*Welcome to Your First Time Turkey Travel Guide! We spent 24 hours in the famous city of Istanbul and we visited some historic monuments.*

We spent 24 hours in one of Turkey’s iconic cities Istanbul. Istanbul is a 2,500 year old city that reflects the cultural influences of the many empires that once ruled here. In the Sultanahmet district, the open-air, Roman-era Hippodrome was for centuries the site of chariot races, and Egyptian obelisks also remain. We visited some of the best historic monuments in Town such as Hagia Sofia and Basilica Cistern. If you are considering visiting the city for the first time, this guide is going to be helpful to you.

Our first stop in Istanbul was the Grand Bazaar! It is one of the largest and oldest bazaars in the world. In fact, it is over 30,000 square meters with 60 streets and alleys. On those streets, there are 4,000 shops that date back to the 16th century. The place was massive but it has some of the best shopping you’ll find in Turkey. The shops have traditional Turkish goods to buy as a gift or souvenirs, such as lamps, rugs, scarves etc. If you have any intention of shopping than this bazaar is a great place to start and practice some haggling. Moreover, you can expect to be approached by friendly vendors as they try to convince you to buy from their shops.

At the Bazaar, we decided to try Turkish Delight for the first time. It is a traditional soft Turkish candy. It comes in many different flavors like rosewater, and pomegranate and some had nuts like pistachio which adds a bit of crunch to it. It came in various colors depending on the flavor. It was very chewy and gummy. Plus, it was covered with sugar which explains its sweetness. We read that this candy was invented because one of the Sultan’s complained that all the candy was too hard so they made this for him. It was absolutely delicious.

The next place we went is the famous Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia was once a church, then a mosque, and now it’s a museum (UPDATE: it appears that Hagia Sophia has been turned back into a mosque since our visit). It’s one of the most beautiful buildings we’ve ever seen and you cannot miss it while in Istanbul. We ended up booking skip-the-line tickets which also included a tour. The building of this wonderful monument took 10,000 people and only five years which is unbelievable. Inside Hagia Sophia there were beautiful ceilings and mesmerizing structures. We definitely checked it off from our bucket list.

Our final stop was the Basilica Cistern. It’s worth visiting before or after Hagia Sophia as it’s almost across the street. All underground, at one point this was a huge storage area for water that was brought into the city. It’s very dark and full of amazing pillars. In the 6th century, it was built in the era of Emperor Justinian. They took water from the Belgrad forest which is 19 kilometres away and then brought it here. We went just one hour before its closing time thinking it would not be full of people; unfortunately, it was not the case. It was crowded and noisy. Therefore, if you plan to visit it would be better to go a little early to enjoy it fully.

Leave a comment below to let us know your favourite place in Istanbul!