Bye Bye Sarajevo, Hello Istanbul
It’s another early start, this time to the airport. We are off to Istanbul for a few days, purely because we couldn’t fly direct to Albania, plus I have always wanted to visit the Blue Mosque.
The hotel in Sarajevo called us a cab and we headed to the airport at 6.30am, hoping we would would get through check in and departures quite quickly. It didn’t take too long, but there wasn’t much to see or do. We got a coffee and a bottle of juice and sat and pondered the holiday so far.
Since we arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I have felt slightly conflicted as I really enjoyed Serbia; its only after hearing about the Siege of Sarajevo ad seeing what people went through and actually what people are still going through 30 years later, that it makes you think. I’m glad we went to Serbia first as I think this would have coloured my opinion of the Serbs, and we may not have enjoyed the experiences in Serbia as much.
We were flying Turkish Airlines to Istanbul; I’ve never flown them before but I’ve heard good things. The flight was ok, and we actually got a light meal even though the flight was just under 2 hours.
Arriving in Turkey (or Türkiye as it is now known) is a bit of a culture shock, especially as we have just come from a smallish capital city. We were now an extra hour ahead of the Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the worst thing was the length of time it took from landing to getting off the plane, we actually taxied for over 30 minutes. Eating through security wasn’t half as bad. The taxi company sent us instructions to find them, and there was even a video sent via WhatsApp. I’m glad there was, as there was no way we would have made it. As with passport control, we have now been told “come” about 5 times, no sign of please or thank you! Definitely something we will need to get used to.
The journey to our hotel in the old centre of Istanbul took just under an hour; we were staying in Sultanahmet, one of the most famous parts of Istanbul and where the most visited site in Turkey is located. I chose the White House Hotel, which is only a 5 minute walk to the Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque; we got a welcome drink and a free upgrade to one of only two rooms with a balcony. It kind of felt like we were a honeymoon couple again, back to clearing rose petals off the bed.
We didn’t have much planned apart from a cruise on the Bosphoros, as we thought it would be reasonably relaxing. First things first,we needed to get to the meeting point at a Kiosk within the Hippodrome complex beside the mosques. Because of the bombing in 2016, the whole area is controlled and there are entry points and exits. We eventually found our way in, and to the meeting point. We decided to get an ice cream as we waited, turns out it was goats milk ice cream, which is much thicker and doesn’t melt as much. As we were waiting, we were approached by a guy who said he was the owner of the boat, he said we could go with him and get a seat on top of the boat ahead of everyone else; now I read all about scams in Istanbul and to take help from anyone, so I have no idea if he was genuine or not (I think not!). We waited along with everyone else, then it was a 5 minute walk to the boat. After almost being run over, the group made it to the boat. I didn’t have roaming or wifi so ahead no way of getting my tickets, thankfully they were happy with a picture of the confirmation from my phone! A piece of advice, buy a sim card while you are waiting for your luggage in the airport, its cheap and will stop you getting lost if you need google maps!
We went to the top of the boat and to a seat along the side; it wasn’t long until we set off on the 2 hour cruise. Unfortunately , it wasn’t quite as relaxing as expected as there were lots of people and commentary in 4 different languages coming from the loudspeaker. We sat upstairs for most of it, but eventually needed a coke and to cool off as our side always seemed to be in the sun. The cruise was good, but we were happy to get off as both of us were hungry and in need of a cold beer. We were supposed to be doing a food tour, but it got postponed for a night, so we found a restaurant not far from our hotel. As it was beside the Hippodrome, it was quite expensive, but needs must.
Iain ordered Adana kebab and I had some chicken skewers, and we both ordered a beer which came to £50. At this point, we didn’t care, as the food was good and it was quiet. We decided to go find somewhere slightly cheaper for a drink, and headed away from the tourist area. There was a bar and restaurant just up from our hotel, and the guy tempted us in with almost half price cocktails. We stayed for 2, plus baklava and it only cost us £30 which appeared to be a bit of a bargain for the area.
Both of us were shattered, but we wanted to watch the football; thank good ness for decent Wi-Fi as we were able to stream the Rangers game, although in hindsight, we probably wished we hadn’t.
The hotel in Sarajevo called us a cab and we headed to the airport at 6.30am, hoping we would would get through check in and departures quite quickly. It didn’t take too long, but there wasn’t much to see or do. We got a coffee and a bottle of juice and sat and pondered the holiday so far.
Since we arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I have felt slightly conflicted as I really enjoyed Serbia; its only after hearing about the Siege of Sarajevo ad seeing what people went through and actually what people are still going through 30 years later, that it makes you think. I’m glad we went to Serbia first as I think this would have coloured my opinion of the Serbs, and we may not have enjoyed the experiences in Serbia as much.
We were flying Turkish Airlines to Istanbul; I’ve never flown them before but I’ve heard good things. The flight was ok, and we actually got a light meal even though the flight was just under 2 hours.
The journey to our hotel in the old centre of Istanbul took just under an hour; we were staying in Sultanahmet, one of the most famous parts of Istanbul and where the most visited site in Turkey is located. I chose the White House Hotel, which is only a 5 minute walk to the Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque; we got a welcome drink and a free upgrade to one of only two rooms with a balcony. It kind of felt like we were a honeymoon couple again, back to clearing rose petals off the bed.
We didn’t have much planned apart from a cruise on the Bosphoros, as we thought it would be reasonably relaxing. First things first,we needed to get to the meeting point at a Kiosk within the Hippodrome complex beside the mosques. Because of the bombing in 2016, the whole area is controlled and there are entry points and exits. We eventually found our way in, and to the meeting point. We decided to get an ice cream as we waited, turns out it was goats milk ice cream, which is much thicker and doesn’t melt as much. As we were waiting, we were approached by a guy who said he was the owner of the boat, he said we could go with him and get a seat on top of the boat ahead of everyone else; now I read all about scams in Istanbul and to take help from anyone, so I have no idea if he was genuine or not (I think not!). We waited along with everyone else, then it was a 5 minute walk to the boat. After almost being run over, the group made it to the boat. I didn’t have roaming or wifi so ahead no way of getting my tickets, thankfully they were happy with a picture of the confirmation from my phone! A piece of advice, buy a sim card while you are waiting for your luggage in the airport, its cheap and will stop you getting lost if you need google maps!
We went to the top of the boat and to a seat along the side; it wasn’t long until we set off on the 2 hour cruise. Unfortunately , it wasn’t quite as relaxing as expected as there were lots of people and commentary in 4 different languages coming from the loudspeaker. We sat upstairs for most of it, but eventually needed a coke and to cool off as our side always seemed to be in the sun. The cruise was good, but we were happy to get off as both of us were hungry and in need of a cold beer. We were supposed to be doing a food tour, but it got postponed for a night, so we found a restaurant not far from our hotel. As it was beside the Hippodrome, it was quite expensive, but needs must.
Iain ordered Adana kebab and I had some chicken skewers, and we both ordered a beer which came to £50. At this point, we didn’t care, as the food was good and it was quiet. We decided to go find somewhere slightly cheaper for a drink, and headed away from the tourist area. There was a bar and restaurant just up from our hotel, and the guy tempted us in with almost half price cocktails. We stayed for 2, plus baklava and it only cost us £30 which appeared to be a bit of a bargain for the area.
Both of us were shattered, but we wanted to watch the football; thank good ness for decent Wi-Fi as we were able to stream the Rangers game, although in hindsight, we probably wished we hadn’t.
It was time for bed as we had two tours booked the following day, plus it was already midnight.
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