We also had to process our VAT refunds before leaving the EU. Travelers to the EU are entitled to a VAT refund (12.5% in our case), which is processed at your last port within the EU. It's a good thing we had a budget to stick to or else Karbo would have bought a lot more!
Posted by Jason We had a busy travel day on the 8th. We'd applied for our Turkey e-visas the day before and had to print them out before boarding. (Tip: Don't do this at last minute. We ran into some payment issues with the website and there's nothing the customer service agents can do for you when you call their helpline. You have to fill out an online help form and hope they get back to you quickly.) For those who are planning on travelling to Turkey, visa-on-arrival used to be available at the international airport but from what we've learned, this is being phased out now that the e-visa has been introduced. So make sure you get your visa beforehand! We also had to process our VAT refunds before leaving the EU. Travelers to the EU are entitled to a VAT refund (12.5% in our case), which is processed at your last port within the EU. It's a good thing we had a budget to stick to or else Karbo would have bought a lot more! In Istanbul, we took the Havatas shuttle bus from the airport to Taksim. The shuttle runs every 30 minutes and is a quick and easy way to go between the airport and city centre. We spent a lot of our time in Istanbul around the Galata Bridge. The bridge spans the Golden Horn and there's always an abundance of seafood restaurants, street food vendors, tourists, and locals. One of our favourite sights was seeing all the local fishermen lined up on the deck of the bridge. Even when it began snowing, there were still a handful of hopeful locals braving the cold. I had some amazing fish sandwiches at both ends of the bridge, but the ones sold out of the boats on the south end are very popular. Aside from the fish sandwiches, Istanbul offers countless other street food options. On every corner there were vendors selling mussels stuffed with spiced rice, pre-cooked and served at room temperature (good thing it was freezing cold), known as midye dolma. Sounds safe? Probably not, but it was delicious! At around $1 each I went big and had 3 in a row, and survived to tell the story! We saw on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservation a famous burger place called Kizilkayalar Hamburger in Taksim Square. They specialize in a special type of burger commonly known as "wet burger." The idea seems simple: thin but tender beef patty with mildly spicy sauce between two moist buns. The burgers are prepared in batches and sit in a hot glass sauna waiting to be devoured. The four-bite (six-bite for Karbo) slider was yummy and packs just the right amount of heat. It was hard to eat just one! Karbo had been looking forward to eating a lahmacun (lahk-man-jun), or Turkish pizza, ever since we saw Mr. Bourdain rave about it on his show. We took the local ferry from Kabatas (on the European side of Istanbul) across the Golden Horn to Kadikoy (on the Asian side of Istanbul) and went to Halil Lahmacun, where we each had one lahmacun and a peydirli pide and they both tasted as good as we thought they would! We spent a whole day on the Asian side of Istanbul walking along Bagdat street. We thought this side of the city seemed more modern than the European side, where more of the history of old Istanbul is located. We heard Islamic prayer calls for the first time in Istanbul and it felt a little surreal since before then we'd only heard it on the TV or in movies. All the mosques broadcast their own prayer calls at the same time each day, 5x a day, so it's a medley of beautiful sounds. We didn't even mind being woken up at 5AM. We visited the famous Blue Mosque in Sultanahmet Square (see cover photo). It was our first time inside a mosque and as expected, it was filled with tourists. Inside the mosque, despite the large number of foreigners (including ourselves) who were not there for religious purposes, more than half the floor area was reserved for prayer only. While the interior of the mosque is beautifully designed with Islamic art and painted tiles, we did not get the same spiritual experience as we had in some of the cathedrals we've been to in Europe. We think it's mostly due to our lack of Islamic knowledge, and that the mosque didn't provide much information on Islam. We should have done more research prior to our visit. We also spent some quality time in the magnificent Hagia Sophia. Originally a Greek Orthodox Church when constructed in 532 A.D., Hagia Sophia served a short stint as a Roman Catholic Cathedral between 1204 and 1261. Once Constantinople (present day Istanbul) was recaptured by the Byzantine, Hagia Sophia went through a major renovation and reopened as the imperial mosque in 1453. Nowadays, this architectural gem serves as a museum and has been displaying its original mosaics to the public since 1935. We pampered ourselves with a treatment at a traditional Turkish bath house, also known as a hamam. After lengthy research by Karbo, we decided on Kilic Ali Pasa Hamami in the recently-gentrified neighbourhood of Tophane, and we were very happy with our choice. The facility was modern and clean (recently renovated) and the service was friendly, yet professional. Hours of operation are different for men and women. For those that have never been to a Turkish bath, it is a very relaxing and rejuvenating experience and I definitely recommend it. This How to Hamam link gives an accurate step-by-step description of the ritual. We spent a morning at the Topkaki Palace, which was the primary residence of the Ottoman sultans. The architecture was completely different from what we'd seen in Europe until then. The palace also displays lots of historical and holy relics, including what is surmised to be the staff that Moses used to part the Red Sea. Istanbul is an amazing place with delicious and exotic food, rich and diverse history, jaw-dropping architecture, and friendly people. With half of the city in Europe and the other half in Asia, it was the perfect way to wrap up the Europe portion of our trip before we fly to Hong Kong and begin our journey through Asia!
6 Comments
2/15/2014 04:15:28 am
I love your story! Hope you have an amazing time traveling the world and thank you for sharing your stories with us. i hope to one day do the same. That is the plan ;)
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Jason
2/16/2014 10:41:34 am
Thanks Camille! I hope your plan to travel the world becomes a reality. It is the best thing we have ever done. We've seen and eaten so many new things, and met lots of amazing people along the way!
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2/16/2014 01:19:55 pm
How fun!! I love the fact that you enjoyed the food. Pics are amazing.. Cheers!
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Jason
2/16/2014 02:08:23 pm
Yeah Ice we loved Istanbul (despite the snow and cold weather)! We would love to go back during warmer season one day.
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Sarah
2/24/2014 04:01:24 am
Oh man oh man oh man the Grand Bazaar looks like heaven. Lovin' the travel stories amigos!
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Jason
2/24/2014 09:47:09 am
Sarah you would love the grand bazaar!
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