Hagia Sofia with sign to the Grand Bazaar in the foreground

Hagia Sofia with sign to the Grand Bazaar in the foreground

Istanbul gets top marks in my book for a single person’s holiday destination. Wow! What a beautiful place. So much history. So much to see and do. So much Turkish delight… so little time :-)

It’s very easy to find your way around and the main tourist sights (Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sofia and Grand Bazaar) are in easy walking distance of each other.

The people are friendly, chatty and helpful, even if their English is perhaps not always perfect (then again it took ME three days to learn to say ‘thank you’ in Turkish – it’s ‘teshekkir ederim’ if you’re interested) and yes, the shop owners will do their darndest to sell you something, but it’s usually done in good humour and if you’re polite and smiley, you can walk away with no carpet and no hard feelings!

As a single woman, I never felt edgy or threatened in Istanbul – even wandering around the Sultanhamet area where my hotel was after midnight, there was no problem. Obviously, you need to be alert and keep your eyes open, as you would anywhere, but I had no trouble.

And there is so much to DO! I didn’t want to have 5 days of non-stop sightseeing as it was a holiday after all, and I did take one afternoon off to read up on the hotel’s roof terrace, but I still accomplished a lot, and there are still things I didn’t get to see. You could even spend a whole day in the Grand Bazaar (if you have the stamina), checking out the myriad shops and sipping Turkish coffee in cafes and watching the world go by.

OK I admit it, it would have been lovely to have been travelling with a partner/friend in a few situations:

  • I’d have taken a lot more silly/fun photos – you feel like a bit of a twit asking a fellow tourist to snap a pic of you when you’re making a ridiculous pose in front of a statue or something…
  • I’d have got more pics of ME… and better ones too. People were quite happy to take photos of me, but wow, there are a lot of bad photographers out there and I’ve got several of me in front of Istanbul landmarks with half of said landmark cut off…
  • The roof-top terraces (bars and restaurants) are beautiful and tres romantic – would have been nice to share that with someone special. Instead I got some rather ardent attention from a waiter… but more about that later…
  • On returning to the hotel after a hard day’s sightseeing, with my feet burning, a foot rub would have been lovely! I didn’t think the very friendly and helpful staff would quite stretch to that…!

But for all your solo travellers out there who are looking for a city packed with sights, sounds, smells, tastes, friendly people and interesting things to do, Istanbul should definitely be on your list. It’s fantastic.

Advertisement