Istinye, Istanbul – Turkey Trip – Day 3
After the late-night partying, we all woke up late. We prepared and ate a Turkish-style breakfast at home. On the table were eggs, a scrumptious salad, bread, cheese and Turkish coffee.
The plan for the day was to visit Istinye Park and Istinye Seaside. This was the third day of my Turkey visit.
İstinye Park is a shopping centre in the İstinye quarter of Istanbul, Turkey with 291 stores, 85,250 m² of retail area, and four levels of underground parking.
Since its opening in September 2007, it has held a much more advantageous position in terms of size and brand mix compared to many existing shopping centres both in Turkey and worldwide.
The centre features both enclosed and open-air sections. The open-air section has a green central park and offers street-side shopping.
The centre includes an authentic Turkish food bazaar – a traditional marketplace. The Bazaar area is distinguished from the rest of the centre with its historical Turkish styling – each facade has been inspired by Turkish architecture and history.
The Lifestyle Center is an open-air town square incorporating a green central park and Fashion District – the glass-roofed indoor retail area.
İstinye is a neighbourhood in Istanbul, on the European side of the city. It is located between Emirgan and Yeniköy on the northwestern shore of the Bosphorus, within the district of Sarıyer.
It is one of the finest seashore locations on the Bosphorus where people walk around during the weekends.
İstinye is famous for its cafés and seafood restaurants. A small bay is also among the things that make İstinye a preferred location to visit.
Bosphorus Seaside at Istinye
The taxi ride to one of the largest mall in Istanbul – Istinye Park was interesting. The driver was playing Kolaveri Di – in Turkish.
He was a chatty one and kept on talking in Turkish thinking we were following his rendition all the way.
Istinye Park Mall, Sarıyer was swanky. It is a marvellous complex where you can find luxurious stores, trendy cafes, and best of the world cuisine.
It is also home to brands like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Matthew Cox and many others! It has almost 300+ stores and an IMAX theatre.
IMAX called so we all ventured out to watch Avengers – Age of the Ultron.
The experience is unexplainable. Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron blasted into international IMAX® theatres with a record-setting $10.6 million on 175 screens, making it the Company’s highest-ever non-China overseas debut.
Lunch was a variety of delicious grilled Kofte (similar to our kebabs) and Salads at Kofteci Ramiz, Istinye Park Mall. The wholesome meal left us completely stuffed. A walk was in order and so was coffee.
We decided to walk to the Bosphorus, the Istinye seaside for a cool off over some tea and Turkish coffee. The walk was splendid and refreshing.
We walked through exclusive neighbourhoods, luxury car showrooms and the Belgrad Forest to reach the bay. The marina in the bay was lined up with watercraft of all shapes and sizes. Luxury was oozing from everywhere.
It was interesting to find a small gym cum park for children. No wonder the Turks are so fit. They catch their kids young.
Istinye is famous for its cafés and seafood restaurants. It was a great evening by the Bosphorus seaside as we settled in Istinye Iskele Cafe & Izmir Lokmacisi.
The lights on Bridge 2 (Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge) danced as we sat there through the evening over coffee and a box of the sweet, fried dough balls known as “Lokma”. Perfect place for photographers and romantics alike.
