Safety Tips in Istanbul

The harem is beautiful, but after the outstanding luxury of the main palace it seems... poor and sad.

I suggest that, if you may, you reverse the order of the separated visits - start with the harem, and finish with the palace - this will save you the sensation of wasting time and the consequent loss of interest in the details that the harem may provide about HOW they really lived there in the old days.

Tobacco and alcohol are very expensive in istanbul compared to other Cities.and the tobacco quality is the lowest ,all the major Cigarettes brands are made in turkey so the quality is very low. alcohol prices(Vodka,Whiskey)are very expensive.
so if your are a tasteful smoker bring your own cigarettes with you. the only thing that i found that got fair price is beer.

4 more images

The Aya Sofya is one of Istanbul's top attractions.

The entrance is split into an entrance for organised tours and an entrance for occasional visitors. The organised tours have their own guides who know hot to get their groups inside quickly; the unguided lone visitors just have to queue up and buy a ticket first.

When you arrive as a lone visitor you can get the impression that it will take a hour or so to get inside, but a queue of 100 meters gets through surprisingly in about 10 minutes.
In the mean time private guides try to offer you their services and rapid entrance.

If you need any guidance, better get a self-guided audio tour.

Be aware that haggling down the price of any thing you buy,The seller,vendor mostly raise the price because the vendor knows very well the buyer will try to haggle it down. It is part of the culture,cloth,taking a taxi,souveniurs,even the hotel price...etc from 20% to 40% ,50%.Do your best ;)

R

By all accounts, Istanbul is a safe city. At no point in my travels did I feel threatened by anyone. Be aware of your surroundings at all times and you should come home safely and with all your possessions. Try to avoid walking alone at night. If you are walking by yourself down a dark street, you will be a tempting target for any thief.

Istanbul has been a repeated target by terrorists, both by Al Qaeda and a Kurdish separatist movement known as PKK. The threat you face in Istanbul is the same as it is in London. Unless there is evidence of a forthcoming attack, I would not worry about it. As I repeatedly tell other travelers, you are more likely to get killed in a car going to the airport than you are by a terrorist’s bomb. To be on the safe side, avoid demonstrations or any area where you see a large concentration of police. As the saying goes, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

Americans - If you do your research before arriving in Turkey you will find that the visa costs 100 dollars for Americans entering Turkey. It's the highest of any nationality.

"What an injustice!?!?" would be the cry of the ignorants. "It smacks of anti-Americanism!?!?"

Not at all. That is the entry fee that the US charges for Turkish citizens entering the US.

So bring 100 dollars in US currency with you. You will need it. As you grumble and hand it over remember....

turnabout is fair play.

Update! (June 7th, 2004)

The Turkish government announced that they have lowered the visa fee for Americans to 20 dollars! Perhaps more Americans will now discover the wonderful place that is Turkey.

Thank you to VT member Erkman from Istanbul for bringing this to my attention.

Irregardless of this - I would still have gone back.

Diva Jewellers in Istanbul ruined my 10th wedding anniversary gift.
Istanbul is a well-known destination for jewellery shopping, so I was very excited when my husband suggested we go there for a long week-end to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary and to pick up a gift, as I love jewellery. We had a great time - Istanbul is a fabulous city full of fascinating sights and sounds and smells and most of the Turkish people we met charming and helpful. Unfortunately only most, because we were terribly cheated by a jewellery store where I fell in love with a ring. I was told that it was hand-made with Burmese saphires. It was expensive, but I was in love, and my darling husband stretched his budget three times over the limit to give me my hear's desire. Unfortunately when we returned home, one of the stones immediately fell out, and when I took it to my trusted jeweller he told me it was a dud: machine cast, badly, and with very poor quality saphires that had never been anywhere near Burma. It was worth less that a third of what we'd paid. I had it fixed, wore it one more time, trying to put a brave face on it, thinking of the love with which it had been bought, but after a couple of hours I noticed that another stone had fallen off. It now sadly sits in a drawer with a little piece of my broken heart. Whatever you do in Istanbul, do not go to Diva Jewellers just off the little market at the base of the Blue Mosque.