Last spring break I had the oppurtunity to visit the great city of Istanbul. My mom had grown up there as a child so our family decided to go back and visit for a week. After a long plane ride we arrived at our hotel, the Yesil Ev, before going to the Hippodrome Park, which is where in the old times they would hold chariot races. The Yesil Ev was a very nice hotel which had great breakfast and lunch services. It was perfectly situated next to many of the places that we visited.

What we realized right off the bat was that there were many vendors on the street that will follow you for blocks which seems sort of scary at first, but we got used to it. The next day we visited the Topkapi palace, and saw the famous dagger as well as the largest diamond in the world. We then visited the Cisterns, which is an underground water storage where they kept water after a siege. A scene from the James Bond movie, "From Russia with Love" was filmed there. Other stops were at the Blue Mosque, San Sophia, a ride down the Bosporus river, and of course the great Bazaar. While in the Bazaar, don't forgot to haggle with the sellers because you can almost always get the price way down if you are persistant with them.

I would definetly recommend hiring a tour guide if you'd like to visit a lot of these places because he/she will tell you many things that you may not of read about before. We went in March so it was nice weather, sort of cold (for us Texan folk cold is about 70 degrees) but Istanbul is a great place to visit. I would like to go again sometime and perhaps take a cruise around the Bosporus perhaps into Greece or stop along the way.



Recommended: Yes

Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime