I finally found the time to write my Istanbul Travel Diary for you guys. As I told you in one of my previous posts it was my first time in Istanbul. I don’t really like crowds and when you think about the 14,8 Million inhabitants in Istanbul it’s no wonder that there’ll be crowds nearly everywhere. This wasn’t really the case. I loved the vibe of the city and the people of course. But my favorite thing about the city definitely was the Bosphorus.
Day 1
We should have arrived in Istanbul in our hotel, the Shangri La Bosphorus, at 11 am. Unfortunately our airplane had technical issues and we had to wait for the next available flight which in our case was at 2 pm. It was already 8 pm when we arrived in our hotel and as you can imagine we were really exhausted. By the way the hotel was amazing. If you want to stay in a hotel which is directly at the Bosphorus – this is the one! I had a quick change and then we had dinner at GREY Food & Drink in Nişantaşı. Our hotel was in Beşiktaş and it was just a short walk to Nişantaşı. I only had a salad for dinner because it was quite late. If you like avocado, quinoa and Co. then you have to go to this place.
This should be our first whole day but unfortunately it was just an evening because our late flight.
Day 2
On our second day we had breakfast at Bazlama Kahvalti Cesme, also in Nişantaşı. The breakfast was so delicious that I even shared a whole blogpost about it. Nişantaşı is one of the richer parts of Istanbul and it was only about 15 minutes away from out hotel. After our breakfast I took my outfit pictures and then we went to Taksim from where we went to see the Galata Tower. We spent the afternoon in Karaköy where we had Turkish Coffee and a delicious brownie cheese cake at Pim Karaköy. There are really cute cafes in Karaköy and I really loved the vibe of this part of the city.
After our stroll in Karaköy we went back to the hotel to change for the evening which we spent on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. We saw the beautiful Maiden’s Tower and after that we went straight to Kuzguncuk. Kuzguncuk is a neighborhood in Üsküdar. It’s surrounded by old wooden and colorful houses and the neighborhood is really quite and calm. We had an Iskender for dinner at Metet, which I can highly recommend you! After our dinner we went to the Bağdat Street (Bağdat Caddesi) which is one of the famous shopping streets in Istanbul. There you can find local shops, designer stores and also high street fashion. Our second day ended with a traditional turkish dessert at Saray Muhallebecisi.
Day 3
Our third day startet with a breakfast at a bakery in Beşiktaş where you can find everything from the traditional Simit (a circular bread encrusted with sesame seeds) to different types of Börek (a pastry with different fillings for example cheese or meat). Turkish Tea is also a must when in Turkey, especially for breakfast. After our amazing breakfast we went to the Çırağan Palace Kempinsky where I wanted to shoot my outfit. We had a Turkish Coffee in the garden with the most amazing view ever – the Bosphorus. You can have lunch or dinner in the garden of the hotel or you can just have a coffee and explore the beautiful garden and the palace.
We went to Ortaköy afterwards where you can find the beautiful Ortaköy Mosque which is situated directly at the Bosphorus. We then had a boat tour which was by far my favorite part of the trip. I can highly recommend you to go on a boat tour! It’s amazing!
After the boat tour we shared a Kumpir (filled potatoes) in Ortaköy and then we went to Bebek for dinner. Bebek is one of the richer parts in Istanbul and it is known for the promenade directly at the Bosphorus, it’s cute shops, cafés and restaurants. You can spot a lot of celebrities there as well. We had dinner at Kirinti which wasn’t the best. After our dinner we didn’t want to stay in Bebek so we went to Yeniköy. I really loved the vibe of this cute part of the city. We had Turkish Coffee (yes, I love my turkish coffee) and dessert at Nanny which was one of the prettiest cafés I’ve ever seen.
Day 4
In the afternoon we had our flight back home so we had time until noon. First we again had breakfast at the bakery we went to on the day before. After that we had to run some errands and then we went to Nişantaşı because I really wanted to go to Room + Rumours. I loved this place so much that I wrote a whole blogpost about it. Lastly we had Dürüm before leaving for the airport and that’s how my trip to Istanbul ended!
My days in Istanbul past too quickly. This trip was way too short and I know that I have to visit the beautiful city again. Can’t wait for the next time, Istanbul!
