On Saturday afternoon, we took the MyCiti bus to the airport and discovered that the actual departure time was 40 minutes earlier than the time printed on our tickets. We came close to missing the plane, but we made it in the nick of time
and boarded Turkish Airlines TK 0041. We and the small contingent of Cape Town passengers flew to Johannesburg and killed two hours in the aircraft on the ground before taking off and
landing in Istanbul at 5.30am on Sunday, tired from a sleepless night - we never sleep well on planes and love KLM's daylight flight from Amsterdam. Service on Turkish was good and the plane food slightly better than usual
Then came the shock. After about an hour in the long queue for immigration, in the worst queues we have ever seen worldwide, with thousands shuffling, we discovered that the Turks require a visa for UK passports. John had applied for and printed out his e-Visa, free of charge. Lynne had been told a visa wasn't necessary for a UK passport. She had to go and buy one (€25) and rejoin at the back of the queue, which took another hour. Landed 05h15 left airport 08h30, exhausted
Immigration cleared, we went down to the underground Metro station, bought our Istanbulkart pass cards (similar to a MyCiti card) and boarded the train, having been told by the security man to go to the second last stop on the line
We got off and stopped at a nearby hotel to ask for directions. We needed to go to the last stop on the line
So we did that
and went looking for our digs. Lost again and went onto the Hotel Kuran to ask directions. The very kind concierge took us into his foyer, brought us tea and coffee (no charge) and called the people at our self-catering apartment
The young manager came to fetch and said "5 to 10 minutes walk". He was a bit optimistic, but we made it. Lynne had turned her ankle in Cape Town. It took 25 excruciating minutes walk, dragging suitcases and bodies
to Tura Apartments
and checked in... We knew the room wouldn't be ready before 1pm and this was about 10am
So we deposited our cases and he showed us the way to the centre of the suburb so we could look for provisions and see the sights. We are in the ancient quarter of Fatih opposite the ferry
There is a huge variety of inexpensive food (some plates of rice and beans for as little as L1 = R4.50) savoury
and sweet, mostly expensive
We stopped at one small restaurant for lunch, cubed chicken breast with aubergine, potato and cheese and grilled chicken pilaf.No beer (Muslim restaurant)
so we ordered a lemonade each
and walked on through the neighbourhood streets
Lynne spotted this bit of antiquity with a very modern scooter and a fig tree growing from the neighbour roof
Then our lights went out (sound familiar?) with a power cut. Lynne had brought a torch,
so we could negotiate our three flights of dark stairs,
and we walked to nearby Kumkapı square,
The surrounding streets are also full of places to eat.
This man appeared to be making his own ice cream
The menu is clear, with prices. You ask for details
A band playing traditional Turkish music sat at one of the restaurants. They move around all evening
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015
