Istanbul guide: flights, sights, hotels and restaurants
Essential information for visitors to Istanbul, including the best sights, hotels and restaurants.
Getting there
British Airways (0844 493 0787; www.britishairways.com) and Turkish Airlines (0844 800 6666; www.turkishairlines.com) fly to Istanbul’s main Atatürk Airport, while easyJet (www.easyjet.co.uk) flies to Sabiha Gökçen airport on the Asian side (about 20 miles from the ferry port that takes you to the European side). Taxis from Atatürk into Sultanahmet cost about 30 Turkish lira (about £13); the Metro takes about 50 minutes and costs 3 lira (www.iett.gov.tr). From Sabiha Gökçen, the Havas Airport Bus (www.havas.net/en/shuttle-parking) goes to Taksim Square, while a taxi costs about 75 lira. Many hotels operate an airport pickup service.
The inside track
The Spice Market is a must
The Spice Market is a must, but walk around the surrounding streets to discover where the Turks do their shopping. You’ll often find better prices and quality, and get to experience a haggle without the hassle.
On Wednesdays, head to the traditional area around the Fatih Mosque, to what is reputedly the biggest open-air market in Europe. You’ll see virtually no foreign visitors – it’s a fascinating experience.
Have a flutter at Veliefendi Hippodrome (0090 212 444 0855; www.veliefendi.com) in Bakirköy. Meets are every Wednesday and Sunday (entry is 2 lira for men, 1 lira for women); the atmosphere is frantic but family orientated and hugely enjoyable.
Feyhaman Duran, Turkey’s first Impressionist painter, died in 1970, but his house has been preserved intact. Located on the edge of Istanbul University gardens in Beyazit, it’s intensely evocative of his painting style (440 0000, ext 11425).
The best hotels
The Constantine Hotel £
Decorated in typical modern Turkish style; on the edge of Gülhane park, and a pleasant 10-minute walk from all the Sultanahmet sites (513 0808; www.theconstantinehotel.com; from €40/£34).
Hotel Empress Zoe ££
Within strolling distance of Hagia Sophia; a verdant garden makes it an island of calm; the home-cooked Turkish breakfasts are well worth getting up for (518 2504; www.emzoe.com; single rooms from €80/£65).
A’jia £££
On the Asian side, a five-star boutique hotel in an Ottoman waterfront pavilion; rooms are modern, chic and luxurious; transport issues are solved by the hotel’s private river taxi (216 413 9300; www.ajiahotel.com; from €260/£215).
The best restaurants
Buhara £
Kebab restaurant busy with locals at lunchtimes; basic décor but the quality and variety of the grilled meats and home-made breads are outstanding (Nuruosmaniye Caddesi 7A; 527 5133).
Karaköy Lokantasi ££
Traditional Turkish dishes served in chic, blue-tiled surroundings, a few steps from the Golden Horn. A simple lunchtime menu converts into a stunning array of mezze in the evening (Kemankes Caddesi 37; 292 4455).
Sunset Grill £££
With its menu of modern Turkish and Japanese cuisine, Sunset Grill combines stunning food with equally stunning views (Adnan Saygun Caddesi; 287 0357).
Documentary to introduce the first and healthiest fast food in the world: Simit
The simit, which has been the subject of films, books and politics, is now becoming the symbol of İstanbul. Thanks to a documentary by a curious master’s student, it will now be featured in film festivals and fairs, giving the message, “If you come to İstanbul and don’t eat simit, you’ll be sorry.....”
And just how this sesame covered wonder, which is a quintessential Turkish snack, became a culture food will be explained through the documentary -- “Saçıl susam saçıl” (Scatter sesame scatter).
Asude Şengül, a postgraduate student at Galatasaray University, had been searching for a thesis topic and decided to focus on the simit, which stands defiantly against fast food brands. When she noticed how the simit stood nobly and alone in the face of rapidly mushrooming fast food chains, she thought, “I’ve found my thesis topic.” After one year of intense research that culminated in her crossing paths with the provincial culture manager for İstanbul, Ahmet Emre Bilgili, they decided to use the simit documentary to help publicize Turkey. Following the Sultanahmet Simit Festival, which took place in Sultanahmet this September, the documentary is now ready for screening.
Şengül had the toughest time in finding sources for her work. She went to historic simit bakeries, determining which simit shops would be featured in the documentary. “Those who make simit and those who sell them each have a different story. We tried to plan the documentary based on the stories of people. Of course, because the simit has cultural value, we examined it from this respect in the documentary,” says Şengül noting that “simit is eaten by the wealthy and poor -- a food that is in everyone’s kitchen.”
In the 40-minute “Saçıl Susam Saçıl” documentary, the history of this delicious food, how it came to be and the features of İstanbul’s simit are told through the lives of five people. The documentary features the tale of a physically challenged simit seller who sets up across from the Süreyya Sineması (theater) in order to support his family as well as Kazım Usta’s 48 years on the job selling simit in Kabataş.
Şengül, who is practically a simit historian, cannot understand how the simit, which is an indispensible item to have with one’s breakfast and 5 o’clock tea, has yet to be trademarked. It has neither a set weight, nor is the amount of flour used known; however, the sesame used in the making of simit has a standard. Şengül notes that there are foods like simit all over the world, explaining: “Our simit is different from that of Ankara and İzmir. The Laz [a people from the northeastern corner of Turkey between Georgia and the Black Sea] simit is different as well, but the most popular of them all is İstanbul’s. Foreigners who come to Turkey ask each other, ‘Did you eat simit?’ and those who leave Turkey to live or work abroad miss it. The historic Çıtır Simit Bakery located in Kabataş gets orders from foreign customers.” Şengül is concerned that simit, which has become a cultural value for Turkey, doesn’t get the care or attention it deserves. For this reason, she believes that this documentary will help promote simit to the whole world.
Simit made for first time during era of Süleyman the Magnificent According to a tale, the source of which is unknown, Şemsi Pasha, who inspected the foods and desserts that were prepared in the palace during the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent, saw something in the bags of one of the women working there. When he asked her what it was, she said it was sesame. The pasha then asked the palace doctors to research the benefits and harms of sesame. Upon learning of its benefits, he prepared simit with a portion of dough prepared in the kitchen and indulged in it for an entire week to test the new food’s taste and benefits. He then approached the sultan to tell him that he had created a new food. Even though it wasn’t quite consumed with tea back then, the sultan really enjoyed simit served fresh out of the oven...
Cerrahpaşa a forgotten corner of old İstanbul
In a city the size of İstanbul it's hardly surprising that people can live here for decades and still not have visited every part of it.
What is a little more surprising, however, is to stumble on a part of the old city inside the ancient walls that goes virtually unvisited by foreigners. The area around Edirnekapı used to be a bit like that, but these days a growing number of coach parties pass through on their way to visit the Chora Church (Kariye Museum). The part of town around Cerrahpaşa and Haseki, though, is still completely off-the-beaten-track despite being within easy walking distance of Aksaray.
Historically, this was a very important part of the city, the place where the old slave market used to stand and thus the place where some of the women who rose to power in the Topkapı Palace harem changed hands on their path to the sultan's bed. But it was also a part of town picked by several dignitaries of the Ottoman court who chose to adorn it with magnificent mosque complexes, some of them by the great architect Mimar Sinan.
To find Cerrahpaşa you need to alight from the tram at Aksaray, cross the busy interchange and look for the 18th-century Ebu Bekir Paşa schoolroom, which now houses a humble teahouse. From there you should head along Namık Kemal Caddesi to find the Cerrahpaşa Cami, which was built in 1593 by Davud Ağa, a pupil of Sinan who succeeded him as chief architect. In the grounds stands the tomb of Cerrah (Surgeon) Paşa, the barber who had the honor of circumcising the future Mehmed III and who was awarded the title of surgeon for his pains.
If you continue along Cerrahpaşa Caddesi and then turn left along Haseki Kadın Sokağı you will come to the enormous Bulgur Palas, built in 1912 in the style known as First National Architecture for Mehmed Habib Bey, who made a fortune in cracked wheat (hence the name) and then went on to become a deputy for Bolu. One of the architects who worked on it was Giulio Mongeri, who was also responsible for St. Anthony's Church on İstiklal Caddesi as well as for the Maçka Palas building that now houses the Park Hyatt Hotel.
If, instead, you turn right along Haseki Kadın Sokağı you will come to one of the city's more curious and easily overlooked monuments, namely the Column of Arcadius, erected in his own honor by the Emperor Arcadius in 402. The column was torn down for safety reasons in 1715, which means that only the base survives, squeezed in between a house and a car park. In winter it's clearly visible, although at this time of year it's largely obscured by foliage.
Believe it or not, the area around this column where there is now a children's playground was once the Roman Forum of Arcadius, and then the site of the Avrat Pazarı, or Women's Slave Market, which survived until 1847. There's nothing left to show for it today, not even a commemorative plaque, but it's thought that among the many women to have passed through it were Roxelana, who became the wife of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent and whose beautiful bath complex in Sultanahmet Square is currently under restoration; Kösem Sultan, the wife of Sultan Ahmed I and, as co-regent for her sons and grandson, one of the most powerful of all Ottoman women; and Mihrişah Sultan, the mother of Sultan Selim III.
At the end of Haseki Sultan Sokağı you will come to the Bayrampaşa mosque complex, which is split in two by the road with the mosque on the left-hand side of the road and the medrese (theological seminary) on the right. Bayram Paşa was a grand vizier to Sultan Murad IV, who died during the campaign to recapture Baghdad in 1638 and who gave his name to the area of İstanbul around the Esenler bus station. His tomb is in a very poor state of repair, but a mescid and dervish tekke (lodge) that formed part of the complex now house a women's clinic.
If you turn left onto Haseki Caddesi you will come to the Haseki Hürrem mosque complex, which was built by Sinan for Roxelana in 1539. It's the third largest such complex in the city after the Fatih and Süleymaniye models, which makes it all the more remarkable that it is so little known or visited. The mosque itself stands on the left-hand side of the road in a cramped courtyard, but the medrese over the road must once have been magnificent, to judge from the delicate tiled panels removed from above its windows and placed in the İstanbul Archeological Museum for safekeeping. Behind it the imaret (soup kitchen) bristles with chimneys alongside a splendid hospital building. Sadly, none of the complex is actually open to the public, and even the mosque seems reluctant to admit visitors.
A little bit of zigzagging around the back streets will bring you to the older Davutpaşa Cami, which was built for Davud Paşa, a grand vizier to Sultan Beyazıd II, in 1485 and whose tomb stands right beside it. Across the road, the medrese is one of the oldest in the city but stands in ruins, unlike the Fatih İbrahim Paşa Medresesi, a little way west of Cerrahpaşa Hospital, which was erected in 1560 but badly damaged by an earthquake in 1894. It has just been completely restored (rebuilt might be a better word).
Even if you're starting to feel all mosqued out, it's still worth heading up Ese Kapısı Sokağı to find the Hekimoğlu Ali Paşa Cami, which was built in 1734-5 in a style that segues neatly from classical Sinanesque into early baroque as exemplified by its main entrance, which blends traditional stalactite decoration with more rococo elements. The mosque itself is particularly beautiful, but you should make sure not to miss either the lovely sebil (water dispensary) built into the walls on the corner, or the wonderful library housed above the main gate. Books here are encased in a cage above the ground and still have to be accessed via a ladder.
Another curious reminder of the Byzantine period can be found nearby, and that is the Cistern of St. Mocius, a vast open-air reservoir that may have been used to store water for irrigation in Byzantine times. At 25,000 square meters, it's big enough to enclose a park and children's play area. Just look for a monumental hole in the ground, and you've found it.
Finally, if you continue west along Kocamustafapaşa Caddesi you will come to a busy square where many buses terminate. Here, too, is the inconspicuous Ramazan Efendi Cami, the last work of Sinan, designed in 1586 when he was 96. It contains a fine collection of İznik tiles, although you may only be able to get inside to inspect them around prayer time on Friday.
For most people, that will be quite enough exploration for one day. If you do still have the energy, though, you could keep walking west until you reach the Kocamustafapaşa Cami, better known as the shrine of Sümbül Efendi. Although it's not obvious from the outside, this mosque started life as a church in the 13th century. If you go inside, turn sharp right and walk to the end of the building, then turn and look back and you will find yourself in what was once the narthex looking towards what was the site of the altar in the apse; the mihrab and mimber stand in what was once the south aisle. The tomb of Sümbül Efendi on the grounds is painted with blue hyacinths, a play on his name, which is the Turkish for hyacinth.