DAYS 1-3 (22-24 March 2025) TURKEY: Istanbul (Princes Islands, Sultanahmet).

Welcome to Turkey (now called Türkiye), a UN Country that I have visited before, having been to Istanbul several times plus a trip to Gallipoli. On this occasion I am seeing most of the country from one end to the other and count this as my proper visit of Turkey.

 

Marco Golfo officially begins with Istanbul (Pop 15,701,602 and Area = 3.5 Londons) which is the largest city in Turkey (in both population and area) but not the Capital which is Ankara in the middle of the country. Get ready for an account of my personal interactions with this historic city followed by my images. After my images is a VERY BRIEF history of Turkey and its people topped off by 10 very interesting facts about Turkey. I shall provide this for every new country that I enter.

 

I left Sydney Australia on 13 March 2025 and flew to Athens Greece to visit my relatives there and in my late mum’s birthplace of Akrata (153km from Athens) in the middle top of the Peloponnese Peninsula. I flew to Istanbul from Athens on 22 March 2025.

 

The first thing that struck me after landing in Istanbul’s International Airport (IST) was how modern and organised it is, besides being absolutely huge. I booked a private car for the one-hour drive (55km) to my hostel in Sultanahmet, the “Old Town” centre of the city. It was just as I remember it from 2015 when I was last there with my late mum Vivien. My mother passed away on 30 January 2025 allowing me to take this mighty trip and dedicate the film to her.

 

Around 530pm, I plonked down my gear on my window-side bed in a room for six and immediately set off on my usual mission to stock up on water, olives, cheese and of course – WINE !!! I also managed to find cooked chicken, cucumber and very thin Turkish pita-bread so that was designated my dinner. Add a movie and I was ready for my day-long cruise the next day to the Princes Islands which my room had views of and only 400m from the huge Blue Mosque (the biggest in Turkey).

 

I was the first to be picked up on the 30-seat mini bus which filled up in the next hour as we zipped our way through the narrow alleyways (sokaki) of the Old Town which is both colourful and full of character. The thirty of us were dopped off at a very small jetty to make up a total of around 100 to board a two-level ferry that would take us to the first of four Princes Islands some 20km or 2hrs away. Close to half the passengers were native Greeks and I relished the opportunity to listen to them whilst pretending to be non-Greek. No doubt that native Greeks are very poor travellers. They complain about everything. They criticise the locals around them. They wear too much makeup. They are always hungry. They are always tired. Hard pressed to imagine them outside Europe.

 

We passed the first three Prince Islands to stop at the fourth, most eastern and largest island called Buyukada. The day was sunny, no wind but cool and on the boat, you needed layers and a wind jacket to stop the boat breeze from passing straight through you. On the island the layers came off and I set off on a two-hour walk of the interior. Headed to the top as I always do, visiting two Greek Monasteries along the way, The Ascension of Christ and St Nicholas. The former was operating with clothes hanging to dry but the latter was sadly closed and judging by its condition, for a long time. Buyukada is covered in spruce with crystal clear waters – very much like a Greek Island. The only thing that is different are the enormous, stately, colonial-style, wooden homes that grace the island, much like Cape Cod in USA. Water was way too cold for swimming so I stuck to an extended 10km walk.

 

Once on the boat we had an included lunch of chicken, salad, rice and tomato penne and headed to our second and final stop on the first, westmost and smallest island called Kinaliada. Along the way we passed the other two islands of Heybeliada and Burgazada. Heybeliada is extra special since perched at the top is the 1866 Greek Orthodox Theological Seminary of Halki where the late Archbishop Stylianos of Australia spent his youth studying. My brother Nick and I actually visited this grand sandstone building back in 1987 on our first round-the-world trip to meet our relatives in the USA and Greece. Sadly, this institution has been force-closed by the Turkish Government in the late 90s and is now but an emblem of the past. The trip back was boisterous and loud. A DJ entertained the masses on the main deck with both Turkish and Greek songs and dance music – the Turkish malt-beers got many up to dance. We arrived at the same little jetty around 430pm. I realised that it only 10min walk from my hostel so I decided to walk back, via the wine shop of course, instead of catching the mini-bus for another 1hr tour of the city as we dropped off all the Greeks.

 

The next morning was gloomy and cloudy and 7C. The hostel used the old French-style oil column heaters and was very toasty – singlet conditions !!! I decided to go for my Istanbul run before photographing the Old Town main attractions. The run was the same one as in 2015. Amazing. Headed west along JFK Boulevard which is right on the water (Sea of Marmara). The run was in 13C but good given the extra warm gear I brought. After a nice hot shower, I was ready to bring you the highlights of Sultanahmet being Agia Sophia and The Blue Mosque. I skipped Topkapi Palace to make time for my drone flight before our 4pm expedition group meeting since it was now noon. I had also visited Topkapi 3 times and it was now a whopping $87AUD to get in !!! Sadly, both Agia Sophia and The Blue Mosque had some scaffolding so it took me a while to shoot the bits that didn’t and still make them look every bit as grand as they are in real-life. What amazing buildings. The other amazing thing was the crowds and queues. This is supposed to be off-season but the 16C days and clouds did not keep the masses away. The queues to get into Agia Sophia were easily 1hr to get in. No thanks. I had been inside with my brother and my late mum – terrific memories. Would not want to see it now anyway, bereft of icons and adorned in another religion.

 

My day ended with drama and a miracle. Let’s start with drama. At around 2pm I picked up my drone and headed down to a playground on the water that I had spotted from my bed. It was cold and windy. I was in two minds about sending up Mini Me (my DJI Mini 3 Pro drone). All I could see was wonderful aerial shots of Agia Sophia and The Blue Mosque. Too tempting, so I took the risk. Up it went and off it went. All things great. It flew over The Blue Mosque (500m away) and then over Agia Sophia (1km). The whole time I was getting high-wind warning messages so I prepared to bring it back after only 5min of flight (battery lasts for 15min). Then came the drama. Before I could hit emergency return, my controller disconnected and I could not see or control Mini Me. Panic set in. Under these circumstances Mini Me will return to base by default and it happened. I could hear the emergency return chime on my controller but Mini Me was barely making ground - the only explanation is that it was facing a headwind and not making progress. Eventually the battery got so low that my only option was to land it. It would do this by itself but in a split second I decided to take manual control and land it in a place that I could recognise and run to afterwards. This was a drone-saving decision. I picked it up from the guy that saved my drone from ditching into the sea in Panama – he took manual control and flew it to shore. I recognised the blue fountain (Sultan Ahmey Park Fountain) that sits halfway between The Blue Mosque and Agia Sophia and carefully landed it in a green patch near the fountain to avoid people. The screen froze just before landing and I started my 600m to the fountain. I walked all around the fountain using my maps.me app to locate the spot but with no Mini Me in sight. I could not believe that I had lost my drone on the very first day of this trip, not to mention the fabulous footage of these iconic buildings. Then all of a sudden, I notice a policewoman waiving at me. This was the miracle. I made helicopter gestures with my hands just in case she did not recognise the word “drone” that I kept repeating over and over. She nodded and gestured me to follow her. My heart started beating again. She led me to a nearby kiosk with the words “Tourist Police” emblazoned on it and left. I peered inside and two male police officers yelled come in, come in. I opened the door and there on the table in front of me was my little Mini Me starring straight back at me !!! What joy. What relief. What a miracle. I immediately apologised and explained the wind and my controlled landing to avoid people fearing confiscation. Their English was good. They explained that I needed a permit but understood that I would be leaving tomorrow so handed it to me and I was on my way back to celebration !!!

 

To think that this was only Day 1 with 102 to go !!! I got back at 330pm with time enough to prepare for the 4pm meet-and-greet and briefing for our group. I met out UK driver Adrian and our UK Lead Brett. First impressions were very good ones. The 16 starting passengers including me were dominated by the UK at 10, followed by USA at 4 and finally myself and Francis from Gympie Queensland as the only 2 Ozzies. Around 60% were in the sixties and retired with the rest mainly in their 50s and one almost 40. We were done in 30min and met again at 6pm for a communal dinner. It was a good opportunity to get to know each other in a great covered rooftop venue but the service, food and price was very poor and very unlike Istanbul. This was a scam, no different to Greek style scamming. Delay main dishes on purpose so we could eat heaps of bread (that way food could be less) and drink loads of expensive beer ($10AUD per can). I was sharing a mixed grill with Di and Sue and this arrived after 2.5hrs and was big enough to feed 1.5 people. To top it off was the price. $91AUD each. These are not Turkey prices. I ate for $10AUD per night and most hot dishes were around $25AUD. I brushed this off as a necessary team-building expense. Went to sleep after some wine and movie thinking – this is a good start…

 

Please enjoy the sights of the Princes Islands and Sultanahmet, two very different aspects of an ancient and iconic Istanbul. After the images below be sure to read about Turkey and indulge in the interesting facts…

TURKEY IN A NUTSHELL:

 

Turkey (Pop 85,664,944) is one of six UN Countries globally that span more than one continent. In the case of Turkey (3.22 times the size of UK), it is in Europe and Asia. Turkey is also known as “Anatolia” from the Greek meaning “Place of the East”.

 

Turkey has been inhabited by a variety of peoples starting with the very first “modern humans” whose bones date back 1.2 million years !!! The first ancient modern peoples in Turkey were the Hattians in 2000BC which were overcome by Ancient Greece. Ancient Rome took over in 200BC and then the Greek Byzantine Empire in 356AD. The Seljuk Turks began migrating into Anatolia in the 11th century, starting the Turkification process. The Mongols then invaded in 1243 with the first Ottomans defeating them in 1299. The Ottomans finally conquered Byzantine Constantinople in 1453 and turned into Istanbul which is not the capital now (Ankara is) but the largest city. The Ottoman’s then invaded most the Balkans until the early 1800’s when they fought back and regained their sovereignty. Word War I decimated the Ottomans and that empire finally fell in 1923 with the declaration of modern-day Turkey by the country's first president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Turkey remained neutral during most of World War II, but was involved in the Korean War. Modern day Turkey has a HUGE economy (No 17 in 2024) and a HUGE army. Modern day Turks do not like talking about the Ottoman Empire much like modern day Germans do not like talking about the Nazis because both believe that these former races were vastly different from them.

 

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT TURKEY:

 

1.       Istanbul is the only city in the world that straddles two continents.

2.       Birthplace of Santa Claus (known as St Nicholas) in Patara.

3.       The first coin ever minted.

4.       The first to grow Tulips which went to Holland from here.

5.       Home to the world’s oldest Temple: Göbekli Tepe dating back to 9600BC.

6.       Alleged resting spot of Noah’s Ark (Mt Ararat).

7.       First place in the world to sign an International Peace Treaty (1259BC with Egypt).

8.       Only place in the world where wrestling is done covered in olive oil.

9.       Highest bread consumption per person globally.

10.  Only place in the world where a woman can legally divorce her husband if he does not provide enough coffee !!!

 

TURKEY SUMMARY

 

 

END OF TURKEY