Recommendation.
During a Mediterranean cruise we made a stop last September in Istanbul Turkey for one overnight stay. Being short on time we decided to hire a private licensed tour guide for our 1.5 day ashore. On a recommendation from staff at Rick Steves we hired Ms. Nilufer Iris [email protected]
Prior to arriving in Turkey we had several e-mail contacts with Nilufer and we discussed a list of all the places we wanted to visit and things we wanted to do such as cruising on the Bosphorus.
During our visit Nilufer a licensed guide got us in the places we wanted to see without having to wait in line as she could get the tickets from the tour group sales window.
We visited most of the following sites:
1 The Hippodrome
2 The Blue Mosque
3 Golden Horn
4 Topkapi Palace and the Topkapi diamond.
5 Basilica Cistern
6 St. Sophia
7 Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent
8 Walk about the New District
9 Lunch in Ortakoy tasting turkish specialties.
10 Spice and Grand Bazar
11 Chora church
12 Istanbul Archaeological Museum
13 Kadiköy district
For all the sites we visited, she had excellent descriptions and she knows her history very well. She was also able to immerse us in the Turkish culture. We ate at a local restaurant not usually frequented by tourists and experienced a typical turkish lunch.
Overall this was a very worthwhile investment and an excellent use of our time to visit such a beautiful city. Our experience made us want to come back later and visit Istanbul again.
This review was written with Nilufer’s consent.