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Bright Sun
The Milion, or
Milestone, from which
all distances were
measured in the
Byzantine
Empire.
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Backpackers
Travel offers
an excellent value-for-money half-
and full-day small-group guided
walking tours of Istanbul's major historical
sights.
It may just be the most efficient
way to see all the main sights in
a single day (including
even the Grand
Bazaar).
The full-day tour is actually two
half-day tours. You can choose to take
the morning tour, the afternoon tour,
or both tours for a full day of sightseeing.
The morning tour meets
at the Backpackers
Travel office
on Akbiyik
Caddesi No. 22 in Sultanahmet (map) at
08:30 am and visits Topkapi
Palace,
the Sultanahmet
(Blue) Mosque,
and the Hippodrome.
The
afternoon tour meets
at 13:00 (1 pm) at Ayasofya
(Hagia Sophia), starts with a visit
to that monument, followed by visits
to the Milion
stone, St Eufernia Church
ruins, Ottoman imperial
tombs on Divan
Yolu, Burnt
Column (Çemberlitas) and
the Çemberlitas hamam (Turkish
bath), Beyazit
Square and the gates of Istanbul
University, the Old Book
Bazaar (Sahaflar Çarsisi),
the Grand
Bazaar (Kapali
Çarsi), and the Sunken
Palace (Basilica) Cistern (Yerebatan
Saray Sarniçi), ending at 18:00
(6 pm) in Sultanahmet
Square.
Compare that list of sights to any
other walking tour, and you'll see
the Backpackers
Travel difference—and
the value.
Now here's the kicker: the full-day
tour fee is only €35 (35
euros) per person.
If you want to participate for only
half a day (morning or afternoon),
you pay only €20.
How do they do it? Well,
first of all, the tour fee pays for
the licensed guide's guidance
and commentary—and that's all. Admission
fees and lunch are not included.
You get to choose which admissions
you wish to pay, and where you wish
to have lunch. Here are estimates:
Topkapi
Palace: TL20 (+TL15 for the
Harem, if you wish)
Hagia
Sophia & Gallery: TL20
Sunken
Palace Cistern: TL10
Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque: no charge,
donations accepted
(There is no admission fee for the Milion,
imperial tombs, Burnt Column, Old Book
Bazaar or Grand Bazaar.)
If TL2.20
= €1.00 (check
exchange rates here), that means
admission fees add about €25 per
person to your sightseeing bill if
you choose to visit them all.
For lunch, the tour
stops at Sultanahmet's famous Lâle
Restaurant—world famous
in Hippie days as the Pudding
Shop.
The Lâle is
a good choice as it is right at the
eastern end of the Hippodrome,
has a good selection of ready foods
(you can choose just by pointing at
what looks good), free wifi,
soft drinks, wine and beer.
You choose whatever
you'd like for lunch, or
you can go somewhere else,
or you can bring your own picnic and
have it while sitting on a bench in
the Hippodrome—your choice.
Let me emphasize this: it's not just
that you pay less with
Backpackers than on many other guided
tours, it's that you see more: more
sights and more time to see them.
For example, many
tours don't allow time for you to explore
the Harem at Topkapi
Palace; and some—especially
those that take you to the Grand
Bazaar—schedule
tour stops at particular shops. The
entire tour group goes into the shop,
sits for an hour or so, inspects the
goods, and the
tour operator is paid a commission on
purchases made by tour participants.
Nothing wrong with this, except that
prices may be higher and...you're
sitting in a shop rather than seeing
the sights! Why
pay a tour company a fee for shopping?
You can go shopping on your own.
You don't need to pay a tour company
to park you in a shop for an hour. More...
The good news is that on the Backpackers
Travel walking tour there
is no forced shopping stop.
Your Backpackers guide will make suggestions
if you ask, and can introduce you to
good shops if you like, but
you won't be parked in a shop for an
hour when you should be out seeing
the sights.
Backpackers
Travel's Old
Istanbul Guided Walking Tour operates every day, though you
must keep in mind that Hagia
Sophia is closed on Monday,
and Topkapi
Palace is closed on Tuesday.
If you join the tour on Monday or Tuesday,
you won't be paying the admission fee
for a place that's closed!
Not only that, if you take the tour
on Monday or Tuesday, Backpackers
Travel invites you to re-join
the tour on a following day to visit
the place you missed (Hagia Sophia
or Topkapi Palace) at no additional
charge.
Contact Backpackers
Travel to
reserve your place on the tour:
Backpackers
Travel
Yeni
Akbiyik Caddesi No: 22
Sultanahmet, Istanbul,
Turkey
Tel: +90 (212) 638 6343, or 638 6344, or 638 3746
Fax: +90 (212) 638 3922
info@backpackerstravel.net
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