Turkey has been on my travel list for a while now, and thanks to an overbooked flight on my way home from a Christmas vacation in Asia, I got the perfect, unexpected, chance to finally visit.

After two action-packed weeks on a cruise, I was honestly just ready to be home. But as I waited in Istanbul for my connecting flight back to Nuremberg, an airline attendant made an announcement: they were looking for volunteers to take the next flight at the same time the following morning. In exchange, they’d cover a hotel stay, airport transfers, and offer €400 compensation.

I didn’t have any lectures the next morning until later in the day, and I’d been wanting to explore Istanbul for ages. After a quick mental debate, the perks were just too good to pass up. Once a few more people agreed to volunteer, I found myself heading to the shuttle bus, officially on an Istanbul adventure!

At the hotel, I quickly hit it off with another traveler in the same situation. We decided to make the most of our bonus day in the city and explore together. Lunch at the hotel was included, so after getting settled into our rooms, we began there before heading out.

To get into the city, we grabbed an Uber since it was about an hour away. Uber was definitely the way to go and we made it there in no time. We were intending to have our first stop be the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, but we accidentally ended up going into the Blue Mosque instead. We didn’t realize the mix-up until later, but it turned out to be stunning inside and totally packed.

As expected, we had to take off our shoes before entering, and women were required to cover their hair. There were separate areas for visitors and for those there to pray. The ceiling was full of beautiful designs, and candles hung from above. The colors gold, white, pink, and dark blue were everywhere. It was all so detailed and beautiful!

It was only after we left that we realized the Hagia Sophia was actually just a bit further down the way. On our walk through a nearby park, we passed a little simit stand. Simit is a traditional Turkish bread ring topped with sesame seeds. We couldn’t resist and got one with nutella. Sitting on a bench, eating a snack, and people watching in the middle of Istanbul, how cool!

Afterwards, we just walked by the famous mosque before deciding to head to the Grand Bazaar! I was super excited about this and truth be told a little glad that I wasn’t alone as a female. There is enough people where I would have been fine, but some alleys were less populated.

To enter the Bazaar, we had to pass through a metal detector of some sort. I’m not actually sure if it did anything as we all entered the gates almost at the same time. And the fact that it wasn’t beeping makes me think that it was more so just for show!

Entering the Bazaar it was packed! We were met with lots of people and many different stands and shops. Accessories, clothes, spices, art and food was everywhere to see. It was also very cheap at that! If you‘re looking to buy a lot for cheap prices, then this might be the destination for you. Knockoffs everywhere but there were bargains to be made.

We succeeded a while just taking everything in before exiting later out a different entrance. We walked down streets for a while passing the time. They had mosaic lantern shops everywhere and after passing so many shops, I just couldn’t resist popping in to one. They were so beautiful! Very colorful and artsy and I wanted to get one, but there was no way I could get one back to Nürnberg. The store itself was dark and all of the lanterns had lights on inside making them glow!

Continuing on our way, we were at the water of the Halic river that flows into the Bosporus river. To reach the other side, we found the Galata Bridge to cross. It was so cool going up to it as the view was fishing rod after fishing rod! The whole bridge was full of people fishing. As we were on the lower part of the bridge and all of the fisherman were at the top, it was really cool to see the lines hanging down right in front of our view. And they were continuously catching fish and pulling them up in front of our faces!

The view of Istanbul from the bridge was so beautiful. We stood there for a while enjoying the lookout and watching the fishing lines going in and out of the water. It was very peaceful and I definitely recommend coming here, maybe even going to one of the restaurants along it.

Making our way further, we arrived at our destination: the Galata Tower. There was a cafe there that is famous for their cheesecake and we wanted to try it out. Showing up, we had to wait in a short line to be seated. The cute cafe, apparently a chain, is called Viyana Kahvesi. I got a coffee and some cake! It was definitely very tasty and being outside was refreshing.

To finish the time in Istanbul, I booked a dinner cruise with a show on the Bosporus river! Easily booked through Get Your Guide it seemed like a good activity to do in the evening. But the organization of it all was horrible! They tried to pack as many people onto a boat as possible and it was way full. Although it explicitly said that we needed to show up 45 minutes earlier that departure they didn’t leave until 30 minutes after our supposed sailing time. They gave us our food before we set sail and this meant that we were completely done with our meals before we left the docks. I will say though, the food was good even though it‘s prepared for so many people. But, at this point I was just wanting to get off and go back to the hotel or gone to get ice cream somewhere. If I was alone, I probably would have done just that.

Finally, we set sail and began our journey along the river. The show started, and it was actually quite interesting to see traditional Turkish dance in action. The men performed with lots of energetic hopping and intricate footwork, while the women did some belly dancing and and did hip movements. They danced in turns, sometimes in groups and sometimes solo.

Later, we were served small desserts, coffee, and tea. Toward the end, people headed outside to enjoy the breeze and the view. It was cold, but the lights along the riverbanks were pretty.

Overall, while the cruise had its highlights, it wasn’t my absolute favorite experience, and I wouldn’t necessarily call it a must do.

All in all my day in Istanbul was a great experience full of picturesque views and, surprisingly, tons of cats! They were everywhere, roaming the streets and even trying to sneak into shops. One even made it into a display window. We passed a museum called Why So Many Cats in Istanbul?, which felt perfectly fitting.

I’d love to explore more of other parts of Turkey someday, but one day in Istanbul was enough. I’m really glad I got to enjoy this unexpected stop!

Highlights:

• The Blue Mosque
• Grand Bazaar
• The view from Galata Bridge and watching the fishermen
• Coffee and cake at Viyana Kahvesi