ARE THERE GARDENS IN ISTANBUL?

FOUR SEASONS HOTEL, SULTANAHMET

GARDENS

I though it would be easy to photograph plants and gardens round about where we stayed in Istanbul, but there was not much to inspire.  This was disappointing because I have read that the earlier cultures of the Ottomans were very aware of the importance of beautiful gardens, indeed flowers appear in many tiles and ceramics.

THE GARDEN OF THE FOUR SEASONS HOTEL

The first weekend we arrived in Istanbul we decided to splurge and enjoy the 'Brunch' at the Four Seasons Hotel, in Sultanahmet, a good decision!  It was fantastic, the best food we had on holiday, and the service was exemplary.  The setting of the garden was beautiful, in the courtyard of what was originally a prison (featured I believe, in the film 'Midnight Express')
www.fourseasons.com.  You have to be pretty well-heeled to stay here, though!

Here are some photos of the Four Seasons Hotel garden

Netted to keep of birds, perhaps?

Petty rill, with tiled water channel

We sat here to have brunch

The courtyard of the old prison

The waiter was so pleasant

Gaura  and shrubs in the courtyard

I tried to photo the sparrows in the gaura

SULTANAHMET DISTRICT IN ISTANBUL IS NOT A PRETTY PLACE, IN MY OPINION

It seems to be full of touts, pesterers, tourist rip-off cafes and restaurants, tour groups, huge coaches filing non-stop into the area to park, and crowds lining up to visit to Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia and Topkapi palace.  

www.ayasofyamuzesi.gov.tr

Crowds waiting to go into Ayasofya Museum

It is easy to get lost, and the many roads and paths are confusing. There are few signposts.

Oh, and such a lot of very, very thin cats!

RIP OFF TAXI DRIVERS

It was our first time of visiting Istanbul and it was a bit of a disaster.  We were ripped off by voracious taxi drivers - one in particular was a real 'thief'.

GASTRO ENTERITIS, NOT A GOOD EXPERIENCE

I fell victim to a really bad bout of gastro-enteritis so spent one of our four days in bed, and was not too good for the final two days, so could not get out as much as we would have liked.