Ratings Key

Establishments:

5: leave your neighborhood specifically to come here 4: must-go if you’re already in the neighborhood 3: solid option if you’re in the neighborhood 2: this is fine if you’re in the neighborhood 1: avoid

Dishes:

5: I’m getting again no matter what; I cannot be here and not get this 4.5: I’ll try other stuff but would be so excited to get this again 4: I’ll try other stuff but would get again happily once I’ve tried everything else 3.5: yeah, pretty good 3: fine if I have to get something 2: I would only eat this if it were free / it’s food but I wouldn’t pay for it 1: I wouldn’t eat this if it were free

Overall Notes

• Check inflation by looking at the current prices of Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, etc. Make sure it’s not shockingly expensive!
• February weather was awful
• Do more research: Watch more videos of sights before you go, read up more on the history of a particular time period and theme the visit around that period.
• Go to Kadıköy on the first day for groceries.
• We got scammed a lot. Do your research!
• There’s a specific kind of Turkish restaurant that’s dedicated to beans? Seems great for vegetarians?

Journal

February 5, 2025 - February 14, 2025

Transportation & Lodging

• 2/5/2025-2/14/2025: We stayed at an Airbnb at Eski Çiçekçi Sk. No:21. I loved the neighborhood (except for the fact that the apartment was up a steep hill from the closest tram stop) and would definitely look to be in this neighborhood again. The apartment was good for our purposes: full kitchen with cooking implements, a desk for my work, and a big couch. Well-heated.

Next Time

• Other neighborhoods in Fatih
  • Walking around neighborhoods more – didn’t get to do much of that in 2025 on account of the rain
• Quest: best böreks in Istanbul
• Suleymaniye Mosque, Chora Church
• Bosphorus Cruise
• Topkapı Palace again but better prepared this time

By Activity

Sights

• Hagia Sophia, 3.5 given the circumstances (Fatih): This would obviously have been a 5, but it’s €25, and also you can’t even go onto the ground floor?? Like, I couldn’t do the self-guided tours in the Rick Steves because the ground floor is no longer accessible. Of course it’s still cool to be in the building where it all happened, but if someone only had one day in Istanbul, I’d definitely advise doing Topkapı Palace instead.
• Blue Mosque, 3.5 (Fatih): Very lovely! But also like, okay, we saw it!
• ⭐ Topkapı Palace, 5 (Faith): Insanely expensive (€50!) but amazing. We were there for about 5 hours and only saw about half of it. Given the price, this is one where you really need to put a lot in so that you can get a lot out. In retrospect, I would have done research beforehand – watched YouTube videos alongside reading self-guided tours – in order to really understand everything I was seeing. I also think it’s important to go first thing in the morning so that you can be there all day and take breaks. Ideally, there would be a two-day ticket, but I don’t think they have one.