Global Wanderer

22/7/23 – 23/7/23

Thanks to my British passport, I can get visa-free entry into Turkey, saving me the $90 e-Visa fee I had to pay last time when I only had my Australian one! After navigating through the long, Uzbek-filled immigration queue (flights from Samarkand and Tashkent had both arrived within 30 minutes of each other, and I’d learned last year that queueing is not known as an Uzbek specialty), I finally got out of the airport, and headed for the Havaist bus stands. A metro line has recently been completed which connects the new airport with… well, not quite the city centre. They’ve basically built half of the line, and it doesn’t have any direct connections with other metro lines yet, so whilst it is fantastic that the infrastructure is being completed, at this point in time, I would still have to recommend the Havaist bus if you’re travelling in the Sultanahmet direction. That being said, the bus isn’t without issues! Route 12, which normally runs to Beyazit Meydani (Grand Bazaar), now terminates much earlier, at the Aksaray metro station, due to roadworks. So, if you’re travelling in the way I am, your best bet is to get off at Aksaray, and take the tram heading in the direction of Eminönü (get off wherever you need – I jumped off at Sultanahmet).

I finally got to the Basilliss Hotel at about 1:30pm, where I dropped off my bag, and promptly headed out for a walk. I had two deadlines I needed to meet: I had a massage booked at 7:30pm at Cagaloglu Hamam, and I had to be at the airport by 22:30 so that I could meet my Dad off his flight from Manchester (more on that story later!). That left me with about 6 hours to stroll around, acquire a kebab, and eat dondurma! Having spent a week in Istanbul around the same time last year, in roughly the same area, I was pretty familiar with the directions, and so headed down towards the Horn to by far my favourite dondurma shop.

Now that item 1 on my Istanbul checklist had been acquired, I decided to head to one of the teahouses that mostly serve the shop owners along one of the side streets in that area. After walking up and down the street a few times, I spotted a tiny one that was showing live FIFA Women’s World Cup on a small TV in the back. That, I decided, was where I was going to plonk myself for a while, and so I happily watched football and drank copious amounts tea for about two hours!

I finally decided to move when the rumbling in my stomach finally became too loud to ignore – döner dürüm time! There was a place that I’d visited last time I was here, about a 35 minute walk away, and so I decided to go for a wander! Not much has changed here in the last year, unsurprisingly, and so it was relatively easy for me to find my way! Finally, I found the kebab shop, nestled into a corner almost entirely out of view from the street.

Massage done! And I really do feel refreshed – this is the second time I’ve been to Cagaloglu Hamam and I can safely say I’d continue to recommend it! After getting my bag from the hotel, I headed to the tram stop at Sultanahmet, got off at Aksaray, and waited for the next Havaist bus back to the airport!

It has just turned midnight, so I guess I’m technically into my final day away from home! Dad’s flight from Manchester didn’t leave until over 2 hours after it was intended to depart, and so he’s due in at about 12:30, with the gate closing for KL at 1:00. Going to be a tough one!

Update: he made it! With about 3 minutes to spare (I was checking with the gate staff every 20 seconds), we were the last lot of people to board the plane. Guess this means we’re going home! The flight was uneventful – I slept most of it! – and we made it to KL with plenty of time for Dad to go to the transfer counter in the main terminal. However, not all smooth sailing… his Batik Air flight has been moved from 18:45 to 23:55. I left Dad in the main terminal, his complimentary lounge pass in hand, and headed to the satellite terminal for my flight to Perth, which was only delayed by 20 minutes. Once we boarded, I found myself in the very last row (50H), in a seat with less legroom than the standard seats. Given I’m 185cm tall, and Malaysian’s legroom isn’t exactly amazing to start with, I found myself physically unable to squeeze myself into the seat. Stewards to the rescue though – I was asked unprompted to please move up to the front of the section and sit in the bulkhead seat by the door – uninterrupted legroom for about a metre and a half! At about 1:25 we touched down, and a grand total of 12 minutes later, I was through Customs to meet my Mum, who had pushed through her own jetlag to come and get me from the airport. Trip = complete!