Walks In Istanbul — Local services in Üsküdar

We wish we had not taken this tour of Topkapi Palace.

The guide cannot come in the museum areas with you, so you spend the majority of this tour standing on the pavement outside buildings being fed information that mostly was general to Istanbul and not specifically relevant to the exhibits in the palace.

When we finally got to the palace (you meet the guide a long way away and walk there together) there was absolutely no queue for tickets or to enter at 930am on a Saturday in peak season, so there was no benefit to the supposed “skip the line” element of the tour which the guide had been telling us we were so lucky to have purchased. Maybe if you cannot go in the morning there is a line, but for us, everywhere in Istanbul it was easy to enter just by being there in the morning.

The first 30 minutes of the tour is chaotic admin in the Hippodrome where they check in guests for the very many tours they run; you then stand in the sun for a 10 minute potted history of Istanbul’s name changes; then walk as a group 10 minutes to the palace.

We were taken first to the kitchens, where we stood in a courtyard while the guide for 20 minutes again talked mostly about Istanbul and not the palace itself, except the last bit where he told us the porcelain collection is one of the largest in the world.

We were then given just 25 minutes to tour four museum areas alone, for which you really need at least an hour. You will not have time to actually stop or read anything.

We then moved into the harem section of the palace, where we skipped or breezed through rooms on the basis that the guide said they were not interesting, but in reality you are just being rushed through because of the tour timing.

This is really disappointing because the harem section is the principal attraction in the palace, and you are not allowed to go back in yourself after as the guide has spent your ticket (unless you again pay €15).

The guide also picked some very odd topics to discuss, including repeatedly bringing up that the eunuchs could still get erections (and all the things that you expect to go with that topic) and also (repeatedly) the practice and merits of circumcision.

The last twenty minutes of the tour was the guide pointing to where things are in the palace (i.e., this corner is the Treasury, this corner is the Holy Relics, this is a library) but no useful information about the history or what those things are. You can get all of the information the guide relayed by yourself in 10 seconds by looking at the map.

By this time, too, the queues for the other sections of the palace were huge, and the tour guide just leaves you. So we wasted so much time not even seeing the palace and not getting much useful information about the palace either. Plus we missed most of the harem we had paid extra for.

If you just go yourself for tickets at 9am you will probably be fine and you will get to tour the palace at your own pace, not skipping most of it for the sake of the tour time, and you will learn just as much (if not more) by reading the information signs and listening to...

Istanbul: Topkapi, Hagia Sophia and Basilica Cistern Tour (with Ahmet)

The experiences We spent a long 5 hours with Ahmet on our tour of the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and Basilica Cistern. Despite knowing that this was a walking tour, this tour still had more walking than we expected. The attractions were wonderful, and there was enough time to explore the spaces. For the Hagia Sophia, we went through the museum parts (some of it is a mosque) and were given explanations throughout to showcase the works in it. The Basilica Cistern was more of a guided walk, but it was cool to see contemporary art exhibited in the midst of the Cistern, and also the real-life references from Hollywood movies.

Topkapi Palace was the highlight of the tour, with us touring multiple places in the Palace and still a lot leftover when it officially ended. The Harem within the Topkapi Palace is separately ticketed, and we had a ticket for a one-time entry included. Walking within Topkapi Palace is also possible after the tour. Don’t forget to check out the Islamic artifact and treasury exhibits, which were our favourite parts of the Palace.

The guide As mentioned, Ahmet was walking with us the whole time and was actively speaking at the same time. He was sufficiently prepared for any questions about the attractions, and also shared his thoughts about the attractions, and their relevance to modern day Turkiye. His ability to weave in historical explanations about what we saw was useful to understand the significance of the attractions, and we came away with a renewed appreciation for the attractions and Turkiye as a country in a significant part...

Communication with Viator bedore the excursion was excellent including letti g me know of a schedule change. They found another time to accommodate us with the exact tour. This tour was alot of walking but our guide, Murat Celik, was very concerned about the pace and it being pleasant for each of us. We used public transportation to the main square which was crowded of course but a glimpse into daily life. We spent a lot of time at the palace while we waited for the Sophia Hagia to repoen after Friday prayers. PLEASE read the instruction regarding scarfs …not hoodies but scarfs to cover womens heads. My favorite was the Cistern And Murat had volumes of information both historic and modern art tributes. I believe Murat’s passion though was explaining sultan lifestyle and the palace life. The Ottoman Empire was only glazed over in my schooling so it was a deep dive into this historic rule. Finally the Sophia Hagia- fascinating. The mosiacs were my favorite. It has evolved over the years and thankfully it’s story is preserved in the structure itself. This tour included all the entry fees and skipped most lines. I...