Istanbul City tour

Re: Istanbul City tour

The beauty of our city starter tour extensions is that they do not have set departure dates and can be added to your tour on dates to suit you. The price for a single traveller is

Re: Istanbul City tour

Laura,

Istanbul is a fantastic city. From Canada and felt I could live there,very cosmopolitan but with "restrictions" that I could live with.

Extended our stay rather than going early and spent a week after our Turkey East/West tour with ImTrav wandering this wonderful city.

People speak English! Don't worry about your safety -- emphasis -- during the daytime -- please cover up -- this is still an Islamic environment!-- no bare shoulders. I even had issues with painted toe nails in open sandals -- yet was covered from the neck to below the knees!!!

An unaccompanied lady at night is a real issue as you are assumed to be a lady of ill-repute and you should be accompanied by a female or male!!! Need I say more.

The hotel for ImTrav is not that great but relatively close to the Grand Bazaar, which hasn't changed forever and if you time it right, there is still a call to prayer within the Bazaar!

We moved for our extended time and stayed at The Empress Zoe, great location, fantastic hotel, close to the Blue Mosque and Topaki Palace -- the area had lots of restaurants and you can walk alone at night without hassle even alone.

But if you only have a day or two before the tour then please stay at the recommended hotel. You can walk or catch the tram -- we walked everywhere and saw the major sights -- Blue Mosque, the Cistern (Sunken Palace), Aga Sophia, Hippodrome, the Spice Market, walked over the Galata Bridge and took the Tunel to Beyoglu to walk the main drag with high end shops to Taksim Square (just a square but the shops enroute were interesting).

A must see is the Topaki Palace, also near there is a great museum almost within the gardens; the the Domabachce Palace - beautiful -- crystal chandeliers (largest in the WORLD) and crystal staircase. The setting on the Bosphorus adds to the beauty of the palace and the gardens. It too is walkable... We also took the local ferry on the Bosphorus and it was like touring the Rhine... palaces, homes, villages -- all in all a great experience.

The call to prayer will "wake you" no matter where you are and we took interest in recording the time as it changed -- the closer East the earlier!
ENJOY!!

Could the city starter tour be done on day 1?