travels

How to see 3 museums and 2 masjids in Istanbul Old City in a day!

A few weeks ago, we were fortunate to have the opportunity to do some sightseeing in Istanbul, after months of staying local to home due to the pandemic.

I had a few places on my bucket list and decided to tackle them
all on 1 day as I couldn’t be sure when I would get a chance like this again (given having the kids around during upcoming school holidays, various lockdown situations etc!)

(Tip: don’t recommend this itinerary  if you’re a savour the moment kinda tourist! But if you have limited time like me then this itinerary may work as you get to taste all the sites mentioned just enough to satisfy your FOMO!!) but as I live here, I do also know I could return insha Allah if I didn’t finish it all, so mindset is different. Also kids didn’t join us this time so super speed was possible! 

Note: On a random weekday everywhere inside was super quiet and outside was not crowded at all therefore social distancing was always adhered to.

Destination: Sultanahmet/Sirkeci Istanbul
How to get there from Etiler: Bus to Kabatas. Change to tram – stop at Gulhane Park. (1 hour)

First stop: Archaeological Museum- we love history! Interesting to understand how early inhabitants conceptualised life and death and religion. There are also art works through the years and lots of statues. Some buildings are closed off but still worth a visit.
Duration: 1 hour.

Coffee Break at Coffs in Sirkeci. Suitable if you’re in the area and in need of a coffee fix!

                                     
Museum of Science & Technology- fascinating to learn about the contributions made by muslims in this field. Our favourite (needed more time to read and digest). There are many sections. We had 45 minutes but probably 1-2 hours is better

Stroll through Gulhane Park. Must see for a break and breathe of fresh air

Dhuhr prayers and my first visit to Hagia Sophia since it has  returned asa a masjid.

The energy inside is very uplifting and strong. This incredible building has been a place of worship for 100’s of years and you feel it Alhamdulillah. I wish we had more time to soak it all in.
Note: women’s whudu facilities are located all the way on the opposite end at Blue Mosque currently.

Lunch stop – Kofte Ekmek at the famous Sultahahmet Kofteci across the road. It does the job but I fail to see what the big hype is except maybe its been around for a long while? We bought our takeaway and came back inside Sultanahmet square to eat it along the benches under the trees. They is now a checkpoint to enter so there are just two entrances to the complex that I saw.

Refreshed we were ready for the next visit to Masjid Sokullu Mehmet Pasha– do read up more on it as the history is interesting.

It is designed by Mimar Sinan and the most fascinating (and not that well-known) aspect is that it hosts 4 pieces of the Black Stone (Hajr Aswad from Makkah). 

It is quiet and peaceful, as in all masjid courtyards in Istanbul Subhanallah. It is closed between prayers, but we were fortunate to join another couple who managed to find a caretaker who kindly opened up for us. It’s mesmerising.

Here is one of the 4 pieces of the black stone placed on top of this mimbar.  It was so exciting to witness and I am so grateful we made it there, Alhamdulillah.

Quran through the ages. So interesting to see how style changes.
Very interesting to read about what influenced Muslim rule in the world through the decades, to where Turkey is today.

There are including relics of the Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him). I cant speak to the authenticity, I myself was surprised to see it here as I only knew of Topkapi Palace that also hosted these historical significant artefacts. 

It was also of interest to learn about the clothing that changed through the years. You should spend 1-2 hours at this museum to do it justice.

Ice Cream stop before we headed back home. We ended our whirlwind tour at 3:30pm.

Exhausted, but exhilarated!

Tip: Museum Pass card got me FREE entry to all places. 

Other tips: Be prepared to walk. We hit 10 000 steps just at midday, to give you an example. Dress comfy, carry a light back pack with you. Bottled water is available and cheap. Use toilets at museums. 

Have you been to these places – which is your favourite site?  Which one makes it to your must checkout on your next trip? 

MbyDesign
The Organised Traveler

Review : Polonezkoy Zoo -The Ultimate Guide including pics and prices

Overall: A great day out for the family to get a healthy dose of animals and nature away from the city.

Not a place to go out of your way for if you’re for tourist – but ideal for us animal-deprived Istanbullus!

There are aspects I am not so keen on like some animals being enclosed. However, as I understand these animals can no longer survive in their natural habitats and are therefore being kept here as a way to preserve their lives- at least that the view I am going with 🙂

Entrance fees and details:

They open at 9am at least during August when we visited. It was super quiet at 10am when we arrived but picked more by midday.

50TL adult, 30TL kids over 2. There are discounts for older people. Under 2 is free.

Duration of visit : 6 hours (2 adults, 2 toddlers under 4). We did 10am-16:30pm including naps, lunch and snacks.There are different sections to enjoy so you could structure your day best suited for little legs, the weather (its open and hot), and also meal times. There is enough shady areas and benches throughout for rest and picnics.

It’s divided into:  Animals, Playground, Fun Activities, Outdoor Adventure Park, Restaurant. It’s not that huge – like you can get from one side to the other fairly quickly. Maps are provided at the entrance and it’s handy to pick up one to follow.

polonezkoy zoo

There are different areas to walk around to view animals in their respective enclosures. This took about 1.5 hours. It is stroller friendly. We got the kids out of the stroller at times so they get closer to see like the birds in the pond, or the lake. There is also an enclosed “forest” area that you can roam in – not stroller friendly but it’s not big so you can take the kids walking. we saw donkeys, deer and emus. Some animals were following us around so we didn’t spend alot of time there. There is also another area to touch animals which we didn’t visit as our friends told us it was difficult to walk around – so we skipped it.

Fun Activities: Include kiddy car rides, mini train, Ferris wheel, pony and horse rides. Theres also carnival style games like giant bow and arrow/punching. Everything is old but there is effort to maintain and we saw them cleaning out the equipment beforehand.

Each activity is between 10-20TL. You purchase tickets at the reception (a few minutes walk away) and use them at the activity area to pay for each thing you are going on.

Food: 

Inside the park, there is one self service restaurant with an option of  made to order food (eg pasta, sandwiches etc) , or cook your own (mangal – barbecue meat and chicken). 

There is also snacks, ice-cream, desserts and fruit available for purchase. It is slightly pricey, but expected.

There is a beautiful outdoor setting with plenty tables. You are not allowed outside food, however they did not check.

                             

Playground: really exciting, novel play equipment like swings, climbing , tractors to sit in, basketball court and much more. You could spend alot of time here so do allocate accordingly.

                                                                


Covid measures: standard :staff wear masks and there is sanitiser at entrance and at restaurant. The
park was not over busy on a Sunday, meaning there was enough opportunity for social distancing.

How to get there: We took a taxi which was 80-90TL from Etiler (Istanbul), and it took around 35 minutes. To return, we weren’t sure whether we could get a taxi back easily and therefore booked a Progo car in advance to pick us up which was a minivan so a more comfortable ride as well.

There isn’t alot of detailed info available online on this park so I have decided to share our experience to help other families! Hope you have an enjoyable day. Please feel free to share a comment below or ask any questions from myself or the readers.

                                                                     

Exploring Istanbul, one outdoor place at a time,

Taskeen

@Productive_Muslim_Mom

Turkish tales: Exploring Cengelkoy in Istanbul

Salaams

We like to structure our weekends with one day of rest/chores/catch up, and the other day for adventure! This usually involves exploring an undiscovered area, trying out new food or just doing something different. This weekend, we woke up to a sunny sky, albeit with a slight chill in the air and decided to head out to Cengelkoy, a neighbourhood in Uskudar, across the bridge on the Asian side.

This place is best known for “Cikolata Kahve” – a chocolate boutique store specialising in exceptional chocolate. So this made our first stop for a “snack” , since we had already had a big breakfast at home. Inside, it was quaint and cosy, friendly staff and quite busy, which I kind of expected for such a popular place.

There are no menus, because really there are only 3 items on their menu to drink – Cay (Turkish tea), hot chocolate and Turkish coffee/hot chocolate. Besides this, you can order chocolates from their attractive display made up of dark, milk, white, nutty, fruit flavoured,  caramel filled, praline filled…..beautiful and decadent looking!

We ordered the hot chocolate and Turkish coffee/hot chocolate combo. It arrived rather quickly, which I suppose is because they are churning out heaps of this for the steady stream of customers! I usually ditch the cream, but I thought on this occasion it made sense to complete the full experience of this special menu item, and that was a good idea! I could taste the rich milk chocolate that the hot drink was made from – and I know thats what sets really good hot chocolate apart from anything else. Scrumptious.

Divine hot chocolate

A walk upstairs led me to an even more marvelous find (yes, more marvelous than the chocolate downstairs!), which was one floor dedicated to convenient facilities for women – bathroom, prayer room together with a beautifully decorated area for wudhu (ablution). Turns out, men were expected to use the nearby masjid for prayer, but luckily for us ladies, we had it all laid out here- another reason to stop by this lovely store again! I never find comfortable prayer facilities underrated. It makes praying on the go so much more pleasurable especially if you are busy and far from home. Coming from living in more Western countries, I have had some horrendous experiences so I really appreciated this nice touch. In fact, I might write another post on all the awesome prayer facilities in Istanbul.

praying in style
ablution in style

Also at the store, there is also a splendid terrace right on the top to relax outdoors with spectacular views of the bosphorus and bridge when the weather is good. After selecting some chocolates to take away and as gifts (boxes range from 30-60 TL, pay per weight), we walked around the main street in Cengelkoy. There are lots of restaurants with unique settings- either located on the shore of the bosphorus or others that have amazing views from higher up. There are cafes selling waffles, turkish snacks, cake shops and coffee shops all dotted along the main road. I made a mental note for next time- Some places to eat did not come up in my previous research yet they looked really good and I would like to try, Some names include Bosphorus View, Sutis, Deniz Yildizi, Villa Bosphorus. Yes, although Cengelkoy is small, there are lots of interesting restaurants to visit more than once, if not just the chocolate shop!

Beautiful bosphorus views of Europe and Asia

We had lunch at Kahve Rengi, a delightful cafe/restaurant with an exciting menu. The food was tasty, with generous portions and with great service- all novel for me in most of my Istanbul experience so far! They had  a baby chair which was convenient. The strawberry milkshake that my husband ordered tasted like it had real strawberries in it which was very welcome too.

Tikka masala

After another short walk around, and we spotted a cafe called “Kunefe Caddesi”. A shop whose name is Kunefe is very promising, and more so when I saw they also made “katmer” – a flaky pastry based turkish dessert that I recently discovered fell in love with. We ordered one of each, served with kaymak (cream) and ice cream. It was delicious, quite sweet though but enjoyable.

Katmer- my new favourite Turkish dessert

As the sky turned to light rain, we headed back after a pleasurable day out in Cengelkoy, Alhamdulillah, a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon in Istanbul.

Adventuring in Istanbul, one pretty place at a time
M4Life

Turkish life: Lessons from our first Roadtrip: Istanbul is not Turkey

Salaams

Last month I was really fortunate to go on (our first) roadtrip in Turkey!

I was amazed by the landscape- mountains in the distance, green fields and farms, and the wide open space to breathe! It looks like this:

Turkish countryside

Beautiful right?

I don’t know what I was expecting but  what I saw reminded me how different Istanbul is to the “rest-of-Turkey.” Whilst Istanbul is beautiful, and there are beautiful places to walk around and chill especially on the mighty Bosphorus, it just has a more “closed -up” feel to it. Like take Bebek for instance, you can sit near the water edge – but just in a small space and then there’s buildings in and around you.

In Istanbul, at least on the modern European side which is what I’m more familiar with, sure there are parks, but it’s surrounded by loads of flats and tall buildings. So when driving around your view usually includes  sprawling flats on hills. It’s different out in the countryside and even in Izmir, another big city in Turkey. Things just feel more open, and because it’s more flat I guess that also contributes to the sense of openness, which is just wonderful.

Turunç, Turkey

Driving through some mountains as we neared Turunç, our destination for the trip-the views hit you like waves – one picturesque scene after the next. We made one mandatory photo opp stop to take some pictures of a scene in a valley below us which was simply spectacular – it was the city of Turunç from above – a lovely village near the Aegean Sea, blue waters, a little town and all against a brilliantly blue sky. Subhanallah

Ilica Plaji (Beach)

We also visited Çeşme on this road trip where we were treated to a gorgeous beach called Ilica Plaji. Here we enjoyed soft white sand, turquoise water and gentle yet effective waves! This made an awesome swim and great way to spend the afternoon while enjoying a beautiful sunset. I am truly amazed by the spectacular beaches in Turkey, a few hours drive ( ok, a good few hours!) from Istanbul.

Just like London is not England, I see now that Istanbul is not Turkey! This means you have to explore outside the busy city to truly appreciate the whole country and it’s amazing landscape and feel.

I look forward to discovering more towns and regions beyond Istanbul, Insha Allah.( But we will investigate an easier route, perhaps half flying/half driving rather, as the ten hours drive we took on the way back from Turunc with a tired baby wasn’t the greatest fun!!)

Stay tuned for more adventures from “The Organised Traveler”, my other writing name 🙂

#organisedtraveler #otttraveler

Traipsing through Turkey,
M4Life