Arriving in Istanbul, Turkey

Our fight to Istanbul from Amsterdam is at 10 AM.  We decided to take the 7:30 AM shuttle to the airport which should give us more than enough time to eat breakfast and make the flight.  In hindsight, we should have taken the 7 AM shuttle instead, since it took us all of the 2.5 hours to check our bags, grab some sandwiches for breakfast, get through security, get through immigration, and walk the ridiculous distance to our gate.  Wow...what a hectic morning.

What is that airline logo you ask?  Well, that is Air Serbia, who we are flying today from Amsterdam to Istanbul via Belgrade, Serbia.  I'm sure it will be fine...

Flying Air Serbia.

Well, that flight went well.  Welcome to Serbia!  We did however arrive a bit late for our 50 minutes layover.  When we arrived in the terminal the board said that our connecting flight was on "Final Call," so I ran to the gate to find that they haven't even started boarding yet.  Oy.  About 20 minutes later we were onboard.

Ready for the second leg from Belgrade to Istanbul.

Less than 2 hours later we were in Istanbul, Turkey.

Welcome to Istanbul.

Istanbul airport is huge.  We walked a long way to immigration to find it overflowing, so they sent us further to the next immigration station making it a long way back to the baggage claim area, followed by a really long walk to the transportation area.  My watch had us at walking 2.5 miles and that is all inside airports.  This trip definitely makes us happy with our choice to take a cruise to Europe versus fly.

The original plan was to take public transportation from the airport to our AirBnB.  While doing research last night, I learned that for about $11 USD we can take a bus to a tram and arrive at our AirBnB in 2 hours, or I can hire a private car for $35 USD and arrive in around 1 hour.  Knowing it was going to be a long day, I ordered the car and it was there within 5 minutes of the planned time allowing us to arrive at our AirBnB at 6 PM.

We relaxed for a bit, unpacked, and headed out to find something fast for dinner.  I read about Turkish Pizza called Pide, so that's what we were in search of.  We were close to the place I had in mind, but the next door restaurant forced their menu in my face and promised me good food and free dessert, so we agreed.  We ordered 2 beers and a Pide each and was surprised when they brought bread with tzatziki sauce and hummus that was delicious.  Then the Pide...oops...I forgot to take a photo.  Then some baklava and hot tea.

I read that restaurants generally bring out what you think is free courses, but they charge you a service charge, so I was prepared.  Surprisingly, the check came without the service charge, so I left a 10% tip as the tourbooks say you should leave 5-10%.  We have a bit to learn here, but we will figure it out.

One the way back to the AirBnB Hagia Sofia was lit up.  This famous mosque is only a couple of blocks from our AirBnB.  We will be visiting there in a couple of days.

Back at the AirBnB, Tim caught up on some YouTube while I got this blog going.  Tomorrow we have a dental cleaning appointment and then we will explore this neighborhood that we are staying in.  Until tomorrow...