A trip to Istanbul! Monday 2nd October

We’re back! 

Ben's bout of food poisoning at the end of our Rwanda trip didn’t put him off completely! 


This time for a few days in Istanbul! We took the BA flight from Heathrow - paying a little extra instead of getting the Wizz Air flight from Luton. We boarded on schedule and took off on time - something flights don’t seem to do these days! There was a complimentary bottle of water and nutrigrain bar on the flight, and noticeably a couple of extra inches leg room compared to a budget airline. We arrived above Istanbul early and had to do a few circles before there was room for us to land. 


We flew into SAW airport, and had arranged a transfer through booking.com - very easy to do if you have genius level 3! They aren’t allowed to hold up signs inside the airport so we had to go to a random pillar outside and point to a sign, but no issues, and our giant people carrier taxi turned up to take us to the hotel. 


The journey was about an hour, and the scenery was mostly large skyscrapers (either already built or in the process of being built) and mosques. A lot of mosques! we drove right over the bridge from Asia to Europe! It was pouring with rain but it didn’t really matter for day 1! 


The further into the city we drove, the worse the traffic and the narrower the roads. In some places cars had to do three point turns around each other to all end up going the direction they wanted to go in! Our taxi driver was quite gung ho - just drove full speed ahead and if a few wing mirrors was the price to pay… he paid it! We were glad to have prebooked a taxi instead of getting a random one on a meter! 


We are staying at Seven Hills Palace Hotel and Spa (they also have a sister hotel called Seven Hills) and it’s quite new but very ornately decorated. It’s right on the seafront and we have a beautiful big room but it is on the ground floor. You get 30 minutes use of the inside spa a day free, and they have an outdoor pool. There is a buffet breakfast in the morning. 



After sitting in the room for 10 minutes and several people walking past the windows, we asked the front desk if there were any rooms upstairs… and boom! New room, quieter and with no nosy onlookers! 





We ate in the hotel restaurant and had a kebab each - apparently they were excellent according to the kebab connoisseur that is Ben! The local cat tried desperately to get some. 


We had a little wonder up and down the main streets and saw the blue mosque in the dark - all lit up like the Disney castle (although it was only from the outside) - pictures don’t really do it justice. 


Tomorrow, onto exploring. 

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