How much does a New Year's holiday cost in the main Turkish metropolis?
Istanbul is becoming the main foreign destination for Russians, with traffic growing along with interest in the ancient city. The main Turkish metropolis is the capital of four empires, connecting two parts of the world, the cradle of Orthodoxy, the city of hundreds of languages and thousands of seagulls. What else is interesting about the great port on the Bosphorus today and what the hospitality industry offers travelers in the off-season.
Welcome
A trip to Istanbul begins from the airport - there are currently two of them in the agglomeration. One (new) bears the name of the city, the second is named after the first Turkish female pilot, Sabiha Gokcen. Both are located at a considerable distance from the city, so a trip by taxi or bus to the historical center will take from 40 minutes to an hour, taking into account traffic jams.
The historical center refers to the Sultanahmet district (in honor of the mosque of the same name located here, which is better known as the Blue). The main attractions are concentrated in this part of the city, making it a major tourist area. There are hundreds of hotels, thousands of restaurants and countless shops with clothes, sweets, and souvenirs. After a walk through Sultanahmet, Istanbul seems like a patchwork quilt of dozens of bright patches. A mixture of architectural styles catches the eye - Byzantine, pseudo-Ottoman styles, “Turkish Baroque”, modernism. Cuisines for every taste: here you will find a Turkish coffee shop, where for a few liras a guest will be served a cup of “Mehmet Efendi” in a cezve, nearby they will be offered Italian pizza, and their neighbors will persistently invite them to a Chinese eatery. You can quickly satisfy your hunger with national fast food: simits (butter rings with sesame seeds) are sold on every corner. If you have difficulty remembering the names of Turkish dishes, just remember one word - “köhte” and you will be full. These are patties (or pieces of minced meat) that are usually served on a plate with greens, rice, fries and tortilla. As a rule, the portion pleasantly surprises guests.
A walking tourist from any country will sooner or later catch his ear on the local narrow streets - Swahili, Farsi, Arabic, Hungarian, Spanish and much, much Russian. But everyone here will understand, especially when it comes to purchasing goods.
Date with Sofia
The number one object in historical and spiritual terms is, without a doubt, the Hagia Sophia, or, as it is called here, Hagia Sophia. The predecessors of the wonder of the world, the first and second churches of Sophia, burned down due to popular uprisings. As local guides say, the first version of the temple was destroyed after the expulsion of John Chrysostom from Constantinople (the archbishop openly criticized the Roman emperor and the authorities for abuses).
The second building of Sofia was destroyed by fans. True, not football fans, as today, but fans of the quadriga races, which were held at the hippodrome - today Sultanahmet Square is located on this site, and only obelisks and columns have survived from the ensemble. Under the cry of “nika” (the spectator’s call to the athlete “win!”), after the spectacle they tried to overthrow Emperor Justinian and, in accordance with the mores of that era, burned his main temple. For which they paid a price a little later - the emperor brutally suppressed the rebels, and founded a new one on the site of the destroyed temple.
Construction in honor of the Wisdom of God (as Sophia is translated from Greek) began in 532 and lasted six years, according to historians. To this day, architects are amazed at the dexterity and knowledge of the architects who managed to create a gigantic unsupported roof of the House of the Lord. “The dome seems to be suspended from the sky on a chain,” the ancients admired. As The Tale of Bygone Years tells, the envoys of the Kyiv prince Vladimir told him about Sophia: “They did not know where we were - in heaven or on earth.”
Constantinople suffered the most brutal plunder, which lasted 57 years, during the IV Crusade in the 13th century. The cathedral was desecrated by invaders from the west and had to be re-consecrated. The remains of the ideologist of the invasion, the 41st Venetian Doge Enrico Dandolo, were buried in the temple. According to legend, after the capture of the city in 1453 by Mehmed II, the Sultan ordered the bones of the Venetian to be thrown to the dogs.
The Sultan, as Turkish guides claim, spared the city residents who took refuge in the cathedral, but ordered Sofia to be turned into a mosque. Later, minarets appeared near the temple, and the unique frescoes and mosaics were covered with plaster. The founder of the modern Turkish state, a supporter of secularism, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, ordered the opening of a museum in Hagia Sophia, where it remained until 2020. Recep Tayyip Erdogan made Sofia a mosque again. However, tourists can still visit the architectural monument with restrictions on prayer breaks for Muslim believers.
Another pearl of Sultanahmet is Topkapi Palace. This complex of buildings behind the fortress wall next to Hagia Sophia served as the main residence of the Ottoman Sultans for centuries. Today it is the most popular museum in Istanbul. Luxury items that belonged to the rulers and gifts to the sultans from the heads of other states are displayed in separate pavilions. In a place of honor in the Armory of the palace you can find a gift from the Russian Emperor Nicholas II - a clock in the form of a griffin from the coat of arms of the Romanovs. The guides will tell you about the life of Ottoman aristocrats.
Built bridges
The main areas of modern Istanbul are separated by water barriers: the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus Strait and the Golden Horn. The most prestigious neighborhoods are built on the embankments. The problem of comfortable movement between different parts of the huge city (the population is approaching the 16 million mark) has been solved with the help of bridges and the Istanbul tunnel. The most grandiose: the bridge of the Martyrs of July 15 (across the strait), Galata (across the Golden Horn Bay). The historical part of the city is connected to Asia by a 6.5 km long tunnel under the Bosphorus.
Of greatest importance to tourists is the Galata Bridge, which leads to another must-see site. The Galata Tower was built by traders from Genoa in the first half of the 14th century. At one time it served as a landmark for sailors, but today it is the main observation deck overlooking the ever-busy streets of Istanbul and the surface of the sea.
You can get to the Asian part of the city, where life is more calm and measured, by ferry that runs from the historical part about once every half hour. A well-groomed embankment with parks stretches along the sea, and lovers of boat trips leave their boats and yachts along the banks of the Kushdili stream. The price of property overlooking the Sea of Marmara in these areas exceeds several hundred thousand euros.
Istanbul has a unified public transport system that helps tourists quickly and cheaply move around the metropolis: buses, trams, metro and even funiculars. To travel, you need to purchase a plastic card for 70 liras and put money on it at the terminal (it also accepts cash). The cost of a single trip on the metro is 15 liras, it is not so expensive: But the Other Country card is quite difficult to use in Istanbul, so you should take care of cash in advance - dollars or euros will do.
Why do Russians come to Istanbul?
The popularity of Istanbul among Russians is growing year by year. Of the total tourist flow to Turkey, the share of the city on the Bosphorus has tripled in four years. According to the Ministry of Resorts and Tourism of Turkey, 1.5 million of our compatriots visited there in the current nine months alone.
According to the tour operator Anex, in addition to Muscovites and St. Petersburg residents, residents of Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa, Yaroslavl and Krasnodar come here most often. According to the company's research, 73% of guests are couples, 12% are three people (usually couples with adult children), another 9% are single travelers and 6% are tourists with children.
Most popular type of travel is sightseeing tours, the demand for them has quadrupled in 2023. People also come to Istanbul for city breaks (weekend trips), on business trips, to attend concerts, festivals, and forums. Another popular travel purpose is medical tours.
“There are quite a few medical centers in Istanbul; people come here for rhinoplasty and hair transplantation.”
New Year on the Bosphorus
If in the beach season it is more difficult for Istanbul to compete with Antalya and Kemer, in the off-season it is out of competition. This is particularly evident in the demand for New Year charter flights. As of mid-November, their load was 47%, according to the report.
The average tour bill per person for five nights during the winter holidays starts from € 1,344 . New Year's Eve on the Bosphorus with a gala dinner is popular among tourists. According to the tour operator Tourstalia, a boat trip along the strait is also an extremely popular excursion product, especially in the evening due to the views of the sparkling respectable embankments and historical sites.