Made our way through the terminals to our departure gate without much of a problem. Our Air France flight from Paris to Istanbul was supposed to depart at 11:20am.
This time, I paid the €20 ($30 CAD, $22 USD) each for the extra legroom seats at the exit door. I gotta say, what a difference that makes for a long legged guy!
Wow... good to be able to stretch my legs out!
The only downside to that is that even though you've got a "window" seat, there is no window at that location. Still, worth it to me for the extra comfort.
We were late leaving because someone had checked their bags in and then didn't show up for the flight. You have to wonder what happened to them. So they had to sort through the luggage and remove whatever bag was associated with that person.
Three and a half hours later we arrived at Istanbul's fairly new IST International Airport. It opened in 2019.
Nice bright terminal.
Our friend Cheryl had given us instructions to get to her place from the airport. We had to find the HavaIST bus. It cost 149 lira ($7.30 CAD, $5.35 USD) for the hour and a half bus ride to the central area at the Kadikoy ferry terminal.
Except that the hour and a half became two and a half due to traffic! We didn't arrive at Cheryl's until almost 7:30pm!
It was raining when we stepped off the bus, but at least the temperature was a pleasant 17C (64F). Today is supposed to be better, with sunshine and cloudy periods and a high of 20C (68F).
Fortunately, we have stayed with her before, so we knew the 20 minute walking route from the Kadikoy ferry terminal to her place.
We stopped and picked up a bottle of wine and a couple of beers and Cheryl had dinner ready for us.
We are only in Istanbul for two nights. Cheryl has gone to work this morning, and we are going to take the ferry to Karakoy and meet up with one of the participants on our upcoming Turkmenistan tour. Then this afternoon, Cheryl is taking Ruth to a fancy Turkish hamam for a spa treatment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nice price drop on this Emergency Weather Radio.
And in Canada...
Nice to have friends all over the world that you can bunk with.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is! :-)
DeleteCan't wait to hear about the Hamam!! I've been to the version they have here in my city, I'm sure it doesn't compare!
ReplyDeleteIt is all written up in today's blog post. No pictures of the inside of the hamam other than in the lounge area.
Delete