Het was leuk om deze wandeltocht door Istanbul te kunnen maken met mijn gids, Sercan. Hij was erg aardig en aangenaam. We gingen naar veel plaatsen, waaronder de Aya Sofia, Sultanahmet en Grand Bazaar. Alles was perfect, behalve dat de bus erg laat was om ons op te halen vanwege het slechte verkeer in Istanbul.
Over the course of a three week vacation (a two week cruise plus land time add-ons before and afterwards), my husband and I had many different tour guides. Most were good; some, not so much; a few excellent ones; and then there was Safiye (Sophie). As we had never been to Istanbul before and wanted to make sure we maximized our limited time there, I decided to research different guides and tour companies. I found Sophie and her "Istanbul Private Walking Highlights Tour" on Tripadvisor and was won over by the details of her tour and the many positive reviews about her.
Engaging her as our Istanbul guide was a smart decision for us. Doing so made our trip enjoyment, understanding and appreciation exponentially better and, quite frankly, so much easier (and fun) than what we might have experienced on our own. [Stated another way for those preferring a numerical assessment, we agreed that if we were to evaluate our experience on a “memorable and enjoyable” scale, doing it on our own would probably have netted a 2 or 3, but with Sophie as our guide it was a definite 10!]
It’s also worth noting that my husband wasn't initially keen on booking a guide and thought we'd be just fine exploring on our own. Once I shared details about the tour and Sophie's reviews, however, he agreed that a good guide could enrich our experience and provide a lot of historical knowledge and context. Fast forward a day, and my husband became Sophie's biggest fan! In fact, we both thought she was so good and added so much to our experience that we opted to book a second day with her to see and enjoy additional Istanbul sights.
Some additional thoughts and details:
• Her historical and cultural knowledge was impressive.
• Her friendly and easy-going manner was both appealing and reassuring.
• Her assistance helping us navigate was invaluable, be it educating us about the different sights, knowing call-to-prayer timing and procedures when visiting mosques, how much a taxi should cost, aiding in the purchase and sampling of interesting street food, directing us where to purchase items, providing Turkish bath information, etc. etc. And for us, this advantage was even more appreciated given that we didn’t seem to notice an overabundance of typical tourist signage and the like (in other words, had we attempted it on our own, we likely would have lost a lot of time trying to figure stuff out).
• She was great about tailoring her tour to our interests. When I expressed disappointment that we wouldn't get to see the Blue Mosque because it was closed for renovation while we were there, she was able to quickly suggest another Mosque not far away that included similarly beautiful and impressive tile work.
• Her English is great and her accent, only slight (for my aging ears, she was very easy to understand, which was much appreciated).
• She, herself, is a world traveler so can readily relate to the experiences and cultures of many of her clients.
• She was good at pacing her clients and sensitive to their abilities and needs.
• She’s a versatile guide, being experienced and comfortable guiding both young and older clients, individuals, couples, families, and multi-generational groups.
• She was eager to answer our many questions and good at providing perspective and balance.
We consider it very fortunate to have had Sophie as our guide and introduction to Istanbul, as she made our visit an exponentially better and more memorable one. And, perhaps not surprising, by the end of our time together, she felt like a cherished family friend.