I stumbled across this video of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. This beautiful building that was built by the Eastern Roman empire had a great influence later on the style of the Imperial Ottoman mosques. If you have listened to the Amateur Traveler then you have already heard how much I loved my trip to Istanbul last year. One of the parts of the trip that I truly enjoyed was the visit to Hagia Sophia.

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I had the opportunity to be interviewed by the Travel in 10 podcast and again talked about Istanbul. You might have gotten the impression that the city of Istanbul has left an impression on me and you would be correct.

I expected a middle eastern city but found a much more European city with an incredible history (and wonderful food).

Check out:

• Istanbul on the Amateur Traveler
• My Istanbul pictures
• My Travel in 10 interview on Istanbul
• My episode on the Indie Travel Podcast on Istanbul

My video episodes on Istanbul:

• Video Episode 14 - Istanbul - St Saviour in Chora
• Video Episode 16 - Dolmabahçe Palace, Istanbul Turkey
• Video Episode 18 - Istanbul, Turkey - Wall to Wall Sites
• Video Episode 19 - Istanbul, Turkey - Hagia Sophia
• Video Episode 20 - Istanbul, Turkey - Topkap? Palace
• Video Episode 21 - Istanbul, Turkey - Bazaar and Bosphorus

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When I was in Istanbul recently I stayed in two different hotels. The first one was a European style business hotel near Taksim. The second one was a small hotel, Hotel Historia, just behind the Sultanahmet mosque (the blue mosque). The first hotel was wonderful but was probably about twice the price of the second hotel. Neither of the hotels is what Americans would expect from a typical hotel room. A typical American style hotel has two double beds or a king size bed. A typical small European hotel might fit a double bed but there would not be any floor space. More likely you will find smaller twin beds. The rooms are smaller. I noticed with the Hotel Historica that the reviews for the hotel ran from people who loved it to people who hated it. Some of the people who hated it were Americans who I think arrived with the wrong expectations.

So what should you expect? These boutique hotels can be a wonderful experience. The hotel Historica was inexpensive. It had an elevator, but you will not always find this in these older hotels which is one of the reasons I like to pack light. The hotel was clean and the people were wonderful. It had high speed internet although not good coverage from my particular hotel room. No problem, it had a nice comfortable lobby which looked more like a living room. As I sat checking my email someone brought over a glass of hot tea. The breakfast was included and was beautiful as well as tasty. The hotel was 2-3 blocks from one of the main sites in the city. Someone did not like this place? I don’t get it.

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