A day in Istanbul

Gooood morning Istanbul! I wake up to a deliciously unglamorous hummus (can we all agree on just one way to spell houmus please and can it just be hummus?) and pitta I bought late last night on arrival in a too-expensive tourist spot around the corner from my hostel.

Cost – ₺90 TRY90 TRY for hummus (spenny) and I’m not sure I even ordered pitta? Win!

My hostel is €21.59€21.59 a night and in hindsight, had I known how poor I’d be by the end of my travels, I would have booked something cheaper, because I didn’t pay in advance and now have to exist on £14£14 a day for this whole trip. Let’s do this!

You can’t drink the tap water here (or at least those of us with delicate eco systems shouldn’t) so I have to factor hydration into that budget too. Let’s hope they take credit card. Hostel man gave me a free (I think. I hope.) bottle of water.

Roaming the streets – mosques on Fridays open after 14:30 for tourists, so I discover this and then aimlessly wander, perfectly happy in the sunshine. Predatory men can sense contentment, so obviously I am stopped by a random man in the street who proceeds to walk alongside me and not leave me alone for 5 minutes saying he lives in Shrewsbury (interesting flex) and that I’m walking in the wrong direction (how bold of him to assume there is a correct direction). Eventually I shake him off.

Cost – being a woman!

There are mosques and columns everywhere! So much to see and so many plaques to read. This one said some of Jesus’ belongings might have been inside it at one point. Big claims!

Trying my first Turkish coffee at Hafiz Mustafa (1864) – I ordered it ‘medium’ with sugar but I don’t know what that entails. It comes with a powdered little sweet that is delicious but no clue what it is. I can assume Turkish delight, but then I think they have more than just delight in their realm of sweets in Türkiye. The coffee is chuffin delicious, 10/10.
₺39 TRY39 TRY

Unfortunately, the lovely man who served me did not look like this.

Off I trott with directions from the coffee man* “the city ends here, go left” and sure enough I’m back to tourist land and a sign that says ‘literature museum – free entry’. YES.

No photos allowed in here for whatever reason, so all I can say is it was an odd building with one very pink room with crushed velvet curtains. I loved the glass cases with the glasses, pipes, pens and such of famous Turkish writers. I wonder if my glasses and pen will be in a case in Wales one day due to my fame from this blog post. These are the musings you have the head space to enjoy when travelling alone.

Turns out that museum is the outer edge of Gülhane park – a gorgeous park! It smells like flowers, it’s clean, and there are people enjoying it – impeccable vibes. I seem to be interested in buildings no one else wants to go in, which suits me fine. I take a stroll through the stacks at the History of Sciences library and enjoy the smell of books I can’t read. The security guard checks I know it’s a library and looks at me odd. It’s a gorgeous building; a combination of old and new, with beautiful light streaming in. Again, no photos allowed and I follow rules well.

Elsewhere in the park I find a Roman cistern with an art exhibition inside?! Yes please! It’s instantly chilly and damp in here and makes me feel like I’m in an episode of Buffy and a bunch of vampires in sexy 90s outfits are going to attack me.

Ooo another column! This one is for the Goths (commemorating a Roman victory over the invading Goths).

The oldest monument from the Roman era surviving intact. Made from a single block of Proconnesian marble. Heavy.

It’s food o’clock and I get a Simit with cream cheese from a surly man at the entrance to the park. It’s like a harder sesame bagel. I vow to eat vegetables for dinner.

Cost – ₺20 TRY20 TRY
Crumbs – everywhere

I just realised I’m dressed like a 1940s archaeologist as I set off for the archaeological museum. No photos, you’ll just have to trust me.

I make a bold decision to pay ₺200 TRY200 TRY for the archaeological museum because I really want to go in. Two thirds of my money budget on knowledge today. I will eat mega cheap and learn nothing tomorrow.

Hardest to Find Toilet Ever award goes to the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. It’s FREE though, which is why I went there and not the public toilets in the park that cost a ₺1 TRY1 TRY coin I did not have.

It was worth the food budget – what a cracking museum! If you like ancient coins, then let me tell you, it is the place to go. If you like statues and sarcophagi – ditto. Jewellery from old BCE that looks new and like you could buy it on Etsy today? They got it.

In fact, this museum has so much treasure that artefacts normally found inside a regular museum are left outside amongst the cafe guests because although ancient, they clearly have enough priceless art inside to warrant a few getting mossy outside.

I did a bit of food research this morning, finding cheap but good restaurants and street food that might sustain me and my ridiculous budget, so I’ve ended up down a busy little side road watching traffic squeeze both ways down, what should be, a one way street. I’ve ordered the vegetarian kebap.

Cost – ₺105 TRY105 TRY

Ziya Baba Türk Mutfağı Slow food – 10/10 delicious and an extra point for the roadside entertainment 11/10 but I have found the limit for how many pitta I can eat in a day.

Turkish tea – ₺10 TRY10 TRY

Back to the hostel for some down time and I end up chatting to an old Welsh man for a while.

Cigarette off the Welsh man – Free

The lovely South African girl in my hostel room had some bad news, so we go for a totally off budget drink that I will definitely regret spending money on. I do however get stunning roof top views and these photos.

Cost of a glass of red wine – €8€8 (Istanbul confusingly sells things in both Lira and Euro)

Oh and water – I bought a 1.5 litre from the hostel for ₺30 TRY30 TRY

Total spent:  ₺1159 TRY1159 TRY