Wrapping up our last day in Iceland, we boarded our flight, Lufthansa 869, to Frankfurt a little after midnight. This was a red-eye flight, so we tried to get as much rest as we could as we flew southeast overnight. We landed about 40 minutes late, but we didn’t have a tight connection, so it was fine. After landing, we headed to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge A (Schengen) for a quick breakfast.
Our plan was to visit Frankfurt and look around. We were able to leave our backpacks in the luggage lockers available in the lounge and headed to take the train to Frankfurt. We were at one of the ticket vending machines figuring out what to do when a German man walked up to us and suggested that we get the group day ticket; even though we were just two of us, it would turn out to be more cost-effective compared to individual tickets. As we continued the process to complete the purchase, he came back and also handed us a map to explain which train we needed to take and which station we should get down at. We were pleasantly surprised with his proactive helpfulness; we sincerely thanked him and headed to the platform to take the S8/S9 train to Frankfurt (M) Hauptwache.
It was a beautiful day in Frankfurt. Walking up from the Frankfurt (M) Hauptwache station, we were right in front of St. Catherine’s Church (St. Katharinenkirche), the city’s largest Evangelical church built in Baroque style. Walking around, we saw the David and Goliath Sculpture and the unique glass facade of the MyZeil shopping mall.
We then walked to St. Paul’s Church; built in red brick, it is a memorial to the start of German democracy. We also saw the Denkmal der deutschen Revolution. We circled the block and saw Langer Franz as we headed towards Römerberg.
We reached the Frankfurter Römer, the town hall, which is a medieval building with a stepped gable facade. The cobbled town square was lined with reconstructed timber houses and had the Fountain of Justice in the middle.
We then walked to the New Old Town (Neue Altstadt), which had a group of townhouses destroyed in WWII and now restored to their pre-war look, and the Neo-Renaissance style Stoltze Fountain monument (Stoltze-Brunnen).
Our next stop was the Gothic-style Frankfurt Cathedral (Kaiserdom St. Bartholomäus). We also saw A Model for a Monument for Mr. and Mrs. Heinrich Deichmann and the Skulptur Elch around the corner.
We could see the waterfront now and walked towards it, crossing the river over the Alte Brücke.
Walking along the tree-lined bank on the other side, we had great views of the Frankfurt skyline.
We crossed back over the Iron Footbridge (Eiserner Steg), which was lined with padlocks attached by couples.
Passing the Young Museum, we saw the Baroque-style Liebfrauenberg Fountain (Liebfrauenberg-Brunnen) and then headed back to Frankfurt (M) Hauptwache to take the train to the airport.
After reaching the airport, we went to the Lufthansa Senator check-in area to see if they would be able to issue the boarding passes for our next flights on Turkish Airlines. The agent there was very polite and helpful but was unable to issue the Turkish Airlines boarding passes even though it was all on one ticket. He suggested that we check with Turkish Airlines, who would be able to issue them for us. We waited in line at the Turkish Airlines check-in counter for our turn and explained the situation to the agent, but he refused to help because our flight from Frankfurt was not on Turkish Airlines. I’m sure he could have issued the boarding passes for us if he wanted to, but his behavior was dismissive and abrasive—so much so that I actually told him that he was very rude to us before walking off. After that, we cleared security and headed back to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge A (Schengen). The lounge had a nice selection for lunch.
We had a quick meal, collected our bags, and headed to the gate for boarding our next flight, Lufthansa 1310, to Malta. We flew south over Switzerland, Italy, Sicily, and the Mediterranean Sea before landing in Malta around 4:30 PM.
Our bags were checked through to Mumbai at Reykjavík, so on arrival, we walked across to the departure area to get our boarding passes for the Turkish Airlines flight. The check-in counters had not opened yet, so we decided to visit the Observation Deck on the third floor of the terminal building. The corridor was lined with information about the history of this airport, and the terrace had a nice view of the apron and aircraft movements.
After spending some time there, we headed back down to the departure area. People were queuing up at the Turkish Airlines check-in counters. We got access to the business class check-in thanks to my United Premier Gold status. The Turkish Airlines check-in agent here was polite and efficient, in stark contrast to our experience at Frankfurt. He issued our boarding passes for the next two segments and asked us to fill in the Air Suvidha form online before departure.
With that done, we headed out to explore a little bit of Malta. We walked from the airport towards Gudja, a village in the Southern Region of Malta. The weather and architecture were very different from mainland Europe; it felt as if we were somewhere in the Middle East. Walking through the narrow streets, we reached St. Mary’s Parish Church. From there, we walked towards Palazzo Dorell and then circled back to Gnien Raymond Caruana before heading back to the airport. We wanted to visit Kappella Ta’ Bir Miftuħ but were not sure how long that would take, so we decided to skip it.
Clearing security was quick as there weren’t too many people. We had been invited to use the La Valette Club before departure thanks to my status. The lounge had a glass wall with views of the airfield. The seating was comfortable, and again, there weren’t too many people around. There was a wide selection of complimentary snacks and beverages; we especially liked the cheese infused with cranberries. We relaxed for a while, got something to eat and drink, and then decided to go to the gate for departure.
The lounge was in the common area after clearing security for all flights. So, we cleared departure immigration and our passports were stamped, thus ending our trip in the Schengen zone. We crossed over to the area of non-Schengen international gates and waited for some time. When boarding started, we were able to get access to the priority lane. We exited the terminal building at ground level and walked across the tarmac to board the aircraft the old-fashioned way: using stairs.
Our flight, Turkish Airlines 1372, landed in Istanbul a little after midnight, and we headed to the Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Lounge. The retiring rooms were only available to passengers flying Business Class on Turkish Airlines, so we scouted around to find a place to catch some sleep. I had read online that the complimentary tour was only available for passengers flying on Turkish Airlines-operated flights with tickets issued by Turkish Airlines. With this query, I checked with the Turkish Airlines help desk in the lounge about taking the Transit Tour the next morning from the airport. The agent there was very helpful and even called the Transit Tour desk right away and confirmed that we would, in fact, be able to take the tour without any issues. With that sorted, we decided to get some shut-eye before the last day of our trip tomorrow. The lounge was surprisingly crowded overnight, but we were able to find empty sofas to stretch out and catch some sleep.
✈️ Lufthansa 869
✈️ Lufthansa 1310
✈️ Turkish Airlines 1372
🍽️ Lufthansa Senator Lounge A
🍽️ La Valette Club