When we landed in Istanbul, it was already 6:15 PM local time. The passport control took quite some time, and by the time we were leaving the airport it was about seven. A man holding a sign with our names on it was waiting for us at the exit.
It was a hot day, even that late in the afternoon. The rolled down windows on the highway served us instead of an AC. The driver didn't speak any English, so we couldn't ask him for any pointer about the city. Their driving here is more loose, for lack of a better term. The barely visible lanes are there just for suggestion. Cars are smaller and apparently more narrow, because they were squeezing between what I would think is two cars in two lanes spaces. They mostly drive with just one hand; the other is either holding a cell phone, supporting the right side of the body on the arm rest, or dangling out the window and signaling other driver to pass or as a turn signal, or it's on the horn. There is a lot of honking here. I was surprised how big Istanbul is. It took us about 45 min to get to our hotel in Taksim, and we drove through all densely populated areas. My first impression was that it looked like much larger and advanced Sarajevo, but the people's mannerisms are about the same.
Our hotel, Golden Age 1, is mediocre. It wasn't my pick, and I just lost interest in making a decision on it after weeks of talking about it. We paid EUR90 per night for it, but "at the door" price at the reception desk is EUR190. It has a great location, just 3 min walk to the main square, but is still on a quiet street. It has no view, and the room is about what you';d find in a motel 8 type of places. They don't offer toiletries in the bathroom, but they have two soap dispensers. Our night stand lamp cable was sparking and smoking when lamp was turned on. We asked them for a soap and to fix the lamp, but they didn't come while we went out in the evening. When we were back, I couldn't figure out how to turn any light on *apparently you have to plug your room key into some wall pocket(, so when they came about that, I had them change the lamp, too. We'll see, maybe my opinion about hotel will improve - we spend so little time there anyway.
We ate kebabs for dinner and had "the best Turkish" Efes beer, recommended by the owner of a small restaurant, Hanchi Baba, near by, after being handed to some four paper menus in the same block of the street. Afterwards, we went for a stroll down the main drag filled with people, both locals and tourists. 
It reminded me a lot of the main pedestrian street in Sarajevo, Ferhadija. Although it was close to midnight, many shops and all eateries were still open. Within five minutes we saw a Subway, McDonald's. Burger King and Starbucks, two of them. The side streets had many restaurants and cafes with outside seating areas. The street merchants were were selling cooked and baked corn (misir), one was even selling mussels served with lemon juice. 
All ice cream places had a man dressed in traditional Turkish outfit and with huge metal spoons folding and poking the ice cream inside the metal bins. We passed by couple of mosques and two churches as well, but gates of the courtyards were closed on each. One was even guarded by a police car and men with guns. We even saw a couple of priests walk by while we were eating dinner. 
I also noticed several people turning their prayer beads as they were walking. Many women had their heads covered, much more so than in Sarajevo, Mom observed it's most common now then 20 years ago when she was here. Many of them were older, but we saw quite a few with small children as well. It seems most of them are from other countries, because they spoke English with the locals. Majority of young people, and other tourists of course, were dressed just the same as folks in the west do; there were all sorts of stiles. There are so many things we could see here, so tomorrow we'll make a plan. We tentatively each put in three ideas; mine were the Basilica of Hagia Sofia (Holy Wisdom) no called Ayasofya Museum, the Blue Mosque, and a boat ride down the Strait, that separates Europe and Asia. Mom would like a dinner on the Bosphorus canal, some time on the beach and long perusing through Kapali Charshy (Covered Bazaar). It's supposed to be sunny and hot (86F) this week, unlike Sarajevo where it's 50s and raining this week, so hopefully that won't slow us down too much.
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