Exploring Ancient Istanbul

Trip date: Oct 2025

Last year one of my good friends invited me to be her +1 on a company retreat in Istanbul. I was thrilled as Tūrkiye had been high on my list of places to go for quite some time! And I'd get to spend time with my friend who lives in Australia so we don't see each other that often.

Immediately I started searching for business class award seats. Istanbul is over 6k miles from Seattle and I was definitely looking forward to a lay-flat bed! I found a flight for 57,500 miles + $777 by booking a British Air flight thru American Airlines (I had a card that specifically earned American miles since only Citi points transfer to AA and I just don't particularly like the Citi cards). This flight would have been $6682 if I had paid cash!

SEA->LHR->IST with the first leg on BA's new 777-300er. I don't mind a layover in LHR as I am a fan of the shopping there! At SeaTac British Air has a nice lounge but it is small and can get busy. The food is pretty good and the champagne is Piper. I do prefer the Amex lounge, which I stopped in before, as it is so much larger and has a proper bar you can sit at. 

BA's Club Suite seats are configured in a 1-2-1 layout and all the solo seats are angled towards the window. There was lots of good storage, a privacy door which I do love, a basic goodie bag, but no PJs or slippers! Slippers should be mandatory! I also liked that the flight was at 8:30pm- time to have drinks and dinner and watch a movie but still get some sleep. Which is exactly what I did (food and wine selection is also a bit meh IMO).

In Heathrow I made my way to the BA Business Lounge South. This is upstairs, pretty big, and was a great stop for a shower and change of clothes. 

Then it was off to do some shopping before finding the Business Class Lounge North. I've been in this lounge multiple times, it is also quite big but gets busy. Food is good and there is a nice selection of drinks.

LHR to IST was also biz class on BA but on a Airbus A320neo. It was under 4 hours so was fine but there was no lie flat on this flight.

I had scheduled a car at the airport as I was arriving at midnight but there is Uber available too. Whatever you do, do not use taxis. Even the locals don't take them as they will quote you one thing and charge you another. You will see taxis as an option on the Uber app and that is fine as the fare is quoted & charged thru the app. My private car was 40 Euro for the 30 minute ride into the city.

I was staying at the Aloft Karakoy which was brand new right near the Galata Tower. Aloft is a Marriott brand and although it is not luxurious it was super comfortable, a fantastic location, and I was able to use points to pay for 2 nights leaving just 1 night at $200 charged to my Marriott credit card to earn more points. Perfect. They also gave me a room with an awesome view!

Must-see spots in Istanbul- with a city over 2,600 years old and having land in both Europe and Asia, there are quite a few of them! Istanbul, or Constantinople as it used to be known, has 3 major waterways surrounding it; the Golden Horn to the west and north, the Bosphorus to the east, and the Sea of Marmara to the south.  

Let's start in the Sultanahmet district; the historic area south of the Golden Horn filled with mosques, palaces, and incredible architectural sites. This is the where most of your tourist time will be spent, but I don't recommend staying here because very few locals live in the area and in the evenings there isn't much going on. Ubers, buses, trams, and ferries are very inexpensive and so easy, so stay where the restaurants and bars you are interested in are! 

If you start right at this side of the Galata bridge you'll be in the very busy Eminönü Square and also at the ferry piers. You'll also be face to face with one of the over 3000 mosques that are in Istanbul. From here you can walk past the famous Spice Market as you head towards Topkapi Palace. The cobblestone streets, stone buildings, shops and cafés all feel very European. It's all very pretty!

Topkapi Palace  has housed 25 Ottoman Sultans, their wives, and their children from the 1470s to 1856. It has been expanded over time and the rooms and grounds are massive and gorgeous!  

*pro-tip- skip the long ticket line and look for the credit card only kiosks. This saved me a ton of time!

I spent almost 3 hours exploring the harem quarters, the Sultan's rooms, the bathhouses, the kitchens, etc. This was my first time going thru a palace which had a harem and it was really interesting.

There is a lot to see here and I honestly should have given myself more time because there was also a lot to read and learn about the Ottoman cultures. The big rooms used for special events, meeting dignitaries, the ornate bedrooms, and offices, etc were all so stunning.

And the tile work throughout is so beautiful! The colors, the patterns, truely exquisite!

Another day I came back to the Sultanahmet district with my friend Rachel on a walking tour. Our first stop was the Hagia Sophia. Wow. wow. wow. This 1,500 year old former Cathedral was proclaimed a mosque by Sultan Mehmed II in 1453 when he conquered Constantinople. There are just so many unique things about this site, including many of the Christian mosaics and frescoes have been left intact but are just covered.

The architecture is fabulous; stone from all over the world was brought it and many of the massive slabs are one piece. Pillars from temples were also relocated here, including from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus! 

You should buy your ticket in advance, or go with a tour like we did in order to skip the massive queues. And as with all mosques, women are required to cover their hair so be sure to pack a scarf and have it with you! Also knees and shoulders must be covered.

Very nearby is the Milion Stone, the zero-mile marker of the Byzantine Empire. Originally a domed monument where all roads in the Byzantine Empire were measured from, hence Constantinople being considered the center of the world. Built in the 4th century it was used until the 16th century. In 1960 parts were found during an excavation and some of the remains were pieced together into what we see now. If our guide wouldn't have pointed it out, we would have walked right by without hardly noticing it!

Directly across Sultanahmet Square is the Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) which is still used for worship and closes except to worshippers during the daily call to prayer. Because of this it is free to enter but the lines can be crazy. Rachel and I arrived one morning right at 8:30 for the first opening; minutes later the lines were wrapping around.

Inside you take your shoes off and then are free to wander the enormous interior hall which holds up to 5,000 people during worship. Another 5,000 can fit in the courtyard. Gazing at the domes and the 20,000 handmade tiles decorating the interior is awe-inspiring. 

The final site in this area that we visited was the Basilica Cistern. Built in 532AD this underground reservoir stored the city's water supply but in the 1400s the Ottomans moved to using flowing water and the cistern was forgotten.

It was rediscovered in the early 1500s by a French traveler who witnessed locals pulling water up from their basements. It's a fascinating space, made both eerie and beautiful by various lights and a boardwalk that you follow around. I loved it!

There are many other mosques, museums, and sites in Sultanahmet but these were the ones I was most interested in. I had a lot more of the city I wanted to see (more on that next.)

All Istanbul photos here.