Ioana & Sam, writing from Tokyo
My fiancé and I arrived in Istanbul hoping to find a unique
place where we can have an interesting but relaxing experience before heading
to Romania to spend winter holidays with my family. I have to say that our
expectations were pretty high from the very beginning as we never heard
anything bad about the place from any of our friends who visited before. And I
have to also say that Istanbul completely lived up to our expectations.
There were two important factors though that I have to
mention as without them I am convinced our experience would have never been the
same. First is my lovely Turkish friend Ozlem who introduced us to The House
Hotel right on the Bosphorus. And
secondly is the hotel staff who introduced us to Erk and Umit ( Locally Istanbul ) when we asked for
a tour guide.
When you research about Istanbul travel you easily come
across numerous websites with information regarding things to see and do but
from the very first click they breath a very touristy flavor. We really wanted
to avoid being part of a big group, walking around the town following a
ultra-detailed guide with a flag and ending up stuck in the restaurants that
only target foreigners. We wanted something more customized and personal. And
this is exactly what we got with Locally Istanbul!
We liked Erk and Umit from the very beginning. They listened
to what we wanted to do and what was important for us and they came up with a
schedule that would match our preferences. They picked us up at the hotel every morning
and dropped us off wherever we asked them to which is always very handy in a
huge city like Istanbul where all the street signage is in Turkish only.
We opted to see the “must see” Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque,
Topkapi Palace, Grand Bazaar and Spice Market. And the information we got was
very comprehensive but not at all locked up into millions and millions of
details we would probably remember only for a few minutes.
We love Turkish food and we were very much looking forward
to try this cuisine in Istanbul. Erk and Umit showed us some amazing placed
where only the locals (and lucky foreigners like us) get to go. Places which
have no name outside at the entrance. Places where you don`t even need a menu –
you just need to say how hungry you are (and we were always hungry) and if
there is anything you don`t eat or don`t like. And then enjoy. And we
definitely enjoyed every single bite of it!
In a nutshell, let me just put it this way – we felt like
visiting and experiencing Istanbul with two good friends! Thank you very much
guys, you made our time an unforgettable one!
Ioana & Sam
