Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
 Informative and easy to read May 14, 2007
Nina (NYC)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is one of the best guide books I have ever read! SO easy to leaf through it and find exactly what one is looking for. The maps are well drawn and easy to navigate, and the photograph make the whole experience complete. I loved most the chapter on foods and drinks to be tasted in Istanbul. Will be a great guide to take along on my trip there.
Great Guide June 2, 2008
Alphonse Pekkan (Istanbul Turkey)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am from Istanbul and I cal tell you this guide is fantastic. Before you visit my country Turkey read this guide. It is accurate and colorful.
Excellent overview of a great city May 26, 2009
Donna Di Giacomo (Philadelphia, PA)
I have to admit that I've just looked at DK Eyewitness Travel books I can't say how many times in the bookstore without giving them a second glance and I can now say with authority that I'm sorry I haven't checked them out a whole lot sooner.
This guide about the great city of Constantinople/Istanbul should be required reading pre-departure. The guide is honest, thorough, and goes into surprisingly great detail in as concise a space as possible about the must-see tourist sites (such as Haghia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, etc.), but it also gives great tips about less-visited sites (such as a few Byzantine churches) that are worth the trip. The history of the city aone in the beginning is worth the price of the book.
Having this book with you when you visit Istanbul is very good company and will help to make your tourist or study abroad experience complete - and I speak from experience.
Twenty-three bucks isn't bad to plunk down for a guide of this caliber. - Donna Di Giacomo
Istanbul Made Easy October 9, 2009
Walter Figel (Denver, CO)
Just returned from Turkey. Book was handy to carry and very accurate. Nice to know the hours and days that a destination is open and available to visit before you waste time getting there and find out it's closed. Maps were accurate and easy to follow. Comments were right on target. Saved us hours chasing around the city and allowed us to visit those important sites that are awesome.
 Best general purpose guide March 31, 2007
Diego Banducci (San Francisco, CA United States)
74 out of 74 found this review helpful
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1OT5JU7RSYEFR If you're only going to buy one guide to Istanbul, this is the one.
The principal reason is that Istanbul is a city of great architecture, which D-K's cut-away diagrams ideally showcase. You can quickly determine where you are within a building and which features you have not yet seen.
For us, the most enjoyable attraction in Istanbul was the ferry ride up the Bosphorus, which ends at a charming village near the Black Sea with excellent restaurants where you have lunch before returning. There are commercial tourist boats that make this trip, but we much preferred the public ferry that cost approx. $10 round-trip -- one of the great travel bargains of the world. The discussion about it in this guide is quite good.
Some things not covered in the book:
* When we asked the concierge at our hotel for the best place to change money, he said "The Grand Bazaar, no question." Indeed. In addition to a narrow spread between buy and sell, there is no commission (other commercial money-lenders not only charge a large spread, but usually tack on a 4% commission). The local merchants all use the money-changers there, and according to the concierge, exchange rates for the entire country are set there. Alternatively, you can use ATMs, which appear to be ubiquitous.
* Among the best bargains in the Grand Bazaar are gold and silver, which are sold by weight with a reasonable mark-up, as opposed to the 400% markups commonly charged by American jewelers. Each jeweler has a gram scale where he weighs any given piece, and then prices it accordingly, based upon the price of gold that morning. The gold, by the way, appears to universally be 22 karat, worked in India. Because Indian workers are paid $15 per month, labor is not a material element in the price. A jeweler I spoke with priced a bracelet (pre-bargaining) at $650, when the price of the gold alone was $525. He was highly competent and straightforward in answering my questions, as were most of the merchants I dealt with. Similar savings seem to be available on diamond jewelry, although I did not consider myself competent to judge the quality of the stones and thus, did not buy anything.
* Rug merchants appear to be somewhat less reputable and certainly more insistent (one becomes tired of hearing their ubiquitous "hallo"). If they ask which hotel you're staying in or when you're leaving, simply respond "Why do you want to know?" One rug merchant, who is married to an American woman and is himself quite americanized told me that many of the merchants import rugs from China and then represent them as being from Turkey or Iran. As with diamonds, it pays to know what you're buying.
* Cab drivers are often dishonest. Know how much you should pay for a given trip and carry a lot of small bills and coins, so that you can pay exactly. Do not expect change. You may receive old lira (the Turkish lira was steeply devalued several years ago). Make sure the driver starts the meter when you get into the cab. The rate after midnight is 50% greater than before. The meters state fares in Turkish lira, but drivers may try to charge you in dollars or Euros; state clearly that you will pay them in lira when you get into the cab and demand that they turn on the meter. Still, the (honest) rates are quite reasonable, especially since tips are not expected.
* The food is excellent, good ingredients and wonderful spices. Explore or ask your concierge. The best place we found, on the advice of our concierge, was the Magnaura Cafe Restaurant at Akbiyik No. 27 in Sultanhamet, tel: (0212)518 76 22, three blocks from the Haja Sofia. UPDATE 3/09: Better yet, just across the street the Albura Kathisma Cafe, Yeni Akbiyik Cad. No. 26 Sultanhamet. This street is full of good, reasonably priced, restaurants.
* Be prepared to awaken at 6:00 am with the Call to Prayer, which is blasted from loudspeakers on the minarets of the mosques. It doesn't last long, but it will awaken you. I was not able to sleep through it, a problem that I rarely encounter. A video of the Call to Prayer, taken from the park between Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque, is included in this review (Be sure to turn up the sound).
* Three must-sees that we regret having missed: (1) the Chora Church, (2) the Palace Cistern, and (3) the old city walls.
UPDATE [3/09] On a second trip we visited all three; well worth the effort. Additional recommendations: (1) the Spice Market (2) Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque, a lovely smaller mosque near the Blue Mosque with beautiful tiles, and (3) the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (aka the Little Hagia Sofiya), now a mosque and one of the most calming places of worship I've ever been in.
All things considered, it's a great city.
For a really useful pocket-sized guide: Top 10 Istanbul (EYEWITNESS TOP 10 TRAVEL GUIDE)
For a less functional but more beautiful and sophisticated guide, try Knopf Guide: Istanbul (Knopf Guides Istanbul and Northwest Turkey)
Visitors with a serious interest in the city's many historic sites will enjoy Imperial Istanbul: A Traveller's Guide: Includes Iznik, Bursa and Edirne by Jane Taylor. Not only is Ms. Taylor a knowledgeable historian, she also frequently displays her wonderfully dry British sense of humor. While not promoted as such, the book can easily serve as a walking guide to the city.
For a more Nuts N' Bolts tour guide on navigating the city on foot: Rick Steves' Istanbul (Rick Steves)
Recommended reading: John Freely's Istanbul
Recommended viewing: Byzantium: The Lost Empire, Topkapi, the Supercities VHS tape Istanbul], and the Teaching Company course The World of Byzantium-The Great Courses (24 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture)(6 VHS TAPES)
DVD to avoid: Globe Trekker: Turkey
Showing reviews 1-5 of 9
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