip in Istanbul, using my plan in previous posts: "What to see in Istanbul. Day 1" in the Sultanahmet area in the historical center of Istanbul, "What to see in Istanbul. Day 2" in the central square of Istanbul, amazing seafront and museum of miniatures and "What to see in Istanbul. Day 3". )

Today, will be our last full day important trip. Other interesting places in Istanbul you can see if you will have more days and time. You can find an information about other ibjects and areas in Istanbul, reading other posts in my blog.

So, what will we see today during our trip in Istanbul? Ofcouse, we cannot complete our trip without visiting Prince`s Islands of Istanbul! ) So, let`s go there.

There is a group of nine islands very close to Istanbul in the Marmara sea. You can visit just three of them: the biggest one and the most interesting - Buyukada island, Kinaliada island and Heybeliada. Actually, I advice you to visit just Buyukada, because discovering that island will take all your day. And other islands are not interesting to compare with this one.

So, how to get to Buyukada? 

To get to Buyukada island you can by ship from the Kabatash (Kabatas) ferry station that will take 1,5 hour, the Kadikoy ferry station that will take about 1 hour and the Bostandji (Bostanci) ferry station that will take 30 minutes in transit. Choose the closest ferry station to your place, find a writing"Adalar" (islands in Turkish) in a schedule of ships, use your IstanbulKart and go. 

Usually, ship have few stops, so you have to be careful and don`t get out from ship on the wrong station or island, because the interim between ships can be about 1.5 hour or more.

Then you will just get out from the ship and should go straight on the street following other people till you will reach the central square of the Buyukada island. You can easily recognize it by the column with the clock on it. 

 On photo you can see the ferry station of Buyukada with a ship.

This is the main square of Buyukada.

Now lets decide where we will go first. If you are hungry, I advice you to eat now, because our trip will be long and some period of time we will not find any place to eat. On the square in Buyukada a lot of restaurants, but if you want to try famous Turkish food, you can visit the Sultanahmet Koftesi restaurant near the square. 

The restaurant is not far from the old and very beautiful drugstore.

Or you can choose one of the fish restaurants near the sea if you will go left from the ferry station along the seaside.

Now we will decide how will we go to one of the most famous place in the Buyukada island - The Church of st. George. That church is on the top of the mountain and you can go there by foot, by bicycle or by horses.

I don`t advice you to go by foot if you don`t know the way very good. You can be lost in the forest as we did once. )) It was not funny and safe there, to be alone, without a way and orientation where we are and where to go. Especially, when started to be dark on the street. 

About bicycle its nearly same. If you know the way, you can go, or you can go following  horses to find the way, but when you will come closer to the top of the mountain, it will be not possible to go far with a bicycle, because of the sharp hill. And you will need to take your bicycle with you, walking up about 1 km by foot or leave it in the middle with a hope that nobody will take it. )) 

Bicycles you can rent in the center of Buyukada.

And the last option, that I strongly advice you if you really don`t know the way -It is horses.)
You can find the station with horses on the left of the clock on the central square of Buyukada.

Don`t rent full cabin alone, you can find another tourists and share the price with them, will be less expensive. 

Choose the horses and the color of sits, design of a cabin and enjoy the trip along the Buyukada island.

 Till you will come to the sharp hill of the mountain. From that point you will need to go by foot. Unfortunately, there is no options.

In the middle of the way will be a place with a benches and a water, by the way, very very tasty water. You can stop, rest and wash your face, drink water and go up more till you will reach The Church of st. George.

 There is a believes among Turkish people, if you will wish something inside The Church of st. George and ask it with an open heart, your dream will come true. So, you should try. )

Around The Church of st. George you can find a place to sit and enjoy amazing view from the very hight mountain. My favorite place is on the right and on the left you can find a bench where you can sit on the edge of the mountain.

That place are very silent. You can hear just how birds are singing. 

Going back from the mountain you can in a  same way as you came here. Try to mention about houses on the both sides of the street. All houses in Buyukada island have different construction and some of the are very old and interesting.

After coming back to the center of Buyukada, don`t rush to go back to Istanbul. Walk near the sea, it`s really amazing.

What to see in Istanbul. Day 3.

Hello again! )

I hope you was enjoying traveling these two days with me and want to advice you where will be better to go on your 3 day of your trip in Istanbul. 

You can double check plans for previous trips in Istanbul, reading articles: What to see in Istanbul. Day 1 and What to see in Istanbul. Day 2.

Today we will discover the Asian side of Istanbul. We will visit the Kadikoy, Camlica hill, Beylerbey palace and Yoros castle.

Lets start with the Kadikoy area.

The Kadikoy

Kadikoy is one of the oldest area of Istanbul. And nowadays one of the most popular place for tourists and turkish people. 

Here you can see the old railway station Haydarpasha (Haydarpasa), that was opened at 1908. It is really cute and interesting place. You can see Haydarpasa from the pier of Kadikoy or walking closer to see it inside.

If you remember the Nostalgic Tramway that we was using during our second day trip in Istanbul in the Taksim square, maybe, you also remember we was talking about another one ancient Nostalgic Tramway. That Tramway you can see in the Kadikoy area. And that tramway makes a cycle around the Kadikoy area and around one of the most famous, beautiful and central street of the Asian side of Istanbul - Moda street.

The Kadikoy area is very crowded. A lot of small and thin streets are running up along the buildings from the Kadikoy pier. On that small and very crowded streets are a mix of cafes with an open-air areas, a lot of shops, tourists are moving absolutely chaotically, a live music in some areas near the restaurants and a lot of cats, so you should be careful, watching under your feet, not to make a cat`s accident. )) 

The Kadikoy is very different in the evening and in the day time. In the day time it`s more look like just a crowded area with a people and a businessmen who are rushing somewhere, a lot of cars, a lot of noise. But at the evening the Kadikoy area transformed in a night life area. So, I advice you to visit the Kadikoy at last twice. In the day time and at the late evening. 

From the Kadikoy square we will go to the Camlica hill.

The Camlica Hill

The Camlica hill is one of the most highest point in Istanbul. That`s why here are located all TV and radio towers. The Camlica is about 268 meters above the sea level. And from that place you can see absolutely increasable panorama of Istanbul and Bosphorus. 

 To get to the Camlica Hill you can from the Kadikoy taking a bus # 14D, 14F, 14R or 14K to «Turistik Camlica Tesisleri» station. 

Near the entrance to the Camlica hill I strongly advice you to stop in the Chomlek (Comlek) restaurant and thy their famous dish with beans. You can try that delicious dish just in that restaurant, because the secret of how do they cook it so amazing they keep in secret.

In the Comlek restaurant you can choose an area where to sit. There are two options. You can sit in a hall and enjoy the view from the windows.

Or you can sit in the area with an observation deck.

 But, you have to know that that area will move. Very slowly ofcouse, but will move around, to let all guests see the view from the windows. 

That area is open in the summer time.

And in the cold period of time, windows are closed and you can look outside throw the glass.

 After eating amazing beans in the Comlek restaurant on the Camlica hill, we will go to see the ruins of the Yoros castle. To go to that place you will better take a taxi. You can easily ask an administrator in the Comlek restaurant to call a taxi for you. Or if you know how, you can do it by yourself. 

Road to Yoros Castle will take about 20 minutes. 

After coming to the mountain with the Yoros castle, climb up to see it.

 You can also drink a coffee or a tea in the amazing cafe on the top of the mountain.

From the Yoros you can take a taxi to our last destination - Beylerbey palace.

In the Beylerbey castle is forbidden to make a photos. Also, you will be allowed to enter the palace just with a guide, that will tell you all about that place in English. Maybe, you will just need to sit few minutes and wait till some other tourists will join you, because they don`t make an excursions for a group of people less then 6 person.But, places are popular and I am sure that you will not wait for a long time. 

Till you are waiting you can walk in a garden near the Beylerbey castle, close to the sea.

Going back from the Beylerbey castle to the Kadikoy, you can easily. Just go out from the territory of castle and in front of you will be the bus station. Wait a bus that will take you to the Kadikoy.

Please, find a plan for the fourth day of the trip in Istanbul in the post What to see in Istanbul. Day 4.