Spugsy

Booked up for 4 nights in October for mers spugsys birthday, it looks fairly fantastic.

And places to go and things to do?

We're staying here, looks brilliant:
http://www.ajiahotel.com/

lionheart

Wow...it looks amazing.

Spugsy

aye indeed and for whatever reason they've upgraded us a fair bit as well, so should be magic.

Madam Medusa

sounds cool...defo check out blue mosque, the topkapi palace (esp the harem) and hagia sophia...also the grand bazaar, but you need to haggle loads, i'm rubbish at it...

food is great there, as is the nightlife...it was a fair few years ago when i went so can't remember any specific places, but it was fab...enjoy!

MM, xx

Autonomy

hotel looks bloody fantastic.

Some good rooftop places in Beyoglu (spl?). This one was good (http://www.360istanbul.com/flash.html), but others are top as well.

Do what we did... walk along road, hear nuts music, follow sound, go up 4 floors of stairs, find dive bar with nuts folk band and 100 odd drunk turks, order lots of booze, clap lots, forget where you are, fall down 4 flights of stairs, stumble home... priceless.

I know you will love the 'bul.

Spugsy

aye hte missus booked it, apparently mike tyson and clinto stayed there, and they upgraded us to some amazing terrace suite for no reason so happy days.

I think we're out of the city but can chill and then head into town once or twice, looks magic.

Spugsy

oh god that sounds like our sort of plan, is it safe round there? pickpockets etc?

benzonar

There is a great restaurant on the European side of Istanbul overlooking the Bosphorus, great food and drink with stunning views. Love the place.

http://www.sunsetgrillbar.com/en/index.htm

Confucius

You see, this is what I don't understand: why go to another country and still try and order food where you normally eat in your country???

Turks have great dishes and grills that one can enjoy: Adana Kebab, Iskender Kebab, Lahmacun, Sujuk...And many many more...

Be adventurous...It's not like you're in the Far East and the menu is offering bugs and roaches, or cats and dogs, or monkey brains...

shiva

sold

Autonomy

seemed fine to me... and I'm a short arse with mildly poncy haircut - you'll be fine....

Purdey

I'm sure you realise it but the hotel is on the 'wrong' side of the Bosphorus for all the tourist sites. Sort of like visiting Southampton and staying on the Isle of Wight!
Having said that, we stayed at the Hilton Molino Stucky in Venice which is on an island opposite the city and it was great - private hotel launch to St Marks in 10-15 mins and away from the hot and busy city.
Big advice on arrival IST - you need a visa stamp in your passports before immigration - there is no notice of this (that I could see) and you only realise it after queuing for half an hour when the immigration man tells you to sod off and get it and then re-join the back of the queue. You get the visa stamp at a window to the left of immigration as you arrive at that queue - costs £10 I think.
Have a great trip.

Ethos83

There's fantastic food in Istanbul. It's not quite the same as the lebanese mezze but there's similarities.

I really loved the Ciya Sofrak group of restaurants on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. There are lots of small restaurants around Istanbul that offer fantastic traditional Turkish food at great prices - unfortunately very few are in the tourist ghettos. Ask around and read online recommendations before you head out and you should have a great dining experience, but if you only go by the tourist guides you will end up paying over the odds for greasy fare.

Try Keymakli for breakfast one day if you can. Creamy cheese (similar to marscapone) + honey + fresh bread = heaven.

The seafood is, as you would expect, superb.

Spugsy

Great thansk for that.

Yeah we are just gonna go into the city sort of once and do a whole day,r est is just chilling.

And yeah we stayed on Lido when we went to Venice and loved it.

tieresias

Unless things have changed (10 years since I was last there), the cost of a visa varied by nationality and had to be paid in the currency corresponding to the passport, not an equivalent amount of a different currency.

We were on a work trip, mixed British and Dutch. Our visa stamps had been issued in advance, to be stuck in our passports. On arrival, one of the Dutch couldn't find her visa stamp (lost in hadbag...) but one of the Brits had mistakenly been issued with two, so she stuck his spare one in her passport. And was then carted off by security when she reached the immigration desk and required to cough up 25 guilders, i.e. approximately the same amount but in her own currency.