April 23, 2025

Crossing Continents on the 64 Bus: Two stays in Istanbul.

Steev

Istanbul, a city of over 15 million people making it bigger in population than Portugal and Ireland combined – with 2/3rds living in Europe and the remainder (including me for a couple of weeks) living in Asia.

Take-aways:

Get an Istanbulkart when you arrive – look for machines at railway (Maramay) and Metro stations. There is an English translation and you can pay in cash or with a credit card (sometimes.) Makes catching buses and trains easier and cheaper.
Many cafes only open for lunch when they become unbelievably busy, but close at 5/6 pm despite what might be said on Google.
There is a taxi app called BiTaksi, which allows you to book and pay for the ride so you know (approximately) the cost beforehand. Lots of stories online about people being scammed by taxi drivers so beware.
Google Maps does not show the metro as an option in many cases, so you may want to download a metro / rail map to your phone before you go … and don’t forget the ferries if travelling between continents.
Remember to haggle at places like the spice market, markets in general. Türkiye is no longer a cheap destination (more difficult for the locals) and many people are trying to make money from tourists. Ensure you are happy with the price you are paying.
Carry your passport with you at all times. Police do random checks on people including on buses and trains and not having ID on you will pose a problem. A photocopy is not acceptable as they will want to check your entry stamp.

A ferry is one of the ways of getting from Europe to Asia within Istanbul. — Ferry boat between The European and Asian side of Istanbul.

Istanbul, a city of over 15 million people making it bigger in population than Portugal and Ireland combined – with 2/3rds living in Europe and the remainder (including me for a couple of weeks) living in Asia. In this post I hope to give an impression of living on both sides of the Bosphorus strait and what it’s like visiting as a fairly introverted traveller and a brief comment about the current situation there (early 2025.)

Mosque at Taksim Square, Istanbul. — Taksim Square – Mosque and Metro .

Arrival on the European side.
In November 2024, I stayed in Besiktas – famous for its eponymous football team. I arrived by train to Halkali station, which is about 13 miles or 21 kilometres from the centre of the city. One of the first things that struck me as odd about the country of Türkiye is that for the train in, I had to give my gender and as a man I was only allowed a seat next to another man or on my own. This may well be for the protection of women or because of previous complaints but in the Marmaray, the local train to the centre (and on all other forms of public transport in the city) no such rule exists. In fact it couldn’t exist as it would be impractical given the amount of overcrowding there is on the buses trams and metro system.
I found my way to the famous Taksim Square, where I could get a bus to my apartment (I later found out it would have been easier to get the Metro, but this is not shown on Google maps for some reason.) Luckily the bus was starting from there so was empty on arrival, which was not the case when I tried to get off with my luggage, but I managed – and got my first taste of the sheer weight of all those people. The bus stop was on a 6 lane highway. On this occasion I didn’t have to cross it, but later it would become a daily ritual with most of the shops, cafés and bars being on the other side of the road.
Apart from traffic and people, the other thing Istanbul is not short of is cats and I was met by a reception committee of 10 on the drive to the apartment building. The cats in Istanbul are treated very respectfully, with a nick in one ear showing they have been spayed or neutered and little shelters, water and food can be seen everywhere on the streets in gardens and even in shops.
As you probably know, I absolutely love cats, so getting to meet the neighbourhood ones was something I was looking forward to.
I arrived at 6pm to a nice enough place, but unlike many places in Europe, the Airbnbs don’t have any supplies in them for weary travellers. No matter, there is a café in front of the apartment, I will pop in for coffee and cake … No. I was turned away as they were beginning to close, even though Mr. Google said they were open until 10pm. Another google lie. So without even time for a nap, it was across the 6 lane highway to the nearest shop and a tiny outside café by the side of it where I was able to get Turkish coffee and a cheese sandwich – that place became my 2nd home for my 5 week stay (and first café saw me pass every day without entering.)

Roadside cafe in Besiktas, Istanbul. — The roadside cafe which became my go to place in Beksitas.

Traveller or Tourist?

So what did I do over the 5 weeks? Well I think of myself as a traveller and not a tourist, meaning that my purpose is just to stay a while and absorb places rather than visit tourist sites – but I do go into tourist mode at times and I couldn’t help that in Istanbul. The difficulty of course, especially for me as an introvert, was avoiding the crowds. Just strolling around the city is what many tourists do and of course going between the two continents, particularly taking the local ferry which can be done on your Istanbulkart and takes about 40 minutes. Near the ferry terminal at Besiktas are a number of museums including the Naval History and the Art museum, I went to the latter – which turned out to be a little oasis of peace away from the frantic pace of life just beyond its gates. As well as the art itself you can enjoy the views across the sea, the tree lined gardens and the beautiful building the artworks are housed in.

I also took the trip out to visit the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia which are in the same area and can be seen from each other. Near to there is also the Spice Market, where I managed to forget to haggle and accepted the first price on a bag of dates which could have been bought at half the cost in a local supermarket. This is a bit of a problem in the city (as in many larger places) as scams abound and I was also questioned for tips a lot of the time, when it is not a common thing in Turkey as a whole. Certainly the economy has had problems in the last couple of years and it’s clear that people are finding it hard to make ends meet. I met up with a couple of people who were working at least 2 jobs in order to survive.

Doorway at the Blue Mosque with view of Aga Sofia in Istanbul.

Asia is best?

During my five week stay I, of course decided to go for the Asian experience. It felt rather wild crossing there by catching the number 64 bus … not how many people travel into a new to them continent, I wager. On the other side of the strait (which can also be crossed by ferry) I found almost a different city. It could be said that if you come to Istanbul you get two cities in one.

I enjoyed it so much that when my time came to come back to the city (after a 3 month ‘holiday’ in Spain) I looked for somewhere on that side. I was lucky to have met some fellow travellers on my first trip and it was one of these that suggested the apartment I rented for 2 weeks.

So why did I prefer the Asian side of Istanbul? Well, for a start, there was not the traffic chaos that I encountered in Besiktas. That might of course have just been my neighbourhood, but the whole area felt a bit more relaxed because of that. Also for a traveller, it helped that the tourist attractions like the Topkapi Palace were some distance away, so that I didn’t feel the need to go and spend a lot of money to see them, but just enjoy the sights and sounds of the city instead.

Current Issues

I don’t want to say too much about the political situation in the country as I may well need to visit again (at least to transfer) but it is one of the most heavily policed places I have encountered and the amount of times I have had problems accessing websites, especially social media has been frustrating. There were protests whilst I was there on the second occasion and I made sure I stayed away from them, my tear gas experience in France has not been forgotten … but it does have an effect on the transport situation with roads being closed and a large number of people travelling at the same time causing delays.

All in all, I am glad that I went – and I am glad I went a second time so that I could see the other side (literally) of the city. Be prepared to encounter something as different as you think it will be and enjoy whatever Istanbul gives you … it is rather special.