Published on Aug, 2018
This was our 1st visit to the beautiful city of Istanbul. We were only there for 3 nights so wanted to see as much as we could before we had to leave. The Small-group Full-Day Walking Tour of Istanbul was absolutely perfect. We were picked up at 8:15 a.m. from our hotel, and boarded a luxury over sized van which took us into the area of the Blue Mosque. Our guide, Hakan Adagume was a wealth of interesting information and he was able to give us lots of background history regarding all the wonderful sites we were walking to. We were also given free time at each site to explore and take pictures.
At around 1:00p.m. we stopped at a lovely restaurant and we were served a delicious Turkish lunch which was included in our tour.
After lunch we strolled to a Government licensed/sponsored rug factory and watched a lady weave a portion of a silk rug and then were given information on the history of Turkish rugs and why these rugs were different from all other rugs - they are double knotted. At the end of the presentation you could look around or if you wanted to, you could purchase a rug(s) but there was no pressure to buy.
Our last stop was the Grand Bazaar where you could buy almost anything. We wanted to pick up some Turkish Delight and look at some silver jewelry. Our guide Hakan took us to shops that he trusted and we were able to buy what we'd been looking for.
At around 5:00p.m.we were all given the option to stay at the Grand Bazaar and taxi back to our hotels or we could be picked up by our driver and be dropped off at our hotels. It was a fabulous day full of interesting architecture, history and last but not least, our wonderful tour guide Hakan Adagume who made this day tour a fabulous experience. We can't wait to go back !