Old City Private Cultural Tour With Professional Guide

The tour was disappointing to say the least. It started with an almost 45 minute delay in picking us up. We had been in consistent contact with the tour operator from the beginning. On the day we were to meet the guide, I took a picture as requested of where we would be waiting, which was just outside the terminal where EVERY OTHER guide was waiting with a sign in hand of the names of the groups they were picking up...ours was no where to be found. Then we were told that he was late due to traffic (again, other tour guides were waiting for their folks). Then all of a sudden after a constant back and forth, we were told to exit the area we were in and go to the street exit to meet him. We were also told that he did not speak English well, which at first was no big deal. Other areas of Europe we had no issue with communication with our guides. So, we went to the street and waited and finally the guide showed to pick us up. We were already frustrated beyond what you could imagine. We got into the van (truly not luxury as described, but it was "ok) and we set off to our tour. This is when communication was very difficult and we resulted to Google Translate to help. We arrived in Istanbul during Eid al-Adha...when I tell you that the traffic was unbearable and the number of people in and around the streets was unfathomable...I am not joking. Basically- we went no where and sat in traffic for what seemed an eternity. The driver did stop at the Blue Mosque, we got out of the van, wound our way through thousands of people, dodged traffic, walked around the outside, bought a piece of street corn and that was about it. We got back in the van and pretty much demanded to be taken to a restaurant to eat as we were so frustrated. The driver took us to a restaurant under the bridge. While the food was good, it was clear that this was a restaurant that is a "you scratch my back and I will scratch your back" kind of set up with the tour operator. We were a group of 5 and lunch was- $500 US DOLLARS. Truly the most expensive meal we had in our 14 day vacation. Basically, this was not much of a tour, and we arrived back at the ship frustrated and sad that we literally saw nothing of the city. In hindsight we should have booked a tour with the Cruise line as our other family we were with did, and had a marvelous time. Lesson learned.

It was a very nice Istanbul tour. We visited historical places and our driver helped us a lot. There are excellent places for shopping and thanks also to the manager who helped us with whats

Great service. Easy and prompt. The car promised was delivered. The driver didn’t speak English well (or at all) but we managed to communicate. Overall, I recommend.