Went there twice once was great 2nd time abhorrent

>>215088242
what was it like

>>215088186
Prices for many major attractions (Topkapi, Basilica Cistern, Hagia Sophia Mosque) are tripled for tourists. I had to pay approx. 50 Euros to get in the cistern and said fuck it to all else, especially given the nearby FREE Blue Mosque.

Istanbul is alright, there are two things that are noticeably worse than other parts of Turkey though;
1. The touts.
2. The security... not as in you feel unsafe, but rather the bombscare hurrr gotta check in all your stuff when you go in a mall type thing. It slows everything so much.

Also go on /trv/. I don't know what you mean by 'most Kino', religion aside its like Lisbon with jankier paving. I still think its worth at least seeing Fatih, but again prices are so exploitative that I think it immoral to go in most of the major attractions.

On another note there are really good cafes, Turkish coffee sucks and is something you only really drink when you feel out of place around some construction workers and want to conjure a sense of solidarity with them. Beyoglu has some nice-looking restaurants and Kava coffee had a quality Spanish latte, one of the nicest I've had. Though there's decent coffee joints all over that AREN'T just dark roast coffee sludge.

>>215088803
It is inevitably worth mentioning. Istanbul is the most populous city in Europe, it is HUGE. All the main tourist attractions are concentrated in Fatih and truth be told I haven't explored nor wanted to explore other areas outside Beyoglu (on the other side of the bridge) and a couple adjacent areas.

Transportation-wise. There are trams to get around, its quite nice. There are two airports to my knowledge - I'll forewarn that myself and other anons had struggled to get the wi-fi to work at the new international, you had to sign up then get some link (which never came[?], I could be thinking of the wrong airport but there was some issue like that). The train from the international airport to the city takes you into Taksim or more specifically - and do read - the subway of a large mall which is confusing as hell to navigate since you don't have wi-fi and you have a lot of walking before you can get up to the mall's level and figure out where tf you actually are.

'Course other anons do correct me I'm wrong on any points, that was my experience at least. Alright city, gave me a week-long migraine after some tout tried to 'show' me the Blue Mosque (really trying to get me into his nearby shop) not to realise that I had gone to the info centre to unironically learn more about Islam which lead to being accidentally/ forcibly (they weren't taking no for an answer) converted to Islam, going out le secret exit and taking the train to the wrong airport, finally checking into the right one with an hour before flight and going through multiple security check-ins before finally I was able to get on with just a couple minutes to spare.

>>215088273
First time ws autumn in early 2010s was amazing super friendly not to many people even for istanbul prizes were fair.
Second time was summer late 2010s shit was expensive loud people seemed bitter and there so many loud arabs germans and russians screaming their lungs out. If someones gotta scream it should be the local bazar guy selling shit

>>215089004
Yeah istanbul is absolutely massive. Constantinople as we know it is just a small part. I agree on public transportation, the metro system was really good and clean much better than any in italy. Busses were okay but they constantly made this noise whenever someone paid for a ride

>>215089004
bro you just sound like a dumb tourist. It's not hard to say "no thanks dude leave me alone"

>>215089316
Those guys are persistent

>>215089316
If it escalated I would have told him no tbf, I wasn't wasting time in some dude's shop and I hoped I could dodge him the second I got out the mosque (turns out I didn't have to).

>>215089232
How was paying on the busses? I hadn't tried them.

>>215090280
I bought an "istanbulkart" its a prepaid card that you can also recharge and when you enter a bus you press it on some reader appliance it makes a sound and then you know the bus fee has been paid

>>215088186
On the first day I arrived, I regretted coming

>>215088186
istanbul is really kino, really intresting city not european and not asian/arab
its very expensive, like a major western european city
dont use taxis, public transport is really good
besides the usual stuff rahmi m koc museum is really cool

>>215088186
It's really cool, its much more Asian feeling than I expected. Going around on a boat at night it feels like you're in Naboo

I want to visit but the visa is hard

>>215091422

Best you stay where you are.

>>215092112
Oh come on just cuz hes a jeet

>>215091422
when i was in istanbul some pakis started yelling something about pakistan in a busy street