Istanbul #5: Stronghold and Beautiful Parts of Fatih (30/12/2025)

I woke up a little bit late today. Around 9.00 am, I stepped down from my bed, felt dizzy with the 5 degrees Celsius weather in this city. Yeah, I was late again for my Subuh prayer (the prayer was at 6.40), but I did it anyway. After that, I hesitated whether to climb to the terrace for breakfast or take a shower first. Feeling unwell in my stomach, I chose meditation in the bathroom and did the war with my yesterday's food. At 10, I found myself in a plate full of Turkish breakfast with bread, veggies, salami, cheese, and a cup of fine coffee (Nescafé).

"Bro, yesterday's walk was superb!" Robin, a guy from the Czech Republic, patted me from behind.

Let me tell you about this guy. First, he might not be a professor of English. Secondly, this dude is crazy! He walked through Bulgaria, from the North-West to the South-East part, for two damn months straight. He built a tent, something he always had in his backpack, wherever he did not find any hostels. After those long months, his body gave up. So he decided to take buses from the corner city of that country to be here in Istanbul. He is a travel badass.

In addition to that, he writes his stories on his blog, Nomad. I saw his writing, and he made it like a professional product.

Do you know what the first thing he bought when we walked together? A pepper spray from a gun shop. Because he met many bad guys and bad animals as well, self-defence is a must, he told me.

Despite all dangers we know that we will have if we follow his path, you know, deep down, we as men share the same dream together; to live as free as he is now.

We started the morning with a slow pace, since the wind was so fast and the water was starting to fall. Grey was the color for today, but it was not long. Although the wind was still threatening, the sky was getting brighter and giving more hope. I saw some birds outside, and wondered how many days I could survive if I were in that form. We finished the plate faster, and were ready for the trip.

The Trip to the Heart of the Ottoman

Our first goal today was to come and see inside of the well-known ancient mosque Aya Sophia. As a muslim, it becomes a must-visit place in Istanbul, since the story behind this site is as great as its architecture.

We decided to walk for 2 hours instead of travelling by tram. Besides the promising views, the money was also a reason. But the former excuse is the dominant one. So we walked through Istiklal Street, climbed down across Galata Tower (Rafly said some people started to call this the Scam Tower since the ticket price is unreasonably high), and we also had a good vibe on the Bridge of Galata before we arrived at Kadikoy.

In Galata Tower, a gentleman from Africa gave me a fine wallet for only 250 TIL (100k in rupiah), so I took the chance and then retired my old Marvel's wallet.

In the old street of Kadikoy, more interesting stores are available and easier to see. I spent another 200 TIL for a good winter hat with The North Face brand. We also see an exciting hand-craft store where they sell chess, but with a very unique design, which made me hold my wallet harder, keeping my money saved.

We arrived at the mosque zone at 2.00 pm. It was a sunny day.

Before that, we bump into a random old artistic guy. He spoke English very well and said he was from Greece. He kept talking about many things, saying he could speak 10 languages, and wanted to create a sales network from Turkiye to the Czech Republic for bag products. I mean, it's kinda cool, you know, until he said some Asian could not speak English and eat dog, so we left him alone.

Crazy but cool dude. They are everywhere.

Aya Sophia

“The spider weaves the curtains in the palace of Caesar;

the owl calls the watches in the towers of Afrasiab.”

This is a famous sentence said by Sultan Mehmed II, as he depicted the fall of a system that could build a massive, fancy building like this mosque, representing the advanced and high taste of the generations behind them.

Well, for us, we could see that from the outside, but there was a big renovation happening inside. I watched YouTube videos showing this place before, and was amazed by the unreal images I would get once I stood there.

But perhaps high expectations are like a knife. It can hurt you sometimes. With these steels ruining the holy concretes, I was disappointed. Although I said to my mind, it was just only a temporary thing, I knew it was and would be much better than this. But we had Zuhur and Ashar there, and this experience is just gold! And I had a good picture as a bonus!

The Wall of Constantinople

Our journey here was full of new things. Fatih, a region where we would see the wall, was not noted in our plan first. But once we finished the prayer in Aya Sophia, I saw the wall on the maps and decided to go over there. We had a tram for around 20 minutes, combined with 15 minutes walking in a very beautiful park, and we were in front of a majestic wall of Constantinople, in ruins, of course. We looked around and found all accesses were blocked by fences. Rubin asked several locals, but no one could answer in English. And then we met a flock of youngsters around 15-17 years old, hanging out around the wall.

"Hey guys, can you take a picture of us?" Rubin started the convo. It's a starter, you know, before we come to our main question.

They exploded.

"Yoo guys, let's go! Where are you guys from?"

They do really have much better English than the locals. We share the picture together, and end up with a bump and hug for everyone.

"It's closed now." One of a guy from Palestine told us.

"But we can climb if you want. We climbed it this morning to see around. But just be careful on that part, some bricks have fallen." He pointed out a corner of the fortress.

I looked at both of my friends

"No illegal for me." Robin had his declination. Rafly just nods. Well, they have a point.

It looked like we would just walk around the wall, not climb on the wall. It is a pity, but I loss the number here.

There was something humbling about walking next to a structure that once decided the fate of an empire, or empires. The Wall of Constantinople did not need to shout its greatness. Even in ruins, even behind fences, it stood calmly, like an old man who had already seen everything and no longer needed to prove anything. It's like, it has done the whole works, no need to impress anyone.

On one side, there were we, three travelers with small bags, a small amount of money, and a little English to communicate, that jumped from jokes to history, to silence. On the other side, there was the wall, layered stones, broken bricks, moss, and time itself stacked on top of one another.

We imagined armies once standing here, waiting, praying, fearing, hoping. People fought for their lives. The soldier screamed. And now, people jogged in the park beside it. Kids laughed. Couples passed by. Life continued, peacefully, on top of centuries of conflict.

We walked slowly. No rush. Just letting the wall accompany us.

At one point, I told myself,

"Tomorrow, I should come back. I will walk the full path, from the north to the south."

Back to the Hostel

By the time we returned to the hostel, the sky had already darkened, and the cold had bitten our skinny flesh. Well, ironically, inside the room, it was the opposite.

The heater was too hot.

At 10 or 11 pm, one of the guys, he is from India, sleeping exactly under the heater, gave up.

"I can't hold it anymore. I stay here for 20 minutes more, I will become shawarma!" He was mad.

"I will turn it off." He stood up, ready to leave his bed, looking for the remote.

People laughed quietly, but we knew he got a point.

The guy sleeping far from the heater shouts,

"You turn it off for 20 minutes, we will turn to ice cream."

There was a slight silence. I knew that everyone struggle holding their mouth.

Then we loss it and laughed, so hard, until the hostel staff, Abdul, came and suggested,

"You can turn it on for a while, and then turn it off when its too hot. Just repeat."

My friend looked genuinely confused.

"Brother ..." He started, raising his hand just like how people want to explain a thesis research.

“If I have to wake up just to turn it on, and then wake up again to turn it off… how am I supposed to sleep?”

Another laughed!

It was one of those small, stupid moments that somehow become memorable.

I mean, this is what you get, or what you want to get from a hostel.