Full Day Byzantine&ottoman Highlights

Our guide was very friendly, personable, and very knowledgeable of the area we visited. I highly recommend using Emine’s company to provide tours.

We traveled with a large group that included a toddler, a kid and a teenager, plus 6 adults. I can only say that the experience was amazing! Emine was 100% responsive all the time, plus Iskender, our tour guide and Ali our driver were attentive, patient and always willing to help (even with unexpected stops). Iskender is super knowledgeable and if you are looking for a tour guide in English, Spanish or Mandarin he is your guy. He always went above and beyond to make our Turkey experience unforgettable full of unforgettable family memories. Emine and group thanks again, touring Istanbul was a pleasure thanks to all of you!

This review is long overdue. My family and I have done several tours with Emine in the past.  When  my husband, sons, parents and I decided to  go to Turkey this summer I did not hesitate to  contact her.  We originally planned our trip for 10 days and based on this she sent us an itinerary.  We decided to extend the trip to 15 days  and she was always available to  answer all of my questions through email and Whatsapp,  recommending hotels and booking all of our tours and transportation.   Once we arrived in Turkey, Emine was in constant communication with me and sent me information of  who the tour guide was going to be in each city, what transportation company and driver was picking us up and our scheduled times .If I had any questions, Emine answered right away. Knowing that we were traveling with my father who is older and  does not have the energy to walk long distances, she made sure we had a wheelchair wherever we went.  Each of the tour guides she scheduled contacted us a day prior to the tour and confirmed locations. Our tour  guides  Azime (Ephesus/Kusadasi) and  Mr. Ebubekir (Cappadocia) were wonderful. They were knowledgeable, flexible, social and super easy to work with. Once we arrived in Istanbul, Emine was with us for 4 days. We did the Byzantine relics and Grand Bazaar, the Ottoman Highlights, Bebek, Ortakoy and Bosphorus tour.  She is extremely knowledgeable and on top of  all the information she provided she also answered all of our questions. She is professional, caring  and made sure she accommodated all of our personal needs and requests.   If you are traveling to Turkey, I would recommend enlisting Emine's services to maximize your best Turkish experience. 

I had a wonderful experience visiting Istanbul and Turkey with Emine and her team. I did a several day tour including two full days in Istanbul exploring key Byzantine and Ottoman historical and archealogical sites, two days in Kusadasi (a lovely beach resort along the Aegean coast) and two days in Izmir. When I arrived and departed Istanbul and other cities they made sure I got to my hotel and key sites every day hassle free - something I was very thankful for given how huge Istanbul and Turkey are and how varied the public transit system is. The tour guides were very knowledgeable, fun and went above and beyond to add additional historical and social context to the sites we visited, ensure all my questions were answered and to connect me with other fun recommendations to check out during my visit. Emine was super helpful whenever I ran into complications with my tri, like when I was trying to get last minute ferry tickets from Istanbul to Bursa. I highly recommend taking a tour with this great team.

Sure, I can write that she was on time, accommodating, extremely knowledgeable, and a blast to spend the day with, and that would all be true. But Emine, was so much more. She brought to this tour a personalized experience that made us feel like this was all new and unique, not just a job. We felt like we made a friend and not spent the day with a tour guide. Awesome experience that will be with us for the rest of our lives. Highly recommend this tour. John N

Our family of four (my husband and I and our two adult daughters) took the full-day tour of Istanbul with Emine. She is an excellent guide and shared many interesting details about the places we visited (my daughter especially remembered the bit about the ostrich eggs in the Blue Mosque). We were able to visit all of the sites except for Hagia Sophia because the line there was so long (we were there on a Saturday) that we all agreed that we didn't want to wait hours (we didn't want to risk not making it back to our cruise ship). I guess we'll have to return to Istanbul!

Actually we did two different full day tours with Emine. And I am so glad we did. She is engaging, personable and an absolute delight. She did more than take us to sights or conduct a tour. She wove in history, personal history, perspectives and anecdotes to make what we were experiencing come alive and to appreciate what a fascinating part Istanbul has played through the centuries in coming to our understanding of the world today.

There were two couples on our tour. We were very lucky to have Emine as our guide! She was knowledgeable, friendly, and flexible. As the four of us can be talkative and joking, I’m sure we were a little of a challenge. However, Emine fit in with us and by the end of our tour she had integrated herself as part of our group with loads of information to impart! Generally speaking, as I leave these situations I think to myself, would I want this person as a friend? The answer in this case is a definite yes. If you are lucky and get Emine as a guide, you will be very fortunate!

Great way to explore the city. Ugar was great at taking us to popular destinations and telling our group alot about the history of Istanbul. We did a walking tour so we used tram as we are a group of 6 and it was a very cool experience. We got to stop by the Sophia grand mosque and it is so stunning inside and learning more about the history Definitely worth the wait. There is so much to see in Istanbul so one day is definitely not enough. It was unfortunate that the Blue Mosque was under renovation. Hopefully will he back to do another tour and to explore there next time.

Emine was such a lovely tour guide. She was very knowledgeable and friendly. It was as if we were spending the day in Istanbul with a friend we’d known for a while. The trip was easy and had a flow to it. Emine knew how to navigate the crowds and get us to the front of the queue, when possible, and with ease. She listened to our needs as a group while keeping to the curriculum of the tour we booked. It was an all around pleasure…aside from the heat of the day. Thank you, Emine!

Great company, great exposition of the topic on the history of the Two main Mosque in Instanbul. She then took us to e very pleasant restaurant and then she companied us to the big Bazaar

Emine was an excellent guide with so much information on the history of Istanbul. She is enthusiastic and knows how to make the most of your time. After touring the sites we stopped for a terrific lunch and then a visit to the spice market. Full day and so interesting, but put on your walking shoes!

Who knew so much history would be found in less than 1.5Km of my hotel! Emine was a spirited and tireless guide as she took my party through three major places of worship, Hippodrome, lunch and shooing at rhe world’s largest bazzare. I would have booked her for round two rhe next day but she is not available as her fame spreads.I highly recommend her.

Eminee gave us the best day in Istanbul! Our walking tour exceeded my expectations and was filled with so much history and information, I’m still processing it all. Eminee a personable, professional, educated guide with amazing English. We visited Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, Topkapi Palace, Istanbul Bazaar and so many other historic things along the way. She took us to a wonderful lunch spot and even accommodated our request to see Serefiye Cistern. If you’re looking for a top notch tour Eminee is for you! I’ll be sending my family and friends her way for sure.

I went to Turkey with my wife on our honeymoon trip, it was Excellent, guided by Ms. Emine as our guide. Ms. Emine show us the beauty of Istanbul which is rich of history, beautifull architecture, fascinating tradition, some unique delicasies, and some great places for shopping. And we do love how Ms. Emine tell every story on every History Sites and Places, very professional yet easy to understand, Emine really show us how wonderfull Turkey was, and now Turkey is on my Top 3 Destination to visit.

I went to Istanbul guided by Ms.Emine, few years ago she is very professional and full of experience and she speaks bahasa indonesia too

We had Emine as our guide for 3 full days in Istanbul, visiting all the key sites including the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Dolmabahçe, Topkapi, the Bosphorus tour, etc. Emine is extremely knowledgeable with regards to all aspects and was able to tell the full historic background, the politics at the time as well as the religious side. The schedule was perfectly planned to ensure we were able to see as much of Istanbul as possible. Emine also provided helpful recommendations for restaurants and sites for our other days in Istanbul. We had such a memorable experience thanks to Emine! We highly recommend reaching out to Emine who will meticulously help you plan the most wonderful time in Istanbul!

Our tour went well and in time. Emine was able to make our experience light and rich. We plan to return to Turkey and will certainly contract her services again

Emine was a absolute exquisite guide. Organized, couteous, knowledgeable and passionnate about her country and her city. Through her we could appreciate the history and the evolution of turkey over the years. her english impeccable and so is her Indonesian, so urprising! Highly recommended....don't hesitate. Call her!

Emine is perfect in English and is extremely knowledgeable from politics to religion, and tourism in turkey of course! She was our guide for 5 days actually. She is very flexible and arranged everything for us. Lunch, dinner, tickets, etc and scheduled everything for us according to our preferences. She is polite and diligent! She will get everything done as requested in a convenient and efficient way. You will not be disappointed!

I was referred to Emine by a mutual friend. I don't speak Turkish, but she speaks excellent English :) We chatted by phone and email about the things I wished to do and the sights I wished to see. When we met in the morning of the tour, she had all the necessary tickets ready for us. I'm an amateur photographer and she took me to places where I could get good shots. She also ran interference so I wasn't bothered by street vendors, especially going through the Grand Bazaar. That is worth a lot! In addition to being a wonderful tour guide, she was also a friendly and informative companion who could answer my questions about the social situation in Turkey. I will be returning to Istanbul in mid-April and hope that I will be able to engage Emine's services again :)

I took a day group tour with Emine where she made my first visit to Istanbul a memorable one, leaving me wanting to visit this magical city again! She greeted us with a smile and enthusiasm that set the tone for the day ahead. We visited all main tourist attractions, where she did a great job sharing her extensive knowledge of local history, answering all of our questions for each attraction visited. Emine also took us to some hidden gems best known to locals for us to experience the real Istanbul and taste some delicious Turkish dishes and delicacies. Very professional with good time management skills, whilst still being flexible and thoughtful, she went beyond her duties putting personal effort to accommodate individual group members’ requests for souvenir shopping and helped arrange evening activities for the group. I found this tour to be an excellent historical and cultural introduction to this amazing city, with Emine being a five star choice and best tour guide you would wish for; being good fun and with her easy going personality it felt more like spending the day with a friend.

I went on a day-long tour with Emine my first day in Istanbul. I was familiar with the names and some of the history of major sites, but Emine provided the missing context and put things in perspective. She has a deep knowledge of the history and geography of Istanbul and is eager to share it. My trip was more enjoyable and meaningful because of Emine's guidance. She knows all the secrets. Beyond her expertise, she is a fun person to spend a day with.

It was our first visit to Istanbul and we were short on time so we were eager to cover as many of the major sites as possible. Emine gave us the best introduction to this amazing city, we covered all the major highlights; Haghia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, Grand Bazaar and Topkapi Palace. Emine shared interesting historical information at every site and ensured we skipped through all the queues. We stopped for a lovely coffee in the morning and lunch to recharge in the afternoon. Overall it was a relaxing day because Emine took all the stress and indecision out of sightseeing so we could fully engage and concentrate on all the amazing sites and sounds of this incredible city. We would highly recommend Emine's services to anyone and are already planning another trip!

I had a wonderful time on my tour. I enjoyed every minute. I learned so much about this beautiful city. Emine was such a great guide. She really made my trip. I can’t wait to come back!