In February 2024, my team at Doist had a meeting in Istanbul. We do it every year and Istanbul was chosen as the place for 2024. This time I did not schedule some time for vacations, it was mostly work. I'm really glad I did that this time, because I got sick during the trip and I would not enjoy this time anyway.

My review below is based on this time I spent working and 1 day during turism with the team.

Stay

We got a hotel called Depiero Hotel, near the Galata tower. The hotel itself is nice. Clean, confortable, good breakfast, friendly staff, good coworking space nearby, and near the Galata Tower and a tram station for the Ayasofia and blue mosque.

The "street" it is located at is quite weird. If I was in Brazil, I would never walk that place at night and feel weird walking during the day. It was OK-ish to walk around, especially in groups, though.

Airport

IST is a giant airport, it takes a while to get to the exit after leaving the plane. I don't have anything to report, even the passport control was very chill.

I went to the iGA lounge on that airport. It's not my first time there, as we had a connection when going to Italy last time and I had the chance to visit before. If your card gives you an entitlement, it's worth giving it a visit and resting a bit before the flight.

The touristic attractions in the city are quite far from the airport. We got a van to take us from the airport to the city and paid ~30 EUR for that. A friend of us got a yellow cab and said the price is mostly the same.

Money

They use Turkish Lira, but I was able to use my credit card and travel card everywhere. In many places they also accept Euro, so it's nice to have some around too.

Transport

I mostly used the tram to navigate the city. For that, you can buy the Istanbul card. It's sold in the tram station, on a yellow machine. You pay ~7 EUR for the card and then you top it up, quite simple.

If you want to go to the asian side, you will have to get a ferry. I didn't have enough time to explore the asian side, so I can't really describe.

AFAIK, Uber is also available in the city, if you're into it.

Places

I only had one day to explore the city, and I was already sick, so there won't be many things this time. We had a paid guide for a walking tour and he helped us to find some different locations and skip lines.

Hagia Sofia and Cistern

I really enjoyed visitin Hagia Sofia. It's a mosque that was a catholic church and even a museuem. It's a mix of many cultures in one huge single place.

We visited the Cirtern, which is famous because of James Bond movie and also Dan Brown's Inferno. I'm a big fan of Dan Brown, so it was a nice visit.

Blue mosque

[TBD]

Food

I always do a disclamer here because I'm not very into finding good food in places. I mostly ask for some recommendations and then eat whatever is easy and not expensive after this. I'm going to add here the places I went and the ones that people recommended me to go.

Lily

[TDB]

Coworking

We sayed in the [TBD] coworking space, near our hotel and the Galata tower. The host was very friendly and helped us feel comfortable at the place. They have coffee and tea available for everyone, along with some small sweets.