Guest post by Joel Stubbs
If you are a keen photographer, a holiday is an adventure where you get to explore rather than taking a time-out for rest and relaxation. When planning a trip to Turkey, you need to visit its largest city, Istanbul. Take a look below at some of our suggestions of the best places to get some great photography in and around Istanbul.
Basillica Cistern
The Basilica Cistern is an atmospheric underground waterway that was historically used as a water storing facility for the Great Palace. Located in Sultanahmet square, this underground wonder has been featured in various films and games, most notably in the Bond film From Russia with Love in 1963. The Cistern is 132 meters long, 65 metres wide, and contains an impressive 336 columns. You can get some fantastic night shots here. Due to the low light, remember to bring along your tripod.
Hagia Sophia
The Hagia Sophia, or Ayasofya, is a museum in Istanbul with a colourful history. From its initial construction is 537 until 1453, the building was originally an Eastern Orthodox cathedral, but between 1204 and 1261 it became a Roman Catholic cathedral, then from 1453 until 1931 it was converted into a mosque. In 1935 the building was finally made into a museum. The Hagia Sophia has an astounding mix of Islamic and Christian décor, including calligraphic roundels and mosaics. This is a fantastic place to get some shots of the impressive interior that includes marble, porphyry and gold.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque
Another popular tourist attraction in Istanbul is the Blue Mosque, also known as Sultan Ahmet Camii. This is an active mosque that is equally impressive both inside and out. Built between 1609 and 1616, the Blue Mosque gets its name from the iconic blue tiles used in its construction. The interior is lined with over 20,000 ceramic tiles that have been made by hand. As well as taking photos of the exterior, there are also approximately 200 stained glass windows inside as well as intricate calligraphy from the Qur’an.
Dolmabahce Palace
If you have ever wanted to see the opulence and elegance of a 19th Century palace, you need to take a trip along the waterfront to see Dolmabahce palace. The palace appears French due to its distinct baroque and rococo style. The rooms and halls look like they are straight out of a film set. There are beautiful pillars and ornate crystal chandeliers inside, but don’t forget the exterior and gardens that are best viewed by water.
Grand Bazaar
Our final treasure form Istanbul is the infamous Grand Bazaar. This bustling covered market is one of the oldest in the world. This is a fantastic place to explore and partake in some street photography. The Bazaar itself is comprised of sixty streets that are home to over 5,000 shops. There are thousands of locals, visitors and shoppers here each day to browse the various jewellery, fabric, spice and antique stalls. If you want to see some authentic Turkey culture, this is the place for you.
Other people have suggested this as well Burak so it could be the main reason although the guide didn’t want to admit it!
In my opinion the ban of photography is not only related to the flash, which like you said todays cameras are good with low light, or to the security issues, but there is a fact that the museum/s would like to sell their own books and postcards etc. So, I beleive it’s more on the money side…
Love the medieval buildings and the grand bazaar.
Iv come across so much about Turkey on travel blogs that I aspire to visit the country one day.
I bet the architecture would be amazing ! considering the oldest buildings around our area were built around late 1700’s and those a few and far between, we do have many in the 1800’s and the house I live in was built in 1805. I’m always amazed at the incredible architecture and would love one day to tour Turkey
Hi Judy, I ended up buying postcards of the interior and then scanned them. After a little bit of photo editing, they were acceptable although obviously not as good as the actual thing. In my tour, one Turkish photographer was trying to get an answer as to why it was banned inside. The guide said flash photography would ruin the antiques. The photographer replied that in this day and age, most cameras have functions to take photos inside without a flash. But the tour guide was not interested!
I still think the architecture and gardens are worthwhile photo subjects though
Interesting post. One problem though is that photography is no longer permitted in Dolmabache Palace. We went along a couple of years ago for the sole purpose of recapturing digitally that which we had got on film several years previously. With NO indoor photography allowed we didn’t bother to pay the price just to take more pictures of the gardens.