Day 28
Arriving in Istanbul
Monday, September 16, 2024
Merhaba,
We had an early start this morning. Our flight to Istanbul was at 1:00 pm. It is an international flight, so we had to be at the airport three hours prior (11:00 am). It was a four-hour drive to Sofia airport, and we wanted to allow time for breaks. So we were on the road by 6:30 am.
The drive was pretty easy. We headed North for a short while to Burgas, and from there we turned West onto the A1 motorway which took us right to the airport. The speed limit on the A1 varies from 100 km/h to 140 km/h so we made good time.
Booking a parking space for Helga, our VW Golf, was frustrating. There were many websites selling parking at Sofia airport, but none seemed to have any parking spaces available. It was weird, everyone we tried said "no spaces available". Some of the sites also looked a bit dodgy. In a final burst of inspiration, instead of searching Google for "sofia airport parking", we located the Sofia Airport official website. On this site we could easily and cheaply book a parking space.
When we arrived at Sofia Airport we were nervous about things going wrong. But it was effortless to locate the Terminal 2 parking garage. At the barrier, our number plate was read automatically, in we went, and there were lots of parking spaces in a clean and modern underground parking garage.
Pegasus Airways flew us to Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Istanbul without any dramas. Sabiha Gokcen International Airport was modern and efficient, but we still had a long wait to get through border control. It was just the sheer number of people going through the airport. And this is the smaller Istanbul airport!
After claiming our bags we found an ATM to get some cash, then located the Metro station within the airport. On our way to the Metro station, we had our official welcome to the Republic of Türkiye - a little black and white cat licking its arse in the middle of the concourse.
We bought ourselves an Istanbulkart at one of the ticket machines and loaded it with ₺200 credit (about NZD$9.50). The Istanbulkart can be used to pay for travel on the Metro, trams, buses, ferries and trains in Istanbul. A single card can also be shared by up to five people, which was great because we didn't have to manage credit across two cards.
We took the M4 Metro from Sabiha Gokcen International Airport all the way to the ferry terminal at Kadıköy on the Eastern banks of the Bosporus Strait. It cost us ₺20 each! That's NZD$0.95 each. It was a fast, clean, modern train, it was easy and stress-free to locate, and it offered incredible value for money.
And here is where things went wrong. When we arrived in Kadıköy we had no data on our phones. We realised later that the Holafly eSIM for Europe package excludes Türkiye. Some competitor eSIM-for-Europe packages do include Türkiye, but Holafly does not.
Without data, we had no access to Google Maps. Stupidly, we hadn’t downloaded a local copy of the map for Istanbul. We also couldn't access our booking details and we couldn't remember the names of the ferry terminals and the name of the suburb our hotel was located in.
All around us was chaos. Istanbul has a population of somewhere around 15 million people. One city with three times the population of New Zealand! There just seemed to be people and cars and noise in all directions.
Inside a busy ferry terminal we looked for an old-fashioned paper map but couldn't find one. Eventually, we found an employee in the ferry building who told us to take the ferry to Karaköy and pointed to a ferry that was about to leave. We scanned our Istanbulkart, clambered on board the ferry with our luggage and crossed our fingers the ferry would go in the right direction.
Then we sat and relaxed and realised we crossing the Bosporus Strait on a ferry just as the sun was setting behind Hagia Sofia and The Blue Mosque. It was a magical moment. Not sure that our photos do it justice.
The ferry terminal at Karaköy was completely mad, more so than Kadıköy. We clamoured off the ferry to be slapped in the face by the unmistakable smell of a fish market. Then we just stood on the corner of Tersane Caddesi and Kemeralti Caddesi with our mouths hanging open. It was just an endless stream of people and cars and trams. So many people, so much noise, everyone shouting and horns tooting.
Somehow we had to cross this intersection to get to our hotel. Without getting run over. We stood for about twenty minutes watching the chaos and planning our move.
Eventually, we plucked up the courage, and scampered across a couple of pedestrian crossings (which mean nothing to the taxi drivers), jay walked the last leg and came to a fence. We had to walk up the road for about 30 metres, dragging our bags towards the oncoming cars, to get around the fence and onto the footpath. Somehow we made it unscathed.
After a short climb up a hill, we found our hotel.
We also found our friend Debbie.
Before leaving New Zealand we had made plans to meet up with Debbie in Istanbul. Debbie had just arrived in Istanbul from New Zealand (via Singapore). Debbie was in fine form and had already scoped out a restaurant for dinner with a handsome young waiter.
We had dinner on the terrace overlooking a back street of old Istanbul, in a very nice restaurant, with a handsome young waiter and a cold beer,
Tomorrow we have a very early start. We are travelling to Gallipoli to view the memorials to the ANZAC and Turkish soldiers who fought in World War I.
Love to you all from Grandma & Koro & Buzzy Bee.