We just got back from a week in Istanbul and wanted to share the details.
We flew direct on Turkish Airlines from SFO. We booked Welcome Pickups to get us from the airport which worked well. Our driver even contacted us before we left California. I had heard that our flight was often delayed and also that it takes awhile to get out of the airport. So i booked the pickup for 1 hour after our flight was landing. This turned out to be good - although our flight was on time after all!
We stayed at a Hyatt in the Taksim area, because i had Hyatt points, This had good and bad aspects. It was in a quieter area so it was nice to to spend the evenings there. But though Taksim square and Istikal street were nearby, it wasn't as quaint and interesting as the Sultanahmet area. But we were happy with our choice.
Everything people have said about the difficulty in buying a transit pass is true! :-). We took taxis the first few days, which were very inexpensive. about $4 for a 20-25 minute taxi from Taksim down to the Hagia Sophia area. When we did attempt it, we had to get help from a staff person at one of the stops, and then again when we needed to top up. (if you stand at one of the machines long enough, someone will usually come up to assist!)
I did see where to change the language to English - but the instructions are still not that obvious...!
Also, if we had had a Mastercard, our guide told us we could just tap to pay at the turnstile. But we only had visa so that didn't work.
Also, as far as ATMs, they are always in a cluster, and i had to sometimes try a few to get one that wasn't charging an extra fee. I remembered that Ziraat was mentioned, so we tried to use that one, but if that one wasn't available i would try another. they do state up front if they are going to charge a fee.
We also had the luck of arriving in Turkey right before the 100th anniversary of Turkish Independence day! There were lots of local celebrations and decorations. Turkish flags were everywhere. But we did have to alter our plans one day due to the crowds.
We booked Metin Koca (recommended on this site) for 2 half days of sightseeing. We really enjoyed his guiding! He told us that he had recently been interviewed by Rick Steves when he was in Istanbul, and will be listed as a guide in the next Turkey guidebook. On our first day he met us at our hotel, and we took a taxi to the Topkapi Palace, It's very important to come here in the morning, as the lines build throughout the day. The palace is enormous and beautiful! After that, we went to the Basilica Cistern. This was an underground water storage area built by the Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. Istanbul didn't have a nearby source of fresh water so they built this as well as the aqueducts leading to it. It is beautiful with roman columns supporting the space and it is lit with different colored lights. Makes for a great photo op! After this, we headed back to our hotel. For us, 3 hours of touring was enough for 1 day. I'm glad we split the time up. We had dinner near our hotel and i purchased a scarf from a street vendor to wear at the mosques the next day.
The next day was amazing!
We met Metin at the Hagia Sophia in the morning. He waits in line for you and gets there at 730am to be the first in line. Then when you arrive at 8:45 or so, and see about 500 people in line, you get to go up to the front and be the first people of the day to enter the Hagia Sofia! It was incredible to see and take pictures of the mosque when it was empty!! What an experience. Metin told us it is his favorite mosque and he used to visit every day during the pandemic.
- to be continued...