Sunday Istanbul exploration

I think it was between 7 & 8 am as Rina and i walked out of the room and were waiting together with the boys (Andika & Vassilis) and the Malaysians (who were in the summer school programm as well) for Nancy. But we decided to go without her since we couldn't reach her.

So we first crossed the street and got something to eat and drink in the market we found. After that some of us (me included) bought an Istanbul card in the metrobus station. I payed 7 Lira for the card and filled it up with 20 Lira. It's basically a public transportation card that you fill up with money and use for multiple types like metros, buses, ferries & tramways. After buying the card we decided where we wanted to go but somehow we split in 2 groups. So there was know me, Rina, Andika and Vassilis.

We immediately went to the taksim square.
After exchanging some money we searched for a book store to get a map of Istanbul first. Without noticing it we went to the Istiklal street for the book store. So we bought our maps and just walked down the street, some passages, looked at the St. Antoine and started our way to the galata tower.

 

Since the galata tower was actually included in the summer school programme Rina and Andika didn't want to go inside. They waited outside the tower for us. The view was amazing and you really can see everything from above the town. There was this funny thing. Vassilis asked for one ticket in english and payed 18 Lira. I asked for one ticket and payed about 6,5 Lira. Inside the tower you can read the legendary story of Ahmet Çelebi. He lived in the 17th century and flew with artificial wings from the tower, crossed the Bosporus and landed on the other side at Üsküdar.

We crossed the galata bridge afterwards and i was waiting outside while the others were inside the new mosque. Since we were hungry we went to this balkan restaurant in hocapasa street which had really delicious and also cheap food. After crossing the galata bridge again we walked a little bit around the sea, sat in the findikli park and enjoyed the view.

Back in the dormitory i met Megan from the U.S. and Simone from Ausria. We had dinner at Laures Restaurant in Şirinevler. You can see the Restaurant when you walk outside the metrobus. They have really good food and it was actually our favourite place. That was the end of the night.