We got up early to get ready to pass through immigration and customs to join the transit tour from the airport. I had a great day in Istanbul 🔗 with touristanbul the last time I was here in transit. We had a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs, cheese, pastries and Turkish coffee. There were, of course, many other things to choose from, like sandwiches, a live omelette station, fresh juices, etc. But we were rushed and didn’t have the time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast. The day long tour was scheduled to depart at 8:30 AM, so we left the Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles lounge at around 7:00 AM to find a way to exit the departure level.
The new Istanbul airport is massive and that’s an understatement. We tried to figure things out by following signs and asking people, but kept going in circles. Finally the Information Desk was able to give us correct instructions and point us to the right door to exit. We had to show our onward boarding pass and explained that we had the whole day ahead and had the required eVisa. With that, we were allowed to pass through and we went one level down to clear immigration. There was no crowd at all and we got our passports stamped very quickly after showing the printout of the eVisa. Passing through customs control, we darted towards the Transit Tour desk. The person at the counter told us that even though we were connecting between flights operated and marketed by Turkish Airlines, our actual ticket was not issued by Turkish Airlines so we were not eligible for the the transit tour. All the pre-checking last night and the mad rush this morning seemed wasted. Instead of trying to somehow score a spot on the transit tour, we just decided to visit the city on our own.
We exited at Level (-2), the arrival passenger boarding platforms at Istanbul Airport for taking the bus to the city. HAVAIST offers comfortable and economical passenger transportation services between Istanbul Airport and many points of Istanbul. We found their office at the bus platform and they told us that we could purchase the ticket from the driver using a credit card and if we didn’t need to use other local transport in Istanbul, we didn’t really need an Istanbulkart. In hindsight, we should have bought it. We were advised to take HVIST-12 and then walk to Sultanahmet Square. We bought tickets and boarded the bus around 8:00 AM. The journey was comfortable and not too long. We reached the Aksaray Metro stop at around 9:00 AM. Using Google Maps for directions, it showed us it was about a 25-30 minutes walk to Sultanahmet Square.
Walking past the Laleli - Üniversite tram station we thought that we should have bought the Istanbulkart and used the tram to get to our next destination. The ticket vending machine at the tram stop didn’t accept credit cards so we walked to the ATM near the Vezneciler Metro station to withdraw cash. The ticket vending machines didn’t accept notes of more than 20₺. The ATM dispensed a minimum of 50₺. So we made two withdrawals and bought two random bottles of water to get change. Trying to purchase the Istanbulkart we found that we needed even more cash. After lots of walking back and forth eventually we gave up frustrated because we weren’t able to purchase the Istanbulkart and had also wasted almost an hour in the process.
As we walked on, it started raining! We had seen the weather forecast in advance and it was supposed to be a sunny day in Istanbul today. With that in mind, we had put our rain jackets and umbrellas in our checked baggage in Iceland itself. Of course, the shops nearby were selling umbrellas at 50₺ each. After our ATM / Istanbulkart / water-bottle fiasco, we had 90₺ in notes and some coins. We explained to the shopkeeper that we had only 90₺ in cash and he agreed to give us two umbrellas for it. This was what the whole cash withdrawal exercise was fated for!
Finally, at around 10:30 AM, we reached Sultanahmet Square and walked to the Sultan Ahmet Park to take in the views of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. The line for the tickets and entry to Hagia Sophia was enormous. So we walked around a bit and then visited inside the Blue Mosque. Everyone is expected to dress modestly since it is a religious place of worship. Women can borrow a scarf/shawl to cover their head when they enter. There was renovation work going on inside and everything seemed very muted; it was nothing like the grandeur I remember from my last trip. Still, it was worth the visit.
After that we walked around the Hippodrome of Constantinople. We saw the Walled Obelisk and the Obelisk of Theodosius. They are quite huge and impressive. The Serpentine Column was remnant of what it once was, but the German Fountain was quite nice and well preserved. There were sign posts around each of these structures explaining the history and background in four languages; this was informative and helpful. It was still drizzling and we decided to skip seeing Hagia Sophia from the inside and move on.
We saw the Stone of Million, the Byzantine zero-mile marker and then started walking towards the Yeni Cami (New Mosque). It was nice to stroll along the inner roads of the city, away from the tourist-oriented shops and cafes and we really got to see some of the local life there. We saw the İstanbul Valiliği and the Vilayet Mosque on the way. From the corner of Ebussuud Cd. and Ankara Cd. we got a glimpse of the Bosphorus. I really wish we had the time to do a Bosphorus Cruise, but may be next time.
The Yeni Cami Mosque was towering above as we approached on foot. It did seem similar to the Blue Mosque we had seen earlier. But it was surely more of a place where the locals went to pray rather than a tourist spot. The Yeni Cami Meydani was a small park/garden with fountains right in front of it. By this time the weather had changed and the rain had stopped. It had become bright and even sunny, just as we were to step indoors to walk around the Egyptian Bazaar. The Spice Bazaar, as it is also called, had shops selling spices, Turkish delight and other sweets, jewellery, souvenirs, and dried fruits and nuts. It was nice to walk around.
From there we headed to the Grand Bazaar. We walked through a network of shopping streets. There were shops selling everything from clothes to bags to carpets. There were cafes and stalls selling fruits and juices. This was where the real people of Istanbul did their shopping. We saw parents buying clothes for their child, groups of young friends buying trinkets and accessories and familial types buying domestic items. There were, of course, tourists like us roaming around with backpacks and water bottles. Being from India, I think we blended in quite nicely compared to other typically white foreigners.
The Grand Bazaar is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world; an ancient shopping mall – and really a maze! Each street, and the shops on it, looked similar yet different. We must have surely walked around some places twice, at least. We also saw one of four marble drinking fountains within. It would be easily possible to spend at least half a day, if not more, wandering around there. I was especially amazed to see the stores selling colourful lamps.
We had seen the crowds and the traffic in the city increasing as the day progressed. And as we had read before, the HAVAIST bus could take up to 90 minutes to get us back to the airport. And we might not even have gotten the first bus back if it got full. Keeping this in mind, we started heading to Aksaray Metro station bus stop. We walked by the Theodosius Forumu and II Bayezid Türk Hamam Kültürü Müzesi and also saw the Pertevniyal Valide Sultan Mosque on the way. There was already a line for boarding the bus to the airport when we reached there. We had buffered in time to take the later bus, but luckily we got a couple of the last few seats left. The ride to the airport took about one hour again. In hindsight, maybe we could have spent some more time in the city.
Anyway, the bus dropped us off at the departure level. One thing different here was that there was a security check as soon as you enter the airport, even before reaching the check-in counters etc. I remember that it was like this even at the old Istanbul airport. We had our boarding passes for the next flight so didn’t need to go to the check-in desks. We cleared immigration, got the exit stamp in the passport and after clearing another security check, reached the international departure area.
We had time before our flight and in the bid to make the most of our time in the city we hadn’t really stopped for lunch. So we headed back to the Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Lounge. I know I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again. This is the best airline/airport lounge I have ever visited. It was open and spread out with a multitude of areas for seating and relaxing. There were a variety of options to choose from for our late lunch / early dinner. Starting with a huge salad bar, multiple live kitchen counters preparing hot dishes and Turkish specialities, to an extensive dessert buffet. We shared everything we got and even then couldn’t cover all that was on offer. Some things that really stood out were the freshly prepared pasta and oriental noodles, the homemade raspberry lemonade and the delectable Baklava (especailly pistachio and walnut).
Our flight gate was assigned and with about an hour left before departure, we headed out of the lounge to walk towards the gate for boarding. We had exit row seats and we were able to get priority boarding thanks to my United Premier Gold status. We settled in and had a comfortable flight back to Mumbai.
