Beyoglu, Istanbul

April 24, 2025

Shopping in Istanbul? Don’t Believe the Hype! Let me save you some time and disappointment. Do not fall for the hype that shopping in Istanbul is amazing. Sure, the gold is shiny enough to blind you, but unless you moonlight as a jeweler, there’s no way to know if you got a deal or just paid premium for sparkly regrets.

Beyond the gold, there’s an enormous market packed with fake designer everything. Think Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Rolex — all proudly made in China, just like me. Honestly, I think it’s hilarious, like walking through a parody fashion show. But hey, if knockoff streetwear is your guilty pleasure, you’ll have a blast.

We stayed in Sultanahmet, so to get to the Beyoğlu side we took the metro. Between the trams and metro, Istanbul’s public transit is surprisingly decent. It’s efficient, cheap, and most importantly, it gets you out of Sultanahmet before you buy a “real” Chanel bag that smells like glue.

Although Beyoğlu felt a little less chaotic than Sultanahmet, it was still just as touristic. Aside from the people working, pretty much everyone we passed looked like tourists. We walked a lot, but honestly, the whole vibe wasn’t that different from Xi’an, where I grew up beside the hills in Istanbul.

Eventually, my dad and I locked into our favorite travel rhythm: drink, eat, drink again, then eat again. It’s a system that never fails. Then came dinner — I consider myself somewhat of a food connoisseur, and this one disappointed myself.

I picked a seafood restaurant that turned out to be comically overpriced and tragically bad. To make it worse, David joined us. Sorry, David. I owe you a proper dinner, at least a place that won’t leave you hungry.

That said, the restaurant did have one redeeming quality: the view. Perched high, we could see the river and the stunning skyline layered with mosques on the Sultanahmet side. Honestly, if I had just ordered a Turkish tea and beer and stared at the view, it might’ve been perfect.

The walk across the river was nice and beautiful. It is the last night at our hotel, and that’s when I started getting sick.