Comment:
We booked a half-day guide only tour for the morning of our cruise ship's stay in Istanbul. We could not have made a better choice. Our focus was on the historic area, Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque. Our guide, Burca Eke, was great. She was friendly and very well informed, able to describe the sites in their historical and social context as well as answering our questions about the development of modern Turkey and current conditions. It was just like having a friend take us around. Having an official tour guide saved us hours of standing in line for admission - she took us directly to the head of the line (it may also have helped that we had pre-purchased admission tickets on line from the Istanbul Museums web site). Making arrangements through OTTI/IstanbulToursONLINE was easy and Burca met us on time and exactly where promised at the cruise ship docks (we then took the very modern tram into the center). By choosing guide-only we had complete flexibility in our half day. Although many on the ship chose fully escorted group tours, we're convinced we had a much better experience. Would recommend this to anyone. |