Things to do in Istanbul, Turkish wedding | Travel Blog

Istanbul

This was my first trip outside Europe since 2019, my destination was Kyrgyzstan, where I was for two months. I had to transit in Istanbul so I decided to stop there for 4 days.

What impressed me the most was how welcoming Turkish people are, an amazing memory I will keep with me forever is the Turkish wedding I attended.

When I am travelling alone I usually try to meet locals and live with them or at least hangout. This time I met Onur who invited me to his sister's wedding, he picked me up from the airport and directly to the wedding, really an unusual start to a trip!. 

There I met his relatives, ate good food and dance a lot, an amazing experience!. One of the first things that Onur told me was: "you will learn Turkish dances!", I don't know if I learn them, but for sure I practice a lot, I'm confident there are tons of videos of me dancing at that wedding.

Topkapi Palace Museum

The day after Onur helped me to visit the most important things downtown, and one of these was Topkapi Palace. 

This was the residence of the sultans, now it is a museum, and it let you immerse in the sultan's life during the ottoman empire.

It is a very touristic place, you have to buy a ticket to enter, but it is beautiful and there is an amazing view of the Bosphorus.

Hagia Sophia

The second thing that I visited that day with Onur was the famous, nowadays, mosque. Because of COVID, it was not really crowded and there was no queue at the entrance.

The story of this building is fascinating, at the beginning it was a church, then a mosque, after a museum and now a mosque again. Nowadays the entrance is free.

Karakoy

For dinner, we went to this area of the city, one of the most dynamic with a lot of bars and restaurants; I liked it, it is really European. We had a nice Turkish dinner, I tried two different dishes in a good and cheap restaurant.

After dinner, I met with another friend, she should have hosted me but she couldn't. We met for a drink and after we found a place where to watch the final match of the euro cup, nice night.

The Blue Mosque

The day after, alone, I started from the blue mosque. I didn't know it was in the renovation, so inside you can't see much. Anyway even only from the outside is very beautiful!.

Grand Bazaar

I couldn't wait to visit the grand bazaar, I love these kinds of places, you can learn a lot from the local culture and usually, they are crowded and full of life.

Visiting this place gave me that feeling that I had when I was travelling before the pandemic, I was happy with my heart full of love.

It is one of the largest and oldest cover markets in the world, with 61 streets and over 4000 shops. This bazaar is also regarded as one of the first shopping malls in the world.

Suleymaniye Mosque

This mosque is up on a hill and it was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificient. I was lucky because I went there just before the pray of the afternoon ('asr) and they let me stay there and take the pictures you can see here. 

In the mosque, I had the opportunity to talk with a volunteer that was there to inform tourists about the history of the building and the Muslim culture. We end up passing all the evening together talking about everything: religions, cultures and ourselves. It was a beautiful exchange and we are still texting each other.

I have to stop here, at the half of my trip, because the post will be too long, soon the second part.