18: Turkey - Istanbul Walking Tour on a Hot Summer Day...

"Not every battle needs to be fought. Not every person deserves your explanation. Sometimes, the strongest thing you can do is walk away..."

(Bosphorous Strait connects the Black Sea and the  Sea of Marmara)

Day 18: 06/07/25 (Sunday)
Activity: Istanbul Walking Tour
Hotel: Hotel Oran Istanbul

We landed at Istanbul International Airport Arnavutköy at 9.00 am. The airport is always busy even early in the morning. For the time being only one terminal is functional in this new airport. Four out of six runways are in operation, and five concourses are home to the numerous airlines that fly from and to the airport.

At the Transfer Desk, we obtained our boarding passes for IST-KUL for tomorrow's flight home.

After Immigration clearance we headed to the Meet and Greet counter at Departure Gate 8. A van was already waiting to take us to our hotel.

We are staying for only one night at the Oran Hotel located at Balabanağa, Fatih in Istanbul. Even though it was too early to check in, Mr. Fehat of the Oran Hotel provided us the room for us to rest.

After a refreshing shower and a much needed power nap, we started out on our self walking tour and walked along the tram trail to visit some of the many attractions in Istanbul. Summer in Istanbul is very hot, especially in July with the heatwave reaching a new high. We brought with us enough water to hydrate. There are plenty of drinkable water fountains scattered throughout the city to refill our water bottles.

The Beyazit Square is one of the interesting places located in front of Istanbul University and next to the Grand Bazaar and the Old Book Bazaar. The university was built as a fortress and has a martial design because it was built by the Ministry of War back in the Ottoman Empire. There are literally a hundred shops surrounding the Grand Bazaar. Unfortunate for us, the Grand Bazaar is closed on Sundays. We had not so tasty steamed hot dog and burger for lunch bought from the roadside vendor.

We stopped at Sinan Pasa Madrasah in Bezayit. Sinan Pasa was the son of a peasant named Ali of Albanian origin. He served as a grand vizier five times during the reigns of Murad Ill and Mehmed I. The madrasah conducts weekly hadith and Quran memorization lessons. Weekly Quran interpretation Risale-i Nur lessons are also conducted in different languages.

We visited the Sultan Hamed Camii or the Blue Mosque of Istanbul at Binbirdirek. The Blue Mosque, officially the Sultan Ahmed Mosque or Sultan Ahmet Camii, is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque. It was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I and remains a functioning mosque today. It also attracts a large number of tourists and is one of the most iconic and popular monuments of Ottoman architecture.

Next stop was at Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque or Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi. It is a mosque and former church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively erected on the site by the Eastern Roman Empire, it was completed in AD 537, becoming the world's largest interior space and among the first to employ a fully pendentive dome. It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have changed the history of architecture.

We passed by the Topkapi Palace at Cankurtaran. The Topkapı Palace is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire, and was the main residence of its sultans. The entrance tickets are TKR 900 per pax. We did not plan to visit Topkapi Palace as it was already late in the afternnon.

Next to the Topkapi Palace is Gulhane Park. Gülhane Park is a lush green oasis-a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of the city. This large public park offers something for everyone, from picnics and concerts to beautiful gardens and stunning views of the Marmara Sea. Gülhane Park has been around since 1806, but it wasn't opened to the public until 1912. The park was once part of Topkapi Palace. Gülhane Park is located within walking distance of many of Istanbul's major attractions, including Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia Museum and Sultanahmet Square.

We walked through Gulhane Park and exited on the other end to the Bosphorus waterfront. In the hot blazing sun we watched the Fortuna Cruise Ship sailed out of the Marmara Sea of the Istanbul harbour at Sarayburnu. Since it is a weekend, the area near the Bosphorus was crowded with people. Locals were relaxing and having their picnics and tourists were taking pictures of the view. Everyone was enjoying the hot summer weather.

It was already sunset when we traced our way back to the hotel. We stopped at Burger King for dinner of Whopper Jr. and Burger King's Special combo sets.

Back at the Oran Hotel in Fatih for the night after a long tiring day. Tonight we slept early and rested well. We will be leaving for the Istanbul International Airport at 11.30 am tomorrow morning.