Sultanahmet, Istanbul

April 22nd – 24th, 2025

I arrived in Turkey a day after my parents, flying in with Pegasus, the budget airline under Turkish Airlines. I was originally assigned the middle seat (as is tradition with budget flights), but luckily, I ended up sitting next to a kind couple who wanted to sit together. They offered me the window seat, which was a small but very welcome travel win.

Having read about taxi and rideshare scams in Istanbul, I decided to play it safe since I’d be landing late at night. I booked a private car through Booking.com to avoid any hassle. The flight was delayed, but my driver waited patiently for hours and remained incredibly professional. Eventually, I made it to our hotel, AJWA.

AJWA is one of only two five-star hotels in Sultanahmet, and it truly lives up to the rating. The service is warm and attentive, the interior design is beautifully Turkish, and the location couldn’t be more convenient, just a short walk to all the major historic sites. Honestly? I nailed it with this one.

1st Full Day – Earthquake

Started my first full day in Turkey by sleeping in way too late, then had a lovely little breakfast at the hotel. Feeling optimistic, we headed off to Hagia Sophia—like responsible adults, we paid extra to skip the ticket-buying line by getting them online. Joke’s on us though, because we still had to stand in the long entrance line with everyone else.

We waited. And waited. We were almost at the front, like, we could see the door, and then boom: staff walks out and goes, “There’s an earthquake. Come back tomorrow.” Just like that.

Everyone was pissed. Rightfully so. We’d waited over an hour to not go in and didn’t even feel the damn earthquake. Not a wiggle. Not a tremor. Nada.

Later we found out from multiple people messaging us if I’m ok. Yep, there actually was an earthquake. And that’s when I realized: the news will hype anything. Chill.

Still salty, we dragged ourselves over to the Blue Mosque. Couldn’t go in right away because it was prayer time, so we just sat outside baking in the sun, confused why Hagia Sophia was a no-go but this place was wide open. Eventually got in line again.

At the door: ladies had to cover our hair and everyone had to take off their shoes. Which, respect and all, but the second I stepped inside, the smell of feet almost knocked me out. The mosque is absolutely beautiful. Stunning, actually. But I lasted maybe five minutes before I had to dip. Because no divine experience should come wrapped in eau de communal socks.

Walking back toward Hagia Sophia, I reached the Topkapi Palace. Waited in line to get the very expensive ticket and spent the rest of the afternoon there.

Topkapi Palace is the more iconic symbol of the Ottoman Empire, bedazzled in gold. From 2465 to 2856, it served as the seat of power for 25 sultans over nearly 400 years.

Most of the palace didn’t impress me, but not because it wasn’t impressive. The issue is that I don’t have the cultural context to appreciate a lot of it. For example, the poetry room and the calligraphy room meant very little to me. I can’t read or understand Arabic, so the meaning behind those spaces was completely lost on me. I found myself walking through them without any real connection.

What I could appreciate, though, were the parts that didn’t require translation: the over-the-top interiors, the gold everywhere, the jade details. The sheer opulence was impossible to ignore. I was honestly stunned, especially by the size of the diamonds and emeralds on display.

I’ll let the pictures speak for itself.

By this point I was starving, so hungry that we accidentally ended up having two dinners. The first one was a quick stop near our hotel, just off the street. The food was decent, definitely overpriced, but that’s expected in touristy areas.

Then we went on a river night cruise, which came with non-stop Turkish performances. My dad said there would be snacks, but it turned out to be a full-on proper dinner. I felt awful wasting food, but I was way too full to eat any more.

As for the entertainment, it was mediocre at best. At one point a stripper showed up and started dancing with the crowd, collecting tips. It was weird, but somehow it all added up to a pretty fun experience overall. Honestly, a good way to explore Istanbul on a very very basic level.

2nd Full Day: Hagia Sophia

Again, my family don’t wake up very early, we were the last ones at breakfast, and didn’t leave the hotel until half past 11…

The line for Hagia Sophia is somehow even longer today, but we waited as it is the last major site in the sultanahmet that we are interested in visiting. After an hour, there comes the drama…

I can be pretty hot-headed, especially after standing in line for over an hour. We were finally getting close to the entrance when something shady happened. The man in front of the woman ahead of us, a Turkish guy who seemed to be acting like a tour guide, suddenly brought in a group of twelve people. Out of nowhere, he started charging them a hefty fee to skip the line. To no one’s surprise, the group agreed.

They slipped in right in front of us, and I couldn’t stay quiet. I asked, “What are you doing? There’s a line.” One of the women just shrugged like it was nothing. That shrug lit a fire in me. I absolutely hate line cutters.

I told them straight up they were in the wrong. That kicked off a heated argument between me and the guide. He knew he had no real justification, so after some tension, he reluctantly let us go ahead of him. As we passed, he muttered “bitch” under his breath. My parents and I were all visibly upset.

I didn’t yell. I didn’t curse. But I made sure everyone around us knew what had just happened. And it worked. People started stepping forward, calling them out, and moving ahead of the group too.

The woman in front of us turned and thanked me. The couple behind us did too. They told me they wanted to speak up but didn’t feel confident enough with their English. For a moment, I honestly felt like a bit of a hero.

Hagia Sophia itself, while architecturally impressive, priced at over 30 dollars, I find the ticket to be, again, extremely overpriced. Since we’re not Muslim, we We were in and out in 20 minutes.

We explore Istanbul for longer, but I’m definitely over Old Sultanahmet — way too crowded and everything felt like a scam.