The Pierre Loti Café, named after the French novelist, naval officer and Turkophile, is famous for its spectacular views over the Golden Horn. Located in Eyüp, about 6 kilometers from the Galata Bridge in Eminönü, it is not exactly on the typical tourist path. So, if you’re in Istanbul for only a few days, you […]
Almost on a daily basis I get emails from people about to take a cruise liner to Istanbul. Trying to plan their trip, they have questions like “Where is the cruise port in Istanbul?”, “How far is it from the cruise ship pier in Istanbul to Sultanahmet?” or “What are the transportation options from the […]
Istanbul is surrounded and divided by water. Because of this you’ll see a bustling activity of floating devices on the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and in the Golden Horn. A whole array of water-borne craft, ranging from privately owned (fishing) boats, over regular ferries (vapur) to a fleet of high-speed catamaran sea buses (deniz […]
With most Istanbul sightseeing spots only open from 09:00 till 17:00, you of course want to make most of the day and not waste any time by having a timely lunch. Luckily, eating on the street is very much a part of local life. You can’t walk from corner to corner on a street, cross […]
The akbil electronic travel pass is definitely the best feature of the constantly improving Istanbul public transportation network. Akbil is short for ‘akıllı bilet‘, which means intelligent ticket. And that’s exactly what it is. It’s a basically a small stainless steel button in a plastic holder, together not bigger in size than any key on […]
The brand new Istanbul Card (İstanbul Kart) was proudly introduced in the spring of 2009 by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality as a card with which you will be able to pay for all your Istanbul transportation, cultural and entertainment activities. In a first phase, the İstanbul Kart will replace the currently used akbil as a […]
5.Kat (Beşinci Kat) was Istanbul’s first rooftop cafe, bar and restaurant, hence trendsetter of the genre. Kat is Turkish for floor, and beş means five. You guessed it correct; this popular venue is located on the fifth floor of a building in the backstreets of Cihangir, offering excellent food and beverages in an elegant setting […]
As of today, 19 July 2009, smoking in Turkey is banned in all enclosed public places. This is an extension of the existing anti-smoking legislation introduced in May last year which prohibited smoking in workplaces and public spaces. From now on cafes, restaurants and bars, who had 18 months to adjust, are also subject to […]
Dolmuş is the Turkish word for filled, stuffed or full, and refers to the yellow shared taxis or minibuses that operate in Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey. They are an easy, quick and useful means of transportation for small rides to and from destinations just outside the city center. But, what destinations do they cover, […]
As of today you can enjoy the state-of-the-art Istanbul Trails picture gallery. In my quest to provide my readers with the best Istanbul experience on the web, I decided that simply embedding a handful of pictures in an additional post was under par. Instead I created Istanbul Trails Photos, a place dedicated to photographs of […]