The Taxi excursion 🚕 Morning in Istanbul

The next morning in Istanbul, which was our last day there, wasn’t very pleasant. I was really happy to be back in Istanbul, and one of our main goals was to see the major landmarks again — especially a few of the main mosques — but this time to go inside them. However, that morning, after we woke up, we found out that unfortunately our friend couldn’t join us at all — meaning he also couldn’t take us to the landmarks — so our plans had to be canceled.
With our flight coming up fairly soon, taking public transport to the city center, which was quite far from our apartment, and then heading back in the opposite direction would have been too risky. So, we packed our things, checked out of our place, and went to look for the metro to figure out how to get tickets, since taking a taxi all the way to the airport was too expensive.

We left all our bags in the building’s security office (and there was plenty of them — don’t forget, we had moved out of our car before, where we had plenty of belongings. If you want the full story, go back to my previous article about nighttime Istanbul), and set off to explore, walking along the sloping morning streets.

İn Istanbul there's this street called "Halaskargazi". İgnore all negative people in your life the way you ignored that name 😁😂😂😂 (For all my other very observant to details friends, which actually read it, please, also don't mind them)
So, it was the closest main street to our apartment, and the easiest way to reach subway going there.
After going down and reaching Halaskargazi Street, we were greeted by the morning bustle of Istanbul. Along the street, you could see beautiful old architecture mixed with modern buildings. This place truly blends the two aesthetics in a very harmonious way.

Around us, there were many little details that added uniqueness and charm to the city, and one of those was a beautiful decoration:

A wide rack full of different flowers, waiting to be bought to light up someones day ✨
This is one of my favorite things in cities, because it looks so incredibly bright, and really adds life!

Which flower in this "big bouquet" do you like the most? My favourite ones are the sunflowers and lilies ✨🌻🌸

As I mentioned in my previous article, Istanbul is a city of great opportunities, and every day —especially in the morning — you can see people heading somewhere, trying to achieve their dreams. And this morning was no exception. There were people everywhere, all of them in a hurry.

We started walking along the street, searching for a metro entrance. Finally, we found one, went down, and approached the ticket machines. But unfortunately, the system seemed too complicated for us to understand. We couldn’t figure out how to use the machine to get tickets—it seemed like you needed a special card, and we had no idea how to get one. Our friend wasn’t responding at that moment either. Maybe it wasn’t even possible for tourists 🤷🏼‍♀️.

(The owner of the bike relaxing on their vehicle)😸😸😸

So, with the disappointment of realizing we would have to take an incredibly expensive taxi after all, we came back up from underground and decided to go into a café to eat before the flight.

The café’s atmosphere felt cozy compared to all the city chaos outside. We ordered a “healthy food vs fast food” combo (fries and a salad), ate before the flight, and then headed back to our bags.

On the way, we saw how people were filming an advertisement of some brand, and it was extremely interesting to watch. You really can see in this city constantly around interesting actions, new projects, or opportunities. A real flow of movement.

Having finally gone back up to our bags, the security guard called a taxi, and our journey began. Putting all the bags into the trunk, we set off on a kind of “excursion” around all of Istanbul, because ohhh, with these morning traffic jams, it would be a long ride.

Driving out, we were immediately met with a sea of cars on the roads. And so, we were also met with the worry about whether we would even make it to the plane. At the same time, the driver had a big responsibility to get us there. A long road, a big cost, a big risk, but at the same time, nothing depended on him in this situation.

In the first minutes, we were driving through quieter streets, although they still had heavy traffic. We stood for so long that you could observe how locals calmly live their lives. On these quiet streets, since they are at a strong slope ahead while we were standing, you could look at the beautiful view of how architecture mixes with nature in the city. The greenery made the city more alive, brighter and fresher. Among the trees, glass skyscrapers were rising, which seemed to reach the clouds, compared to the small residential houses standing nearby.

And as soon as we drove onto the bridge — what an incredible sight it was.
Leaning my head out of the open taxi window, my hair was flying in every direction, and that is the feeling of freedom! Yes, I know I’m breaking every safety rule — but just this once, right? 😀 (please, I know you absolutely shouldn’t do this; some people reading this were probably already ready to list all the possible consequences of such a “joke”, it was just a brief moment).

The view from the bridge is breathtaking. In daylight, the city was no less impressive. From up there, you can see the entire bay with endless sea which flows all the way into the horizon, ships going around there all day long, along with the architecture tightly wrapping around it on both sides of the land. Among it stands the same Ortaköy Mosque I mentioned in my previous post. In the daylight, it looked even more elegant. İt's light blue roof harmonically matched the water.
The water shimmered under the morning sun, turning into silver ✨🌊

🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷🇹🇷

From the other side of the bridge, you could see the Istanbul hills.
A wide view of Istanbul opened up before us. On the hill called Çamlıca, large red Turkish flags fluttered in the wind, immediately drawing attention by their bright colour. They rose above the green trees and dense buildings, adding contrast to the calm blue sky.
In my last post, i was writing about the beautiful view over the Bosphorus, and i was noticing how lively and green the hill on the other side was. Now, i read that i was looking at the Çamlıca hill. And so, i wanted to know why it was called that way, and so — the name comes from Turkish word Çam, meaning "Pine". Now, it all makes sense. You can see a lot of pines in between the architecture, especially from the other side 🌲

On the other part of the hill, stood the large Çamlıca Mosque with several tall minarets and a large central dome. It stood out clearly against the bright sky and immediately attracted attention. This mosque, wasn't ancient. Planning of building started in 2000 year, and the ones leading the project were two architects Bahar Mizrak
and Hayriye Gül Totu. The building process started in 2013 and ended in 2019 as I read. Their design of the Mosque even won a second place in a competition!
Around the mosque were dense blocks of houses, so colourful, each different, combined together perfectly, and made a unique Turkish style pattern. It's such a lively hill, also full of those bright green pines, made a perfect view together. Those houses seemed to rise up the slopes, creating the feeling of a multi-layered city. Some buildings looked more modern, others - older, but together they formed a beautiful cityscape. Even though there was such a big mosque, underneath you could see another one, smaller. I don't really know why they built another one, but it looks quite interesting.

Next, after driving a little, we saw another landmark from the side - Çamlıca Tower. I was fascinated by its strange design, and it stood so beautifully on that hill! The height of the tower is about 369 meters, which makes it the tallest building in Istanbul, and the fact that it also stands on a hill (Çamlıca, from which its name comes), makes it very visible from many points of the city.
It was built as a replacement for dozens of old television towers and antennas that used to spoil the appearance of the city, in 2020. Now most of Istanbul's TV and radio signals are transmitted from here.
It also serves as an observation deck. Inside there are observation platforms from which you can see a panorama of the entire city, including the Bosphorus. There is also a restaurant and a cafe where you can sit with a view of Istanbul. Unfortunately, this time we did not visit anything, but next time I hope we will be able to visit here too. Its design was made in such a way that it harmoniously blends into the nature around it.

On the exit from the city, there was some interesting modern architecture, it looked like some futuristic city 🛸

And thank goodness, our Taxi driver was too professional to make us not make it to our flight, so we quickly passed the control, came on board, and waved goodbye to Istanbul 👋🏼 I really hope to come one day again, and visit every place properly, but this time, even though we couldn't go anywhere, we saw so many places. İt was actually like an excursion! 🚖

Bye bye everyone! 🇹🇷🕌