Day 129 - It's been decades since we visited this city. As we made use of Turkish Air for the major portion of this winter's travel plans, we made sure to include a stopover in Istanbul. So, we're already on our eventual return to Vancouver. However, we have six nights in the Gallata Times Boutique Hotel. And we're here.
Our flight got here on time. That meant it arrived at 6:30 AM. We had already purchased visas online and we just needed to show full vaccination when coming through immigration. The new airport is lovely but it surely is a long way from the city. IST is 38 KM to our Gallarta Tower area.
Still, of course, we arrived pretty early, a little before 8:30 AM. Luckily, we were able to check-in before ten o'clock. Last night's flight was only four hours and not comfortable enough to actually manage much sleep. We had already walked around a little but took a nap from 10:30 AM until nearly 1:30 PM.
This is a nice location and we walked down to the Karakoy and had a filling, late lunch of chicken on rice with Sprites for less than CA$ 2.50 each. We walked back up the hill too but will check out Metro and tram passes for tomorrow. We're not far from the famous Tunnel subway. The Tünel is from 1875 and is the second-oldest extant, subterranean rail line in the world.
The Galata Tower is a good area location from which to explore Istanbul.
