Pera Palace Hotel Istanbul

Travel Blogs from Istanbul

Our time in Istanbul

A travel blog entry by mjt4662

... to make a dash – you never know. He is headed the correct way and we head into traffic. After about 20 minutes he points up ahead and says Grand Bazaar. I pay him the agreed amount and because he didn't demand more I happily gave him a tip.

We make our way to the Grand Bazaar and it is wall to wall humanity. (How did Rick Steves find a clear area to film part of his travel show here.) The market (constructed in 1455) is amazing. Locals are ...

Nargileh Contemplations: Istanbul Days 3-6

A travel blog entry by shane0620

... 20 minutes. By the time he got back, I was already chowing down. He said his place was closed. The magic didn't last, apparently. Apparently he did find a cheap kebab place over by the train station, though, and took the Canadians with him (who left nearly full beers on the table, by the way. Andre and I couldn't believe it - we would finish those in America before traipsing off.) They enjoyed their cheap railway station kebab, and I absolutely loved the food I ate - even if it wasn't ...

Birthdays, Burns, and Beaches

A travel blog entry by koppers

The Parsons Family spent about two weeks with us from the end of May until the beginning of June, departing in the wee hours of Monday, June 4th. That gave us a few days to recover from their entertaining and exhausting visit before we kicked off the 2012 birthday season.

As you may recall, both of our birthdays are in June: mine is June 10th, and Konrad's is June 16th. Since my birthday fell ...

Istanbul

A travel blog entry by mkuncio

... around the main sections of Istanbul including the Blue Mosque, the spice market, the Grand Bazaar and the main centre of the city. It was a good day out in a totally new environment that I had not witnessed before. Istanbul is not Europe, it's not Asia and it’s not the Middle East. It has its own distinctive vibe. It was a great city tour around.

That night we had planned to go out to dinner and to watch a traditional belly dancing show. ...

Ottomans and All the Men, Part I

A travel blog entry by melepua

... we walked. Past homes, shops, universities, stadiums, docks, palaces, people holding giant rifles guarding places (with a sort of changing of the guard, which was more of a march-sort-of-and-lose-attention-before -you-get-to-the-door event. It was weird). We slipped on ice more than once. We stopped at a look out by this palace looking place, and someone came up to me, asking if he could take his picture with me. Okay? His friend told me I could ...

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