One day per page, nine to fourteen stops each, timed so the gaps between them are the ride and nothing more. Every move is a metro, tram, train, bus or ferry: one car in the whole week, the Prestige transfer you booked from the airport. Every stop says how long to give it, and has a box to tick when it is done.
Every stop has a collapsed ℹ️ القصة note: tap it for the history, the strange detail or the thing worth knowing, written in simple Arabic. It stays shut unless you open it.
Every stop has 📍 Open in Maps and 📷 Photos buttons: Maps opens on that exact place so you can get walking directions from wherever you are standing, and Photos opens image results for it, so you know what you are looking for before you arrive.
Every move names its mode. No step says just a number: each coloured tag carries the line and, after the divider, what it actually is:
Nusr-Et is gone, so is the Kız Kulesi ticket: together they were about $280. The food across the week is ordinary places, fast, nothing high-end. The number that decides whether you come in under $2,000 is the clothes, and almost all of that should happen at 212 Outlet on Wednesday, where the same Mavi is 30 to 60% cheaper than İstiklal or İstinye Park.
A wet day, and the day you arrive on a short night's sleep, so it is nearly all indoors and all shopping: two malls reached straight from their metro stations, and only a few minutes in the open all day.
Two malls, and the shopping is yours to size: it is not in this number. The transfer is already booked and paid, so it is not counted here.
You asked for the wet days to start indoors and that is exactly what this is. Cevahir opens directly out of its metro station and is fully indoors. Zorlu is one stop on and linked to Gayrettepe station by an underground passage, but the plazas between its shops are open to the sky, so there stay on the indoor levels. The only other open air is three minutes each way between Gayrettepe station and The Hunger. Nothing today needs you to be anywhere at any time.
Passport control and bags take 30 to 45 minutes even at this hour, then straight out. This is the only car of the week. $50 for the two of you, about ₺2,400, already paid. Get the driver's WhatsApp before you fly and screenshot the booking: arrivals here has several exits and finding each other is the only thing that goes wrong.
Already paidDirectionsPhotosمطار صبيحة كوكتشن عالضفة الآسيوية، وهو ومطار إسطنبول الجديد تقريباً على نفس البعد عن وسط المدينة، حوالي 45 لـ50 كلم عن سيركجي.
الاسم على صبيحة كوكتشن (1913 لـ2001)، وحدة من بنات أتاتورك بالتبني. صارت طيّارة عسكرية سنة 1936، وبيتحكى عنها إنها من أوائل الطيّارات الحربيات بالعالم. أتاتورك أعطاها اسم العيلة «كوكتشن» ومعناه «يلي بتخصّ السما».
وسيرتها فيها جدل بتركيا: طارت بعمليات ديرسيم سنة 1937 لـ38، وسنة 2004 جريدة أرمنية بإسطنبول نشرت إنها بالأصل يتيمة أرمنية من ديرسيم. العيلة نفت والمؤرخين لهلق مش متفقين.
Darüssaade Sk. 17 to 19, off Nöbethane Cd. Room is paid from the 21st so you walk straight in. Alarm at 11:00.
DirectionsPhotosNo plan and no famous name. Hocapaşa Sokak is two minutes away: pick whichever shop has Turkish people in it. Point at simit, börek, menemen or a tost and ask for çay.
₺300DirectionsPhotosالفطور التركي العادي بالشارع مش الفطور السياحي الكبير. الأساسيات:
سيميت، كعكة بالسمسم، بتنباع من عربايات بكل مكان.
بوريك، عجين رقيق بجبنة أو لحمة أو سبانخ، بينقصّ بالوزن.
مينمن، بيض مخفوق مع بندورة وفليفلة بمقلاية صغيرة، وبتغمّس فيه خبز.
توست، سندويش جبنة مضغوط.
تشاي، الشاي التركي، بكاسة صغيرة على شكل خصر. بيجي مع سكر جنبه، وممكن تطلب «آچيق» (خفيف) أو «كويو» (تقيل).
ملاحظة: بالفطور الكبير (سربة كهفالتي) الشاي غالباً محسوب مع الفطور وبيضلّوا يعبّولك، بس بالمحلات العادية كل كاسة بتنحسب لحالها.
Biletmatik machines in the station hall: two blank cards at ₺165 each, ₺500 loaded on each. One card each: a second tap on one card is charged full fare, and if it is lost you are both stuck.
Your Turkcell line is already working, and her eSIM should already be installed from before the flight: just check it has signal before you go underground. It was bought and activated at home because Turkey blocks the eSIM providers' own sites from inside the country. If it shows no signal, turn on data roaming for that line.
Two trains, one change, and you do not surface. The station exit opens into the mall.
₺72 eaDirectionsPhotosSix floors, 340+ shops, under a huge glass roof with a giant clock hanging from it. Mavi, Zara, LC Waikiki, Boyner, Koton. Decide what you want before you go in: it is big enough that wandering eats the afternoon.
ShoppingDirectionsPhotosجواهر كان لسنين أكبر مول بأوروبا وقت افتتاحه سنة 2005، ولليوم من الأكبر من ناحية عدد المحلات، أكتر من 340 محل على ستّ طوابق، وفوقه سقف زجاج ضخم.
والاسم «جواهر» عربي الأصل ومعناه الأحجار الكريمة.
والشغلة يلي بتستغرب إلها: في حكاية بيحكوها الناس إن المبنى مصمّم على شكل تقويم، اتناشر مدخل = شهور، اتنين وخمسين عمود = أسابيع، وتلاتمية وخمسة وستين محل بالتصميم الأصلي = أيام السنة. ما في تأكيد رسمي إلها من المصمّم، فخدها كحكاية حلوة مش أكتر.
وفيه ساعة كبيرة معلّقة بالوسط، وملاهي وسينما بالطوابق العليا. عملياً: كبير لدرجة إنك بتضيع، فحدّد شو بدّك قبل ما تفوت.
Inside Cevahir, so it costs you nothing to reach. A proper chain, not a hole in the wall: lamb or chicken off the grill, lavash grilled with it so it comes out smoky. Order at the counter, eat, go. Break the shopping in the middle rather than at the end: this sits inside the Cevahir block, not after it.
₺700DirectionsPhotosالدوروم يعني حرفياً «اللفّة». الفرق بينه وبين الشاورما اللبنانية: الخبز لافاش رقيق كتير، وبينحطّ عالشوّاية كمان قبل ما يتلفّ، فبيطلع فيه طعم دخان.
دوروملة سلسلة تركية، شعارها «Türkiye'nin Dürümü» يعني «الدوروم تبع تركيا»، وعندها فروع بكل إسطنبول. مش محل شارع صغير، مطبخ موحّد وجودة ثابتة، وهيدا سبب إنها انتشرت.
الأنواع يلي بتستاهل: أضنة دوروم (حار، من مدينة أضنة، والحرارة من الفليفلة المحلية مش من الشطة)، وتاووك دوروم (دجاج)، وإت دوروم (لحمة).
بتطلب «أجيلي» إذا بدك حار، و«أجيسز» إذا ما بدك.
The station passage runs straight into the complex. You still do not cross a road. More than two hours since your first tap, so this is a full fare again.
₺46 eaDirectionsPhotosThe shops are indoors, but the plazas between them are open to the sky, so on a showery day keep to the covered levels. Mavi is on level −2, the metro level, with the sensibly priced Turkish brands; upstairs is luxury. Two malls in one afternoon is the most shopping you will do all week: use it.
ShoppingDirectionsPhotosThe Gayrettepe branch, Müşir Abdullah Sk. 38 in Esentepe. From Zorlu you walk the long underground passage to Gayrettepe metro, then three minutes outside. Burgers, steaks, big plates: unfussy and quick. Order, eat, leave.
₺1,400DirectionsPhotosHalf an hour, both underground. Trileçe on the way in, then stop: you have been up since the small hours. The Marmaray never gets the transfer discount, so this is ₺46 for the M2 plus a full ₺37.
₺83 eaMuradiye Cd. 25/B, the Sirkeci shop, a few steps from Hamidiye Cd. where the firm started in 1864. Milk-soaked sponge under burnt caramel, cold, not too sweet. A sahlep with it in this weather. There are other branches around the city; this one is two minutes from the hotel.
₺450DirectionsPhotosالتريلتشة اسمها جايي من الإسباني «تريس لتشيس» يعني «التلات حليبات»: كيكة إسفنجية منقوعة بتلات أنواع حليب، وبتركيا بيحطّوا فوقها كراميل محروق.
الحلوى أصلها من أمريكا اللاتينية، ووصلت لألبانيا (بيقولوا عن طريق المسلسلات اللاتينية يلي كانت تنعرض هونيك)، ومن البلقان دخلت تركيا وانتشرت بقوة بالعشر سنين الأخيرة لحدّ ما صارت من أشهر حلويات إسطنبول، مع إنها مش تركية أصلاً.
وحافظ مصطفى شغّال من سنة 1864، من عهد السلطان عبد العزيز. أول محل كان بشارع حميدية ببهجة كابي، وهيدا الفرع على شارع مراديّة على بعد خطوات منه. مشهور كمان بالـ«دلبر دوداي» (شفّة الحلوة) وبالسحلب.
إلو فروع تانية بالمدينة، بس هيدا الفرع على دقيقتين من الأوتيل.
Keep the malls anyway: tomorrow's outlet is for Mavi prices, today is for everything else, and Sunday's İstinye Park is a different kind of place. If you finish early, Nişantaşı is one M2 stop back at Osmanbey and Tatbak there has been making lahmacun since 1950.
Rewritten on the day. Coffee in the roastery, then burgers at The Hunger in Forum İstanbul, right on the M1A, and the evening in the old city: the Süleymaniye terrace at sunset, down past Rüstem Paşa to Eminönü, the Galata Bridge lit, Güllüoğlu baklava, and the Galataport promenade, with a regular Mavi on it. No museums, no tickets, no Aksaray.
Any jeans are not in this number. Every sight today is free.
The metro, the mall and the baklava shop are indoors, and the rain is forecast to fade through the evening: dry from about 21:00. The open stretches are Vezneciler up to Süleymaniye, the lanes down to Eminönü, the bridge and the promenade. If it is pouring, ride the T1: Eminönü, Karaköy, Tophane and Sirkeci are all stops on it.
Street breakfast on Hocapaşa. Then two trains west and a short walk. At Yenikapı the M1A and M1B share a platform: board only a train signed Atatürk Havalimanı. The M1B goes to Kirazlı.
₺300 + ₺72 eaDirectionsPhotosÇırpıcı Çıkmazı Sk. 2, Tozkoparan, about ten minutes on foot from Merter station: 6,000 m², the largest coffee shop in Europe by the company's own claim. Built inside an old cardboard factory with the structure left bare: a working roastery you can watch, a bakery, a bar, a greenhouse, quiet work rooms and a garden. Go now, in the morning: it is a place to sit in, not queue in. Listed hours are 07:00 to 05:00 daily.
₺500DirectionsPhotosأكبر محل قهوة بأوروبا حسب تصريح الشركة، حوالي 6000 متر مربع على كم طابق.
والغريب إنو مبني جوّا معمل كرتون قديم: حافظوا على هيكل المعمل والحديد والطوب، وحطّوا جوّاته محمصة قهوة شغّالة بتحمّص قدّامك، ومخبز، وبار، وقاعة مؤتمرات، وبيت بلاستيكي صغير (شتلات)، وغرف شغل هادية، وحديقة داخلية.
والفكرة مش «كافيه»، الفكرة مساحة شغل ودراسة. بتشوف طلاب وفريلانسرز قاعدين ساعات بلابتوباتهن، وما حدا بيستعجل حدا. لهيك البعض بيسمّيه «مكتبة قهوة».
والسلسلة تركية، بلّشت بـ2013 أو 2014 بمحل صغير، وصار عندها مئات الفروع بتركيا وبرّاتها، وهيدا الفرع افتتح سنة 2022 وكان الفرع رقم 100 بتركيا وقتها.
ملاحظة: فاتح من 7 الصبح لـ5 الفجر، وهيدا بيناسب فكرة مساحة الشغل. بس روح الصبح، أهدا.
Stay on the train you are on: the M1A signed Yenikapı, six stops, Zeytinburnu, Merter, Davutpaşa, Terazidere, Otogar, then Kocatepe. Forum İstanbul is beside the station; follow the signs.
₺46 eaThe same kitchen as Tuesday's Gayrettepe branch, under a roof and dry: burgers, steaks, big plates. Order, eat, leave: Süleymaniye's terrace is waiting for the sunset.
₺1,400DirectionsPhotosBack on the M1A to the end of the line, Yenikapı, then follow the green M2 Hacıosman signs: about five minutes of corridors and escalators. One stop to Vezneciler, out by the University / Süleymaniye exit, and a gentle climb along Süleymaniye Caddesi. You pass through Aksaray on the train but never get off there.
₺46 + ₺34 eaSinan's masterpiece, and the best free sunset in the old city. Visitor entry inside ends at 18:00, but the courtyard, the garden and the terrace behind the mosque never close: the whole Golden Horn, Galata Tower and both shores below you. Sunset and the evening prayer are at 19:07; if you want to pray, go in as worshippers. Sinan's own tomb is at the corner of the complex.
FreeDirectionsPhotosDown the steep lanes of Tahtakale, past Rüstem Paşa, the little mosque of İznik tiles raised above the street, to the square in front of Yeni Cami, floodlit by now, with the ferries coming in behind it. The cobbles will be wet: go slowly.
FreeDirectionsPhotosWalk the upper deck, don't ride. Süleymaniye and Yeni Cami floodlit behind you, Galata Tower lit ahead, fishermen along the rail. The lower-deck restaurants serve alcohol; stay up top. If it is pouring, the T1 is one stop, Eminönü to Karaköy.
FreeDirectionsPhotosOn the Karaköy waterfront by the bridge: look for the sign. The baklava everyone in Istanbul measures the others against, from a Gaziantep family here since 1949. Fıstıklı (pistachio) baklava and a çay. Open until about 23:00. Take a box for the checked bag on Monday.
₺600DirectionsPhotosTen minutes along the water: a free public promenade on the Bosphorus, with the lit old city across the water. Mavi is here, a regular store, Meclis-i Mebusan Cd. 8, open until 22:00 (0212 919 07 78): men's jeans if something fits, nothing if not. Bags are checked at the entrance. Part of the promenade may be fenced off if a cruise ship is in.
FreeDirectionsPhotosFive minutes to the Tophane stop, then three stops back over the bridge to Sirkeci, and three minutes to the hotel.
₺46 eaRound the corner to the hotel.
After Galataport, take the T1 two stops past Sirkeci to Sultanahmet and walk the Hippodrome with the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia floodlit, then twelve minutes downhill to the hotel.
Your booked slot is 09:00 and this is a dry day with the lightest wind of the week, so the palace takes the morning and the Bosphorus takes the light. Two palaces, a park and a sunset under the bridge, all on one tram line and one bus.
Topkapı is not in this total: you paid GetYourGuide before you left. Dolmabahçe is ₺2,000 each for Selamlık, Harem and the Painting Museum. The Milli Saraylar Kombine III ticket (₺2,750, valid 30 days) covers Dolmabahçe and Beylerbeyi, which you visit on Friday: two singles are ₺2,800, so it saves only ₺50 each. Buy it if the queue is the same. This total counts the single ticket.
Everything after Topkapı is the T1tram or the 25Ebus that carries on from its end. Toward the water every tram says Kabataş; coming home every tram says Bağcılar.
Simit and çay on the way: the 09:00 slot is the only fixed appointment of the week.
₺200DirectionsPhotosPrepaid, GetYourGuide, 09:00 for both of you. Screenshot the QR so it works with no signal. Skip-the-line is the ticket queue, not security: be at the gate ten minutes early.
Order while it is empty: Third Court and Treasury, then the Harem, then the Sacred Relics, then the Fourth Court terrace. The coaches land at 10:30.
قصر السلاطين العثمانيين لمدة 400 سنة، من محمد الفاتح (بلّش بناؤه 1459) لحدّ 1856 لما انتقل عبد المجيد لقصر دولمة بهجة عالبوسفور.
مش قصر بالمعنى الأوروبي: مش بناية وحدة كبيرة، هو سلسلة ساحات وأجنحة بحديقة، كل ساحة أخصّ من يلي قبلها. الساحة الأولى كانت مفتوحة للناس، والتانية للديوان، والتالتة ما بيفوتها إلا أهل القصر. بأوجه كان ساكن فيه حوالي 4000 شخص.
الحريم مش بس مكان سكن النسوان، كان مركز قرار سياسي حقيقي، فيه أكتر من 400 غرفة. أمهات السلاطين («الوالدة سلطان») كانوا من أقوى الناس بالدولة: بيعيّنوا الوزرا، بيديروا أوقاف ضخمة، وبيتدخّلوا بالحرب والصلح. المؤرخين بيسمّوا الفترة من حوالي 1530 لـ1656 «سلطنة النساء». وكوسم سلطان، يلي بنت «بيوك والدة خان» حدّ السوق المسقوف، هي أشهر مثال.
وبالخزنة: خنجر طوب قابي بزمرداته التلاتة، وألماسة الملعقجي عيار 86 قيراط، من أكبر الألماسات بالعالم، واسمها من حكاية شعبية بتقول إن حدا لقاها بالزبالة وباعها لبيّاع ملاعق بتلات ملاعق.
وغرفة الأمانات المقدسة: فيها أمانات النبي ﷺ، البردة الشريفة والسيف واللواء وشعرات من لحيته الشريفة، وأشياء منسوبة لأنبياء تانيين. وصلت لإسطنبول بعد ما السلطان سليم الأول دخل مصر سنة 1517 وانتقلت الخلافة للعثمانيين.
والتقليد بيقول إنه من أيام سليم الأول كان في قارئ بيقرا قرآن بهالغرفة بدون توقّف، ليل نهار، بالتناوب. بس التلاوة انقطعت لما صار القصر متحف سنة 1924، ورجعت بعدين، واليوم بتسمع قارئ عم يقرا مباشرة بساعات الزيارة.
وقت الزيارة: ابدا بالساحة التالتة والخزنة وهي فاضية، بعدين الحريم، وبعدين تراس الساحة الرابعة. الباصات السياحية بتنزل حوالي 10:30.
The palace's own outer garden until 1912, and still the best free green in the old city. Walk out through it rather than back the way you came. The terrace at the far end looks straight down the Bosphorus.
FreeDirectionsPhotosحديقة كلخانة كانت الحديقة الخارجية لقصر طوب قابي، يعني كانت جزء من القصر ومحرّمة على الناس العاديين لقرون.
انفتحت للعامة سنة 1912، وصارت من أول الحدائق العامة بإسطنبول بالمعنى الحديث.
واسمها معناه «بيت الورد» بالفارسي (كول = ورد، خانة = بيت)، لأنها كانت مشهورة بورودها.
وفيها شغلة بيمرقوا من قدّامها وما بينتبهوا: عمود القوطيين (Gotlar Sütunu) بالطرف الشمالي، منصوب بالقرن الـ3 أو الـ4 الميلادي، يعني أقدم أثر روماني واقف بإسطنبول كلها، أقدم من آيا صوفيا بقرنين.
وبالطرف البعيد في تراس بيطلّ على مدخل البوسفور ومرمرة والضفة الآسيوية، وببلاش.
Your own street. Pide is the boat-shaped one: dough baked long and narrow with cheese, minced lamb or egg on top, cut into strips at the table. Cheap, fast, and you are eating where the office workers eat. Twenty-five minutes and out.
₺500DirectionsPhotosالبيدة (pide) هي «البيتزا التركية» بس أقرب للمناقيش منها للبيتزا: عجينة مفرودة على شكل مركب طويل، وبتنحطّ فوقها جبنة أو لحمة مفرومة أو سجق أو بيض، وبتنشوى بفرن حطب.
الأنواع: كاشارلي (جبنة)، كيمالي (لحمة مفرومة)، كوشباشي (لحمة مكعبات)، وسوجوكلو (سجق). وإذا حطّوا بيضة فوق بيسمّوها يومورتالي.
الأصل من منطقة البحر الأسود، طرابزون وريزة، وهنّي مشهورين فيها أكتر من أي منطقة تانية بتركيا.
والفرق عن اللحم بعجين: البيدة أسمك وأكبر وفيها جبنة، واللحم بعجين رقيق وبدون جبنة.
The tram runs the shoreline. Dolmabahçe is signposted from Kabataş: about ten minutes on foot along the sea wall.
₺46 eaThe palace the sultans moved to in 1856 when they finally left Topkapı, and the two could not be less alike: this is one enormous European building with the largest Bohemian crystal chandelier in the world, 4.5 tonnes of it. ₺2,000 each covers Selamlık, Harem and the Painting Museum, which is the ticket you want. Dolmabahçe and Beylerbeyi are both Milli Saraylar, and the Kombine III ticket covers the two for ₺2,750 each (valid 30 days) against ₺2,800 for two singles. It saves only ₺50 each, so buy it if the queue is the same. Closed Mondays. Last entry 17:00. No photos inside some rooms. Coming out, allow about 8 minutes back along the sea wall to the Kabataş bus stop.
₺2,000 eaDirectionsPhotosقصر دولمة بهجة. اسمه معناه «الحديقة المردومة»، لأن مكانه كان خليج بحري صغير ردموه بالقرن الـ17 وعملوه حديقة سلطانية.
انبنى 1843 لـ1856 للسلطان عبد المجيد الأول، ومعماريّوه من عيلة باليان الأرمنية (نفس العيلة يلي بنت جامع أورتاكوي يلي رايحين عليه بعد شوي).
وليش انبنى أصلاً؟ لأن العثمانيين حسّوا إنو طوب قابي، بأجنحته وحدائقه، صار شكله «قديم» قدّام قصور أوروبا. فبنوا شي أوروبي بالكامل: 285 غرفة، 46 صالة، 6 حمّامات.
وفيه أرقام بتوقّف: صرفوا عليه 14 طن دهب و40 طن فضة، وثريّا صالة الاحتفالات من كريستال بوهيمي وزنها 4.5 طن وفيها 750 لمبة، وهي أكبر ثريّا كريستال بوهيمي بالعالم.
وهالصرف كان من أسباب إفلاس الدولة العثمانية سنة 1875.
وهون كمان مات أتاتورك يوم 10 تشرين الثاني 1938 الساعة 9:05 الصبح، ولليوم ساعات القصر موقّفة على 9:05.
Sit on the right. Well past two hours since the tram tap, so this is a full fare.
₺46 eaKumpir first while it is light. Big baked potato mashed with butter and kaşar until it is cream, then you load it. Butter and cheese first, make him mash it properly, then four or five toppings, not fifteen.
Then Büyük Mecidiye Camii on the quay under the bridge. Sunset 18:58: the hour before it is the photograph.
جامع أورتاكوي واسمه الرسمي بيوك مجيدية، انبنى 1854 لـ1856 للسلطان عبد المجيد الأول. المعمار نيكوغوس باليان، من عيلة باليان الأرمنية يلي بنت أغلب قصور العثمانيين بالقرن الـ19، وهو نفسه يلي اشتغل على قصر دولمة بهجة. ولهيك شكله أقرب لقصر منه لجامع: باروك أوروبي، شبابيك ضخمة، وضو كتير جوّا.
وفي تفصيل حلو: خطوط الجامع من جوّا بخط السلطان عبد المجيد نفسه، كان خطّاط، وكتب بإيده.
وموقعه تحت الجسر مباشرة، فصار المنظر (جامع عثماني + جسر معلّق من 1973) أشهر صورة لإسطنبول.
ونقطة تاريخية بتتناسى: أورتاكوي كانت من أكتر أحياء إسطنبول تنوّعاً، جامع وكنيسة يونانية وكنيسة أرمنية وكنيس يهودي كلهن ضمن كم مية متر من بعض، وكلهن لليوم واقفين.
والكمبير أكلة الشارع المشهورة هون، وهي حديثة مش تاريخية (من التسعينات): بطاطا كبيرة مشوية، بيشقّوها وبيهرسوها بزبدة وجبنة كاشار لتصير كريمة، وبعدين بتختار الحشوات من صفّ طويل، زيتون، ذرة، مخلل، سلطة روسية، سجق، مايونيز.
القاعدة: زبدة وجبنة أول شي وخليه يهرسهن منيح، وبعدين حمّل. وإذا حطّيت كل شي بيصير طعمها واحد.
Sinop Mantı, Köprü Sk., in the market lanes. Tiny dumplings under garlic yoghurt and butter with mint and chilli, and they do a walnut version most places do not. Small, cheap, always full. Then the shore walk to Kabataş and five tram stops home.
₺800 + ₺80 eaDirectionsPhotosالمانتي هي الرافيولي التركي: عجين صغير كتير محشي لحمة مفرومة، مسلوق، وبينحطّ فوقه لبن بالتوم وزبدة مذوّبة بالفلفل الأحمر والنعنع الناشف.
الأصل من آسيا الوسطى، إجت مع الأتراك من التركستان، وفي نسخ منها بكل مطابخ المنطقة (منتو الأفغاني، المانتي الأرمني، البوز المنغولي).
والمقياس التقليدي بمدينة قيصري، عاصمة المانتي بتركيا: كل ما كانت الحبّة أصغر كل ما كانت الطبّاخة أشطر. والمثل بيقول إن العروس الشاطرة لازم تحطّ أربعين حبّة بملعقة وحدة.
وهون في نسخة تانية بتستاهل: مانتي بالجوز، بدل اللبن، جوز مطحون. أقل شهرة وأطيب بكتير من المتوقّع.
Topkapı's best rooms and all of Dolmabahçe are indoors, so the morning survives anything. If the evening goes wet, eat at Sinop Mantı early (the Beşiktaş market lanes are covered) and let the Ortaköy sunset go: there is another from Nakkaştepe on Friday and off Moda on Saturday.
Rewritten through the day for legs that have had three long ones. Mantı in Nişantaşı and a detour to Zorlu, then home underground for a proper rest. In the evening, one Marmaray stop under the Bosphorus and a five-minute bus to a tea garden at Salacak with the Maiden's Tower and the whole old city across the water for sunset, home cooking at Kanaat, and the ferry back with the city lit. No Taksim, no hills, nothing on foot over ten minutes.
Nothing charges admission today. The Maiden's Tower is looked at, not visited. Zorlu is the shopping and it is not counted.
Three days at eight or nine kilometres each is what has done this to your legs, so every long move today is a seat: metro, Marmaray, bus, and a boat home. The only walks are between a door and a stop. Leave the hotel by about 18:00 for the sunset; leave later and the evening still works, with the tower lit and Kanaat serving until 22:30.
The morning went to Nişantaşı instead of the Asian shore, and that is fine: the Bağdat Caddesi day moves whole to Saturday. From here everything is short, flat and seated.
DirectionsPhotosŞakayık Sk. 69, Teşvikiye, a few hundred metres from the coffee: let Maps draw the line. A sit-down café that makes mantı the Bodrum way, tiny parcels under garlic yoghurt, melted butter, mint and chilli. Mantı for both; share a çiğ börek if you are hungry. Open 10:00 to 00:30, tel 0212 965 30 35. Nothing is waiting: take your time.
₺1,100DirectionsPhotosStay at the same table for tea and a dessert, or move two minutes to one of the cafés on Abdi İpekçi Caddesi, the city's smartest street, and watch it go by. Sit as long as you like.
₺400DirectionsPhotosA change of plan on the day: one metro stop from Osmanbey to Gayrettepe and the station passage runs straight into the mall. A few things bought, then a sit-down. Follow the "Metro / Gayrettepe" signs back out: an enclosed tunnel with moving walkways and lifts, no stairs, no street.
₺46 eaDirectionsPhotosThe M2 signed Yenikapı to the end of the line: seven stops, sit in the rear car, and you ride under Taksim without getting off. At Yenikapı the lifts take you to the Marmaray signed Gebze, one stop to Sirkeci, and the room is three flat minutes from the platform. Tap out of the Marmaray as well as in.
₺46 + ₺37 eaDirectionsPhotosFeet up, bags down. Leave again by about 18:00 to catch the sunset from the Asian shore. Later also works: the tower is lit, the tea gardens stay open and dinner serves until 22:30.
DirectionsPhotosThree minutes back to the platform and one Marmaray stop under the Bosphorus. You come up beside the pier and the bus stops. Tap out at Üsküdar.
₺37 eaThe Salacak walk is 1.2 km, so do not walk it. From the stop by exit 4, "Üsküdar Marmaray – Harem Yönü", take any bus signed Harem: 2, 6, 16F, 11T or 13M. Ask the driver “Kız Kulesi?” and get off there, two or three stops, five minutes; the shore is two minutes flat from the stop. Inside two hours of the Marmaray tap, so a transfer fare.
₺34 eaThe best photograph in Istanbul, from a chair. Kız Kulesi a hundred metres offshore and, behind it, Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and Topkapı stacked across the water; you face west, so the light is on the city. The sun goes down behind Hagia Sophia at about 18:56, the call to prayer follows at 19:05, and the tower lights up around 19:15. Take a table at Korcan Aile Çay Bahçesi on the promenade (tel 0216 492 12 85) or the free cushioned steps opposite the tower, order çay and stay as long as you like. You are not going out to the tower: the ticket is about €27 each and the boat is extra; the view from here is the thing, and it is free.
₺150DirectionsPhotosCross the road and take any bus signed Üsküdar back the way you came, two or three stops. A fresh fare: the 18:00 window has closed.
₺46 eaSelmanipak Cd. 9, four flat minutes from the pier square past Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, serving Istanbul home cooking since 1933: alcohol-free, no booking, you point at the trays. Share the Elbasan tava (lamb under a yoghurt-egg crust), an artichoke in olive oil, and kabak tatlısı, pumpkin in syrup with tahini, with tea. Open until 22:30. Ring first if you like: 0216 553 37 91.
₺2,300DirectionsPhotosFifteen minutes in the courtyard of Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, Sinan's first great work, opposite the pier, or on the benches by the water with the old city lit across the strait.
FreeDirectionsPhotosŞehir Hatları ferry Üsküdar → Eminönü, fifteen minutes, the whole skyline floodlit; sit on the right for Topkapı. Boats at 21:00, 21:30 and the last at 22:00. From the Eminönü pier the T1 is two minutes away, one stop to Sirkeci, then three flat minutes to the room. Missed the last boat? The Marmaray from Üsküdar runs until 00:29.
₺59 + ₺34 eaDirectionsPhotosAt the hotel at 18:00: swap the shore for Çemberlitaş Hamamı, two tram stops away and one flat minute from the door: Sinan, 1584, open until midnight, men's and women's sections at the same time, no booking (WhatsApp +90 552 381 15 84). A scrub and foam is about €72 each, paid in euros or by card, and you lie on warm marble for an hour and a half. Then Şehzade cağ kebab, three minutes from the room. At Salacak at 19:30: eat right there at Filizler Köftecisi, opposite the tower, open until 23:00 (0216 342 00 00), then the bus back and the Marmaray one stop to Sirkeci instead of the boat.
The train did the work: one train out with no change, the avenue walked in two short halves with a ride between them, BOAC, and the Caddebostan seafront. Then a stop too far east, and the fix is the best part of the day: back to Kadıköy for the 19:00 boat at sunset, cağ kebab three minutes from the room, and bed.
Nothing charges admission today. Bağdat Caddesi is the shopping and it is not counted here — the two Mavi shops on the avenue are regular full-price stores. Five things to eat today, all small and all sitting down.
You have walked roughly a lot in four days and your legs have stopped. Pushing through it today costs you Sunday.
So today is Suadiye and the avenue, which is what you asked for — but done the way a local would do it on a tired day. The train does every long move. You walk about a kilometre in the morning, a kilometre in the afternoon, and you sit down for every one of the five things you eat.
Longest single walk today: ten minutes. Nothing is uphill. The day ends at eight, on purpose.
Sleep as late as you can and do not set an alarm. Three days at eight or nine kilometres a day is what has done this to your legs, and today is built so you never have to push through it. Eat properly downstairs — eggs, cheese, bread, tea — because lunch is not until one.
₺600DirectionsPhotosالفطور التركي العادي بالشارع مش الفطور السياحي الكبير. الأساسيات:
سيميت — كعكة بالسمسم، بتنباع من عربايات بكل مكان.
بوريك — عجين رقيق بجبنة أو لحمة أو سبانخ، بينقصّ بالوزن.
مينمن — بيض مخفوق مع بندورة وفليفلة بمقلاية صغيرة، وبتغمّس فيه خبز.
توست — سندويش جبنة مضغوط.
تشاي — الشاي التركي، بكاسة صغيرة على شكل خصر. بيجي مع سكر جنبه، وممكن تطلب «آچيق» (خفيف) أو «كويو» (تقيل).
ملاحظة: الشاي بيتعبّى مجاناً بكتير محلات — بس اطلب وحدة تانية.
Seven stops, twenty-eight minutes, and you do not stand up once. Under the Bosphorus at Üsküdar, then out along the Asian shore. Tap the card going in and coming out — Marmaray charges by distance and a missed tap-out costs you on the next journey.
₺48 eaDirectionsPhotosالمرمراي هو القطار يلي بيمشي تحت البوسفور — نفق محفور بقعر المضيق، بيوصل الطرف الأوروبي بالطرف الآسيوي بأربع دقايق. فتح سنة 2013، وهلق صار العمود الفقري لتنقّل المدينة.
من سيركجي (تحت الفندق تقريباً) لحدّ السعديّة سبع محطات، حوالي 28 دقيقة، بدون تبديل ولا مرّة. بتضلّوا قاعدين من أول لآخر — وهيدا بالضبط المطلوب اليوم.
انتبهوا: المرمراي بيحاسب على المسافة، يعني لازم تمرّقوا البطاقة عند الدخول وعند الخروج. إذا نسيتوا تمرّقوها بالخروج، المرّة الجاي بتنحسب عليكم أغلى تعرفة.
الاتجاه: رايحين مع القطار يلي مكتوب عليه Gebze، وراجعين مع يلي مكتوب عليه Halkalı.
Take the Bağdat Caddesi exit, right along Yakamoz Sokak, left onto Ayşeçavuş Caddesi and ninety metres later the avenue is in front of you. Sit down with a coffee before you do anything. There is a café on every corner here and you have nowhere to be.
₺400DirectionsPhotosFourteen kilometres of avenue, plane trees down the middle, fixed prices, nobody haggling. You are doing perhaps eight hundred metres of it, on one pavement, slowly.
Mavi is at No. 390/A, Naim Bey Apt, a couple of minutes along. A regular full-price shop with the whole men's range. The better independent shops are one street back, but do not go looking for them today.
شارع بغداد. الاسم من أيام السلطان مراد الرابع: لما رجع منتصر من حملة بغداد سنة 1638 دخل المدينة من هالطريق بموكب النصر، فسمّوه على اسم الفتح.
بس الطريق أقدم بكتير: هيدا كان الطريق البرّي الرئيسي الطالع من أسكودار عالأناضول ومنها لحلب وبغداد — يعني قوافل الحرير والبهار كانت تبلّش من هون، وأي حاج أو جيش رايح شرق كان يعبر منه.
اليوم هو أهم شارع تسوّق بالجهة الآسيوية، والمقطع التجاري منه حوالي 6 كيلومترات مستقيمة.
والمنطقة كلها (صواديه، جدّة بوستان، أرن كوي) كانت بساتين وبيوت صيفية للعيل الغنية بالقرن الـ19 — وقتها هالضفة كانت «ريف» إسطنبول. انعمرت بالخمسينات لما وصل الطريق.
الفرق عن شارع الاستقلال: هون ما في سياح تقريباً، والزبون محلي وميسور — يعني بتشوف كيف بتلبس إسطنبول فعلاً.
Içli köfte is kibbeh — and this place has done nothing else for years. Istanbul makes them finger-sized, a plateful at a time, with garlic yoghurt and sumac. Small room, plastic chairs, food in four minutes. Order one plate each first and see — they go down faster than you expect.
Suadiye Mah., Çolak İsmail Sk. 48A. This is the address on their own site. Not fancy, not expensive, and exactly right today.
إچلي كوفته (içli köfte) هي نفسها الكبّة المقلية يلي بتعرفها — برّا برغل ناعم، وجوّا لحمة مفرومة مع بصل وصنوبر وبهار. الفرق إنّو بإسطنبول بيعملوها زغيرة كتير، قدّ الإصبع، وبيقدّموها بصحن مع لبن بالتوم وشوية سمّاق.
محل «بيبي» بالسعديّة (Suadiye) من سنين بيشتغل بس على هالشغلة. ما في قائمة طويلة ولا تعقيد: بتطلب صحن، بتوكل، بتقوم. هيدا يلي بيسمّوه بالتركي «ye ve kalk» — كول وقوم.
العنوان: Çolak İsmail Sk. 48A، على بعد دقايق من إشارة السعديّة ومن محطة المرمراي. مش مطعم فخم ولا غالي — هيدا مطعم حارة، وهيدا بالضبط يلي بدّك ياه اليوم.
نصيحة: اطلبوا صحن واحد بالأول وشوفوا. القطع زغيرة وبتمشي بسرعة، وبعدها في مطرح للّحمجون بالليل.
This is the trick that makes today possible. The railway runs parallel to the avenue about a hundred metres behind it, with a station at Suadiye, Erenköy, Göztepe and Feneryolu. So instead of walking six kilometres of Bağdat Caddesi, you walk the good bits and ride between them for the price of a çay.
₺26 eaDirectionsPhotosThis is the stretch people mean when they talk about Bağdat Caddesi — wider pavements, the older apartment blocks, the pastry shops. Divan is right where you come out if you want something sweet sitting down.
The second Mavi is at No. 346, Yaprak Apt, a few doors along. Same range, same full price.
Caddebostan, Yener Sokak 5. Urfa-style lahmacun off a wood fire — thin, blistered at the edges, out in three minutes. Squeeze the lemon, pile on the parsley and onion, roll it and eat it with your hands. One each today, not two — this is the afternoon snack, and dinner is chicken in Kadıköy. Add an ayran.
₺500DirectionsPhotosاللحم بعجين (لحماجون) — الاسم عربي الأصل: «لحم بعجين». عجينة رقيقة كتير مدهونة بخليط لحمة مفرومة وبندورة وفليفلة وبقدونس، وبتنشوى بفرن حطب بدقيقتين تلاتة.
الأصل من جنوب شرق تركيا وشمال سوريا — أورفا، عنتاب، حلب، ماردين. والأورفاوي أقل حرارة وأكتر بندورة، والعنتابي أحرّ وفيه فلفل أحمر.
الطريقة الصح: عصير ليمون فوقه، بقدونس وبصل وسماق، ولفّه متل السيجارة وكول بإيدك. ما بينقطع بالسكين.
وهو مش بيتزا — ما فيه جبنة أبداً، والعجينة أرقّ بكتير.
وأوجاق باشي معناها «عند الموقد» — يعني الشوّاية بنفس الغرفة يلي قاعد فيها، وبتشوف الأكل عم ينشوى قدّامك.
This is the one you asked for. A small soft-serve kiosk on Ogün Sokak that people cross the city for, and the tiramisu cup is why — cold, soft, heavy on coffee, not sweet. Take it and sit down with it rather than eating it standing at the counter.
₺500DirectionsPhotosمحل صغير بـجدّة بوستان بكاديكوي، مشهور بالآيس كريم السوفت والتيراميسو — وصار معروف كتير عبر التيك توك والإنستغرام آخر كم سنة.
والتيراميسو نفسه إيطالي وحديث نسبياً: انخلق بمنطقة ڤينيتو بشمال إيطاليا بالستينات أو السبعينات (في خلاف بين مطعمين على مين اخترعه). الاسم بلهجة تريڤيزو معناه حرفياً «شِدّني لفوق» — إشارة للكافيين والسكر.
مكوّناته الأصلية خمسة بس: بسكوت سافوياردي، قهوة إسبريسو، جبنة ماسكاربوني، بيض، وكاكاو. ما في كريمة وما في كحول بالوصفة الأصلية.
والمنطقة حواليه — جدّة بوستان وشارع بغداد — هي الجهة «الراقية» من كاديكوي، والكورنيش تحتها من أطول ممشيات إسطنبول.
From the Caddebostan sahil the train carried you east to Küçükyalı, a few stops past Suadiye. No harm done: the way home runs back past everything, and the sunset boat is still thirty minutes away.
DirectionsPhotosPlatform signed Halkalı. Seven stops, seated: Bostancı, Suadiye, Erenköy, Göztepe, Feneryolu, Söğütlüçeşme, then Ayrılık Çeşmesi. Tap out: the Marmaray charges by distance.
₺37 eaAyrılık Çeşmesi is the only place the Marmaray and the M4 touch, and the change is inside one building: up the escalator, follow the M4 signs, one stop. Out of the metro it is four flat minutes to the water. The Eminönü boat leaves from the pier nearest the metro. Buy a simit on the way, for the gulls.
₺34 eaDirectionsPhotosSunset is 18:58, and you leave with the sky on fire. Sit on the left: Süleymaniye, Hagia Sophia and Topkapı go black against the orange, Galata Tower lights up on your right, and the gulls follow the boat the whole way. Tea from the boy with the tray. Twenty minutes, and the best ₺35 of the week. Missed it? The next boats are about 19:20 and 19:40 and you get the city lit instead; boats to Eminönü run until 21:00.
₺35 eaDirectionsPhotosخطوط المعديات «شهر هتلاري» شغّالة من سنة 1851 — يعني الشركة عمرها أكتر من 170 سنة، ومن أقدم شركات النقل البحري بالعالم.
اقعد على الجهة الغربية لتشوف المدينة القديمة مضوّية: السليمانية وآيا صوفيا وبرج غلطة بتمرق وحدة ورا التانية.
والعُرف: اشتري كاسة شاي من الصبي يلي بيدور بالصينية، وارمي سميت للنوارس من عالسطح الخلفي — النوارس بتلحق المركب طول الطريق.
وانتبه: بعد الساعة 9 المسا المركب بيوقف بكاراكوي بس وما بيكمّل لإمينونو.
Off at Eminönü, two minutes to the tram, one stop, two minutes to the door. Drop the bags and sit before dinner.
₺34 eaHocapaşa Camii Sk. 6, three flat minutes from the room. Lamb turned on a horizontal spit and brought to the table by the skewer, Erzurum style: they keep coming until you say stop. About ₺620 a skewer; two or three each, with lavaş, onion and ezme. One of the city's best-loved kebab houses, and alcohol-free. Open until 22:30.
₺2,800DirectionsPhotosMuradiye Cd. 25/B, the Sirkeci shop, a few steps from Hamidiye Cd. where the firm started in 1864. Milk-soaked sponge under burnt caramel, cold, not too sweet. A box of baklava for the flight home on Monday. There are other branches around the city; this one is two minutes from the hotel.
₺450DirectionsPhotosالتريلتشة اسمها جايي من الإسباني «تريس لتشيس» يعني «التلات حليبات»: كيكة إسفنجية منقوعة بتلات أنواع حليب، وبتركيا بيحطّوا فوقها كراميل محروق.
الحلوى أصلها من أمريكا اللاتينية، ووصلت لألبانيا (بيقولوا عن طريق المسلسلات اللاتينية يلي كانت تنعرض هونيك)، ومن البلقان دخلت تركيا وانتشرت بقوة بالعشر سنين الأخيرة لحدّ ما صارت من أشهر حلويات إسطنبول، مع إنها مش تركية أصلاً.
وحافظ مصطفى شغّال من سنة 1864، من عهد السلطان عبد العزيز. أول محل كان بشارع حميدية ببهجة كابي، وهيدا الفرع على شارع مراديّة على بعد خطوات منه. مشهور كمان بالـ«دلبر دوداي» (شفّة الحلوة) وبالسحلب.
إلو فروع تانية بالمدينة، بس هيدا الفرع على دقيقتين من الأوتيل.
Too tired for the change at Ayrılık Çeşmesi: stay on the Marmaray to Sirkeci, forty minutes, no change, and go straight to dinner. Hungry before the boat: Çiya Sofrası in the Kadıköy çarşı, five flat minutes from the pier, is the best food in the district; take the 20:20 boat after, with the city lit. Tomorrow is the Bosphorus shore and it has some walking, so skip the dessert if the bed calls first.
Re-planned on the water when Emirgan Korusu turned out to be shut. Up the European shore by bus, the Sunday-only ferry across to Asia and back past both fortresses into Bebek, half an hour on the quay, then two buses up to İstinye Park for lunch and a slow afternoon under the glass roof while the showers pass, the shore road home from a bus seat as the light goes, and the whirling dervishes a hundred metres from the tram. No Taksim, under 2 km on foot, all flat, and indoors when the rain comes.
Both fortresses are seen from the boat, for free. İstinye Park is the shopping and it is not counted. The dervishes are the one ticket, and the 19:00 is the dearer slot. Take the umbrella and a layer: the wind on the decks is strong today.
Decide at breakfast, looking out of the window. The forecast is light showers around midday and real rain only after eight, and the plan below is built for that. But if it is properly raining when you leave, run the İstinye Park version, which is the original Sunday with the wet bits taken out:
09:50 T1 to Kabataş · 10:20 22bus signed İstinye to İstinye İskelesi, about 50 min, sit on the right · 11:15 40Bbus signed Beşiktaş up the hill, 12 min; do not walk it · 11:30 to 14:30 İstinye Park: 300 stores under a glass roof, Mavi, Zara, Boyner, a long lunch in the food court, a coffee, nothing outdoors · 14:30 40B signed Sarıyer down, then the 22 signed Kabataş two stops to Emirgan for the fırın sütlaç at Sütiş, indoors by the pier (skip the park) · 16:00 the 22 signed Kabataş all the way, 50 to 60 min, then T1 to Sirkeci · 17:30 rest · 18:30 the dervishes at Hodjapasha, two minutes from the door, exactly as below · 20:10 pide on Hocapaşa, and in.
Same bus, no boats, no park, and the only open air is the few metres between a door and a stop. Emirgan stays either way.
The FERRYboat Emirgan → Kanlıca → Anadolu Hisarı → Bebek runs Sundays only and you have had it. From Bebek, 22bus runs the whole coast road, Kabataş to İstinye: going up it says İstinye, coming home it says Kabataş. 40Bbus is the one that climbs to İstinye Park, signed Beşiktaş going up and Sarıyer coming down, every 25 to 30 minutes on a Sunday; the yellow İstinye Park dolmuş from the same stop does the same climb.
Kabataş is the end of the line, so you cannot miss it. The coast buses leave from in front of the ferry pier.
₺300 + ₺46 eaDirectionsPhotosSit on the right. Ortaköy, Arnavutköy, Bebek and the fortress go past the window on the way up: this is the reconnaissance for the afternoon, and today you come back the same way, by bus, not on foot.
₺34 eaDirectionsPhotosThe gate was closed when you got there, and the little park by the pier is not the same thing. No matter: the boat is the point of the day, and it leaves earlier than planned.
FreeDirectionsPhotosاسم إميرغان جايي من أمير كونة أوغلو يوسف باشا، وهو حاكم فارسي كان مسؤول عن مدينة يريفان (أرمينيا)، وسلّمها للسلطان مراد الرابع سنة 1635 بدل ما يحاربه. مراد كافأه وأعطاه هالأرض وصار من مقرّبينه.
ونهايته ما كانت حلوة: بعد ما مات مراد، انعدم بعهد السلطان إبراهيم، حوالي سنة 1641. بس الاسم ضلّ عالمنطقة لليوم.
والكوروسو (الغابة) فيها تلات قصور صغيرة، الأصفر والوردي والأبيض، من القرن الـ19، وقتها كانت الأرض بإيد عيلة الخديوي إسماعيل حاكم مصر. المكان مشهور عالمياً بمهرجان التوليب بنيسان، وبأيلول بيكون فاضي تقريباً.
A ferry that runs only on Sundays, and today is Sunday. The boat crosses first to Kanlıca on the Asian shore, runs down past the red Amcazade Hüseyin Paşa Yalısı of 1699, the oldest house on the Bosphorus, calls at the 1395 fortress of Anadolu Hisarı, then swings back under the bridge to Bebek, with the walls of Rumeli Hisarı climbing the hill on your right as you come in. Upper deck, right-hand side, and stay on to Bebek: Kanlıca is where you come back to for lunch. Tap the Istanbulkart at the gate. The wind is strong today: the lower saloon is enclosed.
₺77 eaDirectionsPhotosHalf an hour on the quay, then the bus north. One minute along the water is the Bebek mosque, Art Nouveau lines on an Ottoman plan, its feet in the Bosphorus; noon prayer is at 13:00 if you want it. Then a Turkish coffee at the old Bebek Kahve on the quay by the park, the bay in front of you, the bridge to your left, the fishing boats coming in. Not lunch: that is across the water. Meşhur Bebek Badem Ezmecisi, marzipan on the same spot since 1904, is three minutes up Cevdet Paşa Caddesi if you want a small box for the flight; skip it if the legs say so. The 22 stop is on the shore road, a minute from the pier.
₺250DirectionsPhotosTwo buses, no hill on foot. Cross to the shore road and take the 22 signed İstinye: Rumeli Hisarı's towers, Baltalimanı, Emirgan, then İstinye İskelesi, about 12 minutes; sit on the right for the water. At İstinye İskelesi, the 40B signed Beşiktaş climbs to the mall in 12 minutes: the road rises 130 m on a kerbless dual carriageway, so do not try to walk it. On a Sunday the 40B comes every 25 to 30 minutes; if the wait looks long, the yellow İstinye Park dolmuş from the same stop does the same climb. Inside two hours of the boat tap, so the first bus is a transfer.
₺34 + ₺34 eaIstanbul's handsome mall: about 300 stores under a glass roof, a covered street, an open-air court in the middle with the trees, and a proper food court, with the midday showers safely overhead. Lunch first, then a slow wander: Mavi and Boyner if you want them, a coffee, a bench. Leave by 16:40: the dervishes' gate at 18:30 is the one fixed time of the day.
₺1,300DirectionsPhotosإستينيه بارك من أفخم مولات إسطنبول، افتتح سنة 2007. التصميم غريب ومقصود: الجزء الداخلي مول عادي، بس القسم الأوسط مفتوح على شكل شوارع بواجهات محلات وكأنك بحي، وفوقه سقف زجاج بينفتح.
فيه حوالي 300 محل، وأغلب الماركات العالمية الفخمة. بس كمان فيه الماركات التركية العادية متل ماڤي وكوتون.
وإستينيه نفسها كانت خليج صيد قديم، واسمها من اليوناني «ستينيا». وكان في حوض بناء مراكب بالخليج تحت.
ملاحظة: الأسعار هون أغلى من 212 أوتليت بفرق كبير. تفرّج بس، الأوتليت يلي رحتوا عليه الأربعا أرخص بكتير.
The 40B signed Sarıyer down to the water, then the 22 signed Kabataş all the way: Emirgan, Rumeli Hisarı, Bebek, Arnavutköy, Ortaköy, Beşiktaş, about an hour on a Sunday evening, sit on the left for the water. Then the tram from the end of the line. If the bus runs late, do not go to the hotel first: get off the tram at Sirkeci and walk straight to Hodjapasha, 100 m from the stop. Gates 18:30, doors shut at 19:15.
₺46 + ₺34 + ₺34 eaThe one thing this week you have not done, and it is a hundred metres from the station. A 550-year-old hamam on Hocapaşa Hamamı Sk. 3/B, converted into a small round hall where a Mevlevi sema is performed under the dome: dervishes turning to the ney and the drum for an hour. It is a religious ceremony, not a show: no clapping, no talking, phones away, no photographs. Gates 18:30, with a free exhibition in the lobby, ceremony 19:00, one hour; more than fifteen minutes late and you are not admitted. About ₺1,900 to ₺2,100 each for the 19:00; book on hodjapasha.com or WhatsApp +90 541 252 09 92. Evening prayer 19:01 falls during it: Hocapaşa Mosque opposite Sirkeci station afterwards.
₺4,000DirectionsPhotosThe pedestrian food lane beside the venue, under awnings. Kasap Osman, Hocapaşa Sk. 8, for wood-fire İskender, or Şehzade Erzurum Cağ Kebabı, No. 3/A, if you did not have it last night; both about ₺700 to 900 a head, both open to 22:00. Then fırın sütlaç and a Turkish coffee at Hafız Mustafa, Muradiye Cd. 25/B, two minutes, and bed. Pack tonight: tomorrow is the last day and the bag drop is at 15:30.
₺1,800 + ₺450DirectionsPhotosThe only fixed time today is the dervishes\' gate at 18:30. If the 22 is slow down the shore, skip the hotel and go straight from the Sirkeci tram to Hodjapasha, 100 m. Legs: leave the mall earlier, or stay on the 22 past Bebek and go straight home to rest before the show. Wet by evening: Hocapaşa Sokak\'s awnings are two minutes from the hall, and the hotel is round the corner.
The last day, and an unhurried one: Balat before the crowds, Fener, the cable car up to Pierre Loti, then the walk down through the cemetery and the real Unkapanı pilav on the way back. Home by 15:15 for the bags, and out to the airport by train.
The cable car is an ordinary card fare and everything you look at is free. Balat's antique shops are the only thing that can change that.
Everything today is on the T5tram along the Golden Horn, northbound Alibeyköy, back Eminönü, and never more than about twenty minutes from the hotel, so the day cannot run away from you. The only fixed time is 15:30. If you are running late, cut Pierre Loti short, not lunch. Friends joining? Eminönü at 08:50 or Balat at 09:05.
Pack before you go out. You come back at 15:30 with no time to sort anything. Leave the cases ready but open, and keep the spices, lokum and coffee out to go in the checked bag, never the cabin.
Settle the checkout on Sunday night. Standard checkout is well before 15:30, so ask reception either to hold the room late or to take the cases into storage for the day. Do not leave this to Monday morning: you are out of the door at 08:15, back by 15:30, and gone again at 16:45.
The T5 stop is on the water side, past the ferry piers. The line runs along the water the whole way and almost no visitor knows it exists.
₺300 + ₺46 eaDirectionsPhotosBe on Kiremit Caddesi before ten. The stacked coloured houses are the most photographed thing in Istanbul right now and by eleven there is a queue to stand in front of them. Go one street back and it empties instantly: Merdivenli Yokuş and the lanes around it are better and emptier. Antique shops, junk shops, cafés in restored houses.
FreeDirectionsPhotosبلاط كان الحي اليهودي الرئيسي بإسطنبول لقرون. بعد طرد اليهود من إسبانيا سنة 1492، السلطان بايزيد الثاني بعت أسطوله يجيبهن وأسكنهن هون وبالقرن الذهبي، وضلّت الحارة يهودية بأغلبها لحدّ منتصف القرن العشرين.
الاسم غالباً من اليوناني «بالاتيون» يعني القصر، نسبة لقصر بلاخيرناي البيزنطي يلي كان قريب.
وكانت مختلطة بشكل نادر: يهود وأرمن ويونان ومسلمين، وكنس وكنايس وجوامع بنفس الشوارع. لليوم في كنيس أهريدا من القرن الـ15، وهو من أقدم الكنس الشغّالة بالمدينة.
والبيوت الملوّنة يلي بتشوفها عالسوشال ميديا، هيدي مش ألوان تاريخية. انطلوا بالسنين الأخيرة، وصار الشارع مقصد تصوير. الحارة الحقيقية هي الشوارع يلي وراه.
The Greek Orthodox quarter. The Ecumenical Patriarchate is here, still the senior see of the Orthodox world, and above it the huge red-brick Phanar Greek College, visible from everywhere on this shore. Steep lanes, few people, and these wooden houses are the real thing rather than restorations.
FreeDirectionsPhotosفنر كان الحي اليوناني الأرثوذكسي بإسطنبول من بعد الفتح، وهون مركز البطريركية المسكونية، ولليوم إلها الأوّلية الشرفية بين الكنايس الأرثوذكسية كلها، يعني «الأولى بين متساويين»، والأرثوذكس بالعالم حوالي 300 مليون شخص.
عيلات يونانية غنية سكنت هون وصارت تشتغل بالدبلوماسية والترجمة عند العثمانيين، وانعرفوا باسم «الفناريوت»، وبعضهن حكموا ولايات كاملة بالبلقان نيابة عن السلطان.
والمبنى الأحمر الضخم فوق التلة هو مدرسة فنر اليونانية، انبنى سنة 1881، والمدرسة نفسها أقدم من هيك بكتير، بتعتبر من أقدم المدارس الشغّالة بالمدينة. لليوم شغّالة، بس فيها عدد قليل جداً من الطلاب لأن الجالية اليونانية تقريباً اختفت.
الجالية كانت أكتر من 100 ألف ببدايات القرن العشرين، واليوم كم ألف بس، بعد أحداث 1955 وضغوط الخمسينات والستينات.
Get off at Eyüpsultan Teleferik, not the next stop, Eyüpsultan Devlet Hastanesi. Treat this one as a square, not a monument. It is the third-holiest site in Turkey: the tomb of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, the Prophet's companion who died besieging Constantinople in the 670s, eight centuries before the city fell. The courtyard, the plane trees and the pilgrims are the thing. Twenty minutes, from outside if you prefer. The tram is a fresh fare: more than two hours since your first tap.
₺46 eaDirectionsPhotosهون قبر أبو أيوب الأنصاري رضي الله عنه، صاحب رسول الله ﷺ ويلي نزل عنده النبي لما وصل المدينة.
شارك بحصار القسطنطينية أيام معاوية سنة 674 لـ678 ميلادي تقريباً، ومات وهو محاصر المدينة ودُفن عند أسوارها، يعني قبل الفتح بـ800 سنة.
ولما فتح محمد الفاتح المدينة سنة 1453، بيتحكى إن شيخه آق شمس الدين دلّه على مكان القبر، فبنى فوقه جامع وضريح سنة 1458، وصار أول جامع بناه العثمانيين بإسطنبول.
وصار المكان أهم مقام ديني بالمدينة: السلاطين الجداد كانوا يتقلّدوا سيف عثمان هون قبل ما يستلموا الحكم، يعني هو مكان التتويج العثماني.
ولهيك المنطقة كلها حواليه صارت مقبرة مرغوبة، والتلة يلي فوقها مليانة قبور عثمانية، وهي نفس التلة يلي رايحين عليها بالتلفريك.
The station is beside the mosque complex and it takes your Istanbulkart like a bus. You rise straight over the Ottoman cemetery.
₺34 eaDirectionsPhotosA café on the ridge with the whole Golden Horn below you: the best view in Istanbul for the price of a tea. Named for the French naval officer who sat up here in the 1870s writing about the city. Walk back down through the cemetery rather than taking the cable car: twenty minutes, shaded, and far better than the ride. Start down by 13:15 so lunch and the bags stay unhurried.
₺400DirectionsPhotosبيير لوتي كان ضابط بحرية فرنساوي وروائي، اسمه الحقيقي جوليان ڤيو (1850 لـ1923). إجا إسطنبول بالسبعينات من القرن الـ19 وتعلّق فيها، وكتب روايات عنها أشهرها «عزيادة».
وكان يقعد بمقهى على هالتلة يتطلّع عالقرن الذهبي ويكتب، فسمّوا التلة على اسمه بعد وفاته.
والقصة فيها جدل: هو كتب عن قصة حبّ مع وحدة اسمها عزيادة من حريم عثماني، وفي مؤرخين بيقولوا إنها مخترعة أو مبالغ فيها كتير. بس الصورة يلي رسمها عن إسطنبول أثّرت على كل الأوروبيين يلي إجوا بعده.
والتلة نفسها مقبرة عثمانية ضخمة، الناس كانت تتمنى تنقبر قريب من أبو أيوب الأنصاري، فامتلأت التلة بشواهد قبور من قرون.
نصيحة: انزل مشي بدل التلفريك. الطريق بيمرق بين شواهد القبور العثمانية وبيطلّ عالقرن الذهبي طول الوقت، وهو أحلى من الركوب.
The walk down is the best part of the hill: Ottoman headstones and the Golden Horn below you the whole way. Then the same tram back towards the old city, and off one stop before the end.
₺46 eaİMÇ Çarşısı, block 1, no. 1401, Unkapanı. Tavuklu nohutlu pilav: buttery rice with chickpeas and shredded chicken, with pickles and ayran, and they have been doing the same recipe for thirty years.
Read this before you go anywhere else with that name. The shop says on its own website, in capitals, “Başka şubemiz yok, burası tek adres”: no other branches, this is the only address. Every “Meşhur Unkapanı Pilavcısı” you see elsewhere in the city, Üsküdar included, is using the name. It sits right on your way back to the hotel, which is why it is lunch today.
تاووكلو نوهوتلو بيلاف، رز بالزبدة مع حمص وقطع دجاج مسلوق مفتّتة. من أشهر أكلات الشارع بإسطنبول، وبتنباع من عربايات وكمان من دكاكين صغيرة.
وهالمحل بالذات بسوق إي إم تشي (سوق تجّار الأقمشة) بأونكاباني، شغّال من التمانينات بنفس الوصفة. وصار مشهور لدرجة إنو صار في محلات كتير بكل إسطنبول بتستعمل نفس الاسم.
انتبه: الموقع الرسمي للمحل كاتب بالخط العريض «ما عنا فرع تاني، هون العنوان الوحيد». يعني أي «مشهور أونكاباني بيلاوجيسي» بمكان تاني، بأسكودار أو غيرها، مش نفس المحل.
والأصول: بتاكله مع عيران ومخلل، وبتحطّ فلفل أحمر ناشف فوقه إذا بتحبّ.
At the hotel by about 15:15, with a quarter of an hour in hand before the bags.
₺34 eaDirectionsPhotosEverything into the checked bag, including Wednesday's jeans. Spices, lokum, coffee and anything liquid must be checked: powders get pulled at security and sometimes binned. Weigh by hand: Pegasus is strict and pays for nothing.
DirectionsPhotosTake the train, not a car. Monday evening across the Kadıköy to Pendik corridor can run two hours by road with no ceiling; Marmaray plus the M4 is about 80 minutes door to door, whatever the roads are doing. Ayrılık Çeşmesi is the only Marmaray and M4 interchange in the city, and the change is short and well signed. At the airport about 18:10.
₺71 eaDirectionsPhotosBag drop, then eat. Pegasus bag drop closes at 20:55; be at the gate by 21:15 (it closes at 21:35), so you have nearly three hours in hand, which is why you left at 16:45. VAT desk before you check the bags, and only if there is no queue.
₺600DirectionsPhotosLands 23:40.
Balat, Fener and the hill are all open air. Keep Fener and the pilav, skip Pierre Loti, and spend the spare hour in the covered lanes around the Spice Bazaar at Eminönü, one tram stop from Küçükpazar.
Everything that is not a day. Tap a heading to open it: they are closed so the plan above stays the plan.
Two Istanbulkarts, one each. ₺165 the blank card from a Biletmatik machine that sells cards (the big stations have them), then load ₺500. A second tap on the same card is charged as a brand-new full boarding, so sharing costs more, not less.
Chain your legs inside two hours. Your first tap opens a 120-minute window: the next five boardings drop to ₺34.40, then ₺26.42, then ₺17.18. A five-leg day costs about ₺140 instead of ₺231. The days above chain legs where they can, but a leg more than two hours after the first tap starts a fresh full fare, and every day is priced that way.
Marmaray never gets the discount. It is always its full distance fare, ₺37.40 or ₺47.74, even inside the two hours, though the leg after it still does. Ferries have their own transfer prices, separate from the table below.
| First boarding: metro, tram, bus, funicular | ₺46.20 |
| 1st transfer, within 2 hours | ₺34.40 |
| 2nd transfer | ₺26.42 |
| 3rd to 5th transfer | ₺17.18 |
| Marmaray, 1 to 7 stations | ₺37.40 |
| Marmaray, 8 to 14 stations | ₺47.74 |
| Ferry, Üsküdar ↔ Eminönü | ₺58.52 |
| Ferry, Kadıköy ↔ Eminönü | ₺65.21 |
| Blank Istanbulkart | ₺165 |
A whole week of transport is about ₺1,800 each, less than one airport taxi: on the 2026 meter Sabiha Gökçen to Sirkeci is about ₺2,100 to 2,350, plus the bridge toll. That is the entire argument for this plan.
Everything on this page is priced in lira. Nothing you buy this week is sold in euro (the Kız Kulesi ticket is, which is one more reason it is out), so no ticket here moves with the euro rate. Dollars in this plan are converted at ₺48 = $1, the rate you gave.
Last services: metro and tram to about midnight, and on Friday and Saturday nights most metro lines run all night (the Gece Metrosu: M1A, M1B, M2, M4, M5, M6, M7). Marmaray's last trains leave the ends of the line at about 23:20 from Gebze and 23:28 from Halkalı. The last Kadıköy ferry is about 01:00. Nothing above asks you to be out later.
Your arrival is a booked car. Prestige, $50 for the two of you, door to door at 03:35. That is the right call: the first M4 metro is 06:00, there is no İETT night bus to Eminönü or Sirkeci at all. Havabüs does run from Sabiha Gökçen to Taksim from about 03:30, but nothing connects Taksim to Sirkeci before about 06:00, so you would have sat in Taksim for two hours. You would have lost the night.
After that, nothing in this week needs a car. Every other move is a metro, tram, Marmaray, bus, funicular, cable car or ferry, and the whole week of them costs about ₺1,800 each. The departure run on Monday is deliberately by train too: Monday evening traffic to Sabiha Gökçen has no ceiling, while Marmaray plus the M4 is a steady 60 to 70 minutes whatever the roads are doing.
Coming down off a hill at night. Pierre Loti and Nakkaştepe are the only real hills this week. You leave Pierre Loti in daylight; Nakkaştepe on Friday is the one you come down after dark, and the 14M bus takes you straight down to Üsküdar and the Marmaray.
If you genuinely need one (a pharmacy at 2 a.m., someone unwell), use BiTaksi or Uber, never a street hail. Both dispatch licensed, metered taxis and show you an estimate first, but the fare is what the meter says, not a fixed price. The point is that you type the destination, the route is tracked, and there is no street-hail haggling. The 2026 meter is ₺65.40 to start, ₺43.56 a kilometre and ₺210 minimum, and it is flat 24 hours; there is no legal night surcharge, and a driver claiming one is the scam.
And the single most useful move: show the address on your phone screen instead of pronouncing it. Nobody expects you to speak Turkish. They expect you to point.
Refreshed on 21 September from Open-Meteo. The first pull, on 18 September, had Wednesday clearing and Monday wet; that has now swapped: Wednesday is the wettest day and Monday looks dry. The rest of the week is dry and 21 to 24°C. Check once more the night before each day.
| Tue 22 · showers likely | 21° / 17° · about 4 mm |
| Wed 23 · rain likely, wettest | 18° / 15° · about 12 mm |
| Thu 24 · dry, calmest | 21° / 13° · none |
| Fri 25 · dry, bright | 23° / 13° · none |
| Sat 26 · dry, warmest | 24° / 17° · none |
| Sun 27 · dry | 24° / 19° · none |
| Mon 28 · dry | 24° / 18° · none |
It is a little cooler than this trip's averages. Late September normally runs 24 to 25°C; this week is 18 to 24°C by day and 13 to 19°C at night. That is a proper jacket, not a light sweater, and on a ferry deck after dark it is a real one.
The wind is poyraz, not lodos. Northerly to north-easterly most of the week (Thursday is easterly and calm). Şehir Hatları generally keeps sailing through poyraz: the cancellations everyone warns about come from the south-westerly, and there is no sign of one. What it does do is make the crossings choppy and cold. Saturday night's crossing from Kadıköy has a north-easterly around 20 km/h: a choppier ride rather than a cancelled one, but glance at the pier board.
One source was discarded: a major site's monthly grid showed 30°C and "Sunny" for all seven days identically, which is climatological filler in a forecast-shaped table and 8 to 10°C above every real model. Monthly pages look like forecasts and are not.
Two days carry rain: Tuesday 22 (about 4 mm) and Wednesday 23 (about 12 mm, the wettest day). Monday now looks dry. Wednesday is the indoor day, and the Asian shore has a full dry Saturday. Everything below is indoors from the station door, ranked by how little sky you see between the train and the roof. Each day already has a Plan B box; this is the menu those boxes draw from.
الشتوة بإسطنبول بأيلول عادةً قصيرة: بتنزل قوية عشرين دقيقة وبتوقف. المدينة كلها متعوّدة عليها، ومن حسن الحظ إنو الأسواق القديمة مسقوفة من أيام العثمانيين. السوق المسقوف (كبالي تشارشي) اسمه حرفياً «السوق المغطّى»، وقلبه، البدستان، انبنى بالقرن الخامس عشر مسقوف ومن حجر بالأساس عشان تنحفظ فيه البضاعة الغالية بأمان. ومن فوايده إنو التجارة ما بتوقف لا بالشتي ولا بالشمس.
وكمان الحمّام التركي أصلاً كان حلّ الناس ليوم الشتي: مكان دافي، بخار، وقعدة طويلة. حمّام تشمبرلي طاش بناه المعمار سنان سنة 1584 لنور بانو سلطان، ولليوم شغّال بنفس المبنى.
ملاحظة عمليّة: أول ما تبلّش الشتوة بتطلع رجال عم يبيعوا شماسي عند كل زاوية خلال دقايق. السعر بالشارع أرخص بكتير من السعر جوّا المولات.
Every stop marked 📸 in the days above is one. These are the ones worth planning the light around:
Two practical things. Turkey is UTC+3 and does not change clocks, so sunset slides from 19:01 on Tuesday to 18:51 on Monday, and the golden hour is roughly the hour before it. And carry the power bank: a phone shooting all day dies by four, and that is your map and your travel card too.
You do not want to sit for an hour, so almost nothing in this week asks you to. Every stop shows a time and the food stops are 25 to 45 minutes, not two hours.
Lunch is 12:30 to 15:00 every day, which is when you actually eat. Snacks are not planned; you pick those up as you go, and the city is built for it: simit carts, börek shops, roast corn and chestnuts on every corner. The only sweet stops worth going out of your way for are the trileçe (Tue), Güllüoğlu baklava (Wed), BOAC (Sat), Ali Usta (Sat) and the San Sebastián (Sun).
How to be quick in a Turkish place. Walk in, look at the glass counter or the grill, point. In a lokanta you take a tray. Say “hesap, lütfen” for the bill and they bring it: nobody brings it unasked, which is what traps people for an extra twenty minutes. Tea comes after and takes two minutes standing up.
What you are eating this week, and where:
| Dürüm: Dürümle, inside Cevahir | Tue |
| Trileçe: Hafız Mustafa, by the hotel | Tue |
| Lahmacun: Kineba, Caddebostan | Sat |
| Tiramisu: BOAC, Caddebostan | Sat |
| Köfte: Tarihi Sultanahmet Köftecisi, Divanyolu | Wed |
| Baklava: Karaköy Güllüoğlu | Wed |
| Pide: Tarihi Hocapaşa Pidecisi, your street | Thu |
| Mantı: Sinop Mantı, Beşiktaş | Thu |
| Kuymak: Hayvore, Beyoğlu | Sun |
| San Sebastián: Viyana Kahvesi, Narmanlı Han | Sun |
| İskender: a Bursa kebap house, Üsküdar çarşı | Fri |
| The Hunger: Gayrettepe, by Zorlu | Tue |
| Roastery: Espressolab Merter | Wed |
| Tavuklu pilav: Meşhur Unkapanı Pilavcısı, İMÇ | Mon |
| Tavuk Dünyası: Kadıköy, Mühürdar Cd. | Sat |
Nothing here is high-end and nothing needs booking. The most expensive meal of the week is about ₺1,400 for the two of you. Nusr-Et is out at your request: it was ₺10,000 on its own, which is about a tenth of your whole budget for one dinner.
Lost? Say "Sirkeci" to anyone. From almost anywhere in this plan you are one change away from it, and every Marmaray platform is signed only Gebze or Halkalı.
| 112: police, ambulance, fire | free, no SIM needed |
| Tourist Police, Sultanahmet | 0212 527 45 03 |
| Tourist Police, 24h mobile and WhatsApp (unofficial listing) | +90 505 187 66 14 |
| İBB, incl. transport | 153 |
There is also a Tourist Police office in Sirkeci, on Ankara Caddesi near the hotel.
Pharmacies: every district has one 24-hour nöbetçi eczane on rotation, posted on the door of every closed pharmacy. English-speaking hospital: Amerikan Hastanesi, Nişantaşı (M2 metro to Osmanbey). Open in MapsPhotos Tourist police
The scams, in one line each. Pickpockets work İstiklal, Eminönü, the Grand Bazaar and the T1 tram between Sultanahmet and Eminönü: bag zipped and in front. A shoe-shiner dropping his brush ahead of you is the whole scam; walk on. A friendly stranger proposing a "better" second bar is the trap, and the second venue is where the bill appears. Fish sold by weight with no price: get a number before it is cooked. A card terminal offering to charge you in dollars: always decline.
Money: change in the city, not at the airport; airport and hotel desks run 3 to 7% worse. Best rates are the döviz bürosu cluster by the Grand Bazaar's Mahmutpaşa gate. Always pay in lira. Topkapı is card-only at the gate.
| Hangi peron? | Which platform? |
| Gebze yönü / Halkalı yönü | Gebze / Halkalı direction |
| Bu otobüs Çengelköy'e gider mi? | Does this bus go to Çengelköy? |
| Kaç durak? | How many stops? |
| İnecek var! | Getting off! (on a crowded bus) |
| İki tane, lütfen | Two, please |
| Karta bakiye yüklemek istiyorum | I want to top up the card |
| Ne kadar? | How much? |
| Çok pahalı | Too expensive |
| Düşünelim | We'll think about it (the walk-away) |
| Kartla ödeyeceğim, TL olarak lütfen | I'll pay by card, in lira please |
| Hesap, lütfen | The bill, please |
| Alkolsüz | Non-alcoholic |
| Paket olsun | To take away |
| İlgilenmiyorum | I'm not interested (for touts) |
| Teşekkürler · Lütfen · Pardon | Thanks · Please · Excuse me |
Seven days will not hold everything, and a plan that pretends otherwise is how you end up lost. What got cut, and why:
If a day collapses (weather, tiredness, a closed line), the two you can swap in whole are the M9 metro outlets (212 Outlet and Mall of Istanbul, both stations on one metro line, almost entirely indoors) and the Golden Horn on any dry morning.