Our final day in Istanbul in November was really just a few hours, as our car was picking us up about 11 am. After breakfast and packing, we headed across Galata Bridge. We loved seeing the fishermen and the birds catching their breakfast. Then we headed to Rüstem Paşa Mosque, which we had loved our last visit. It is covered in blue tiles and is very pretty. Given that the Blue Mosque is currently under renovation and mostly covered up, it is a better stopping point these days! We had the place to ourselves, which is also always a win.

Then we decided to wander the markets a bit. We found a Mabel chocolate shop, which is a well-known Turkish chocolate that our AirBnB host recommended. We also bought some Turkish coffee grounds for DH. The coffee shop always has very long lines. But it’s more of a To Go Window Pick Up place–just tell them how many grams/kilograms you want and get handed a bag of grounds!

We then wandered the Egyptian Spice Market. The kids LOVE getting samples. We stopped at one stall to find out what the purple Turkish delight was (pomegranate it turned out) and they proceeded to give us MASSIVE samples of every flavor. So then, of course, we ended up buying a ton too. We headed outside to buy grilled corn and simit (a type of bread with sesame seeds) before heading back to our rental for the drive back to Ankara. Overall, a wonderful weekend trip to Istanbul.

For other posts about Istanbul, go here.