Adventures in Europe: Istanbul, Turkiye

From Heathrow, I flew British Airways to Istanbul, arriving around 20:00 last night. My flight onward to Dushanbe was supposed to be at 10:45 this morning, so I had decided to simply get a hotel room near the airport to get some sleep and planned to do little else. When I checked around 8:00 I could see my Somon Air flight was delayed by almost three hours. That did not feel like adequate time to go into Istanbul, so I wiled some time away in my hotel room (with this view, so could be worse)...

... and my hotel's garden ...

... frequently checking websites to figure out where the heck my plane was and when I might be leaving. Eventually at around 11:00 I went to the airport. As far as I could tell my plane had still not even left Dushanbe, but I figured I would go to the airport and try to learn more. Once there, the monitor was updated for a 17:20 departure, more than six hours delayed (that is it, way up on the top left, where it would stay for many more hours!). 

I checked in, and checked my backpack, then decided to metro into Istanbul after all. The new metro line from the airport is extraordinarily fast, hitting speeds of 125 kmph! Remarkably, it costs less than 25 Turkish lira to ride, or only about $1! I decided to begin my afternoon with a ride across the Bosphorus from Kabatas to Kadikoy.

Almost any day is probably perfect to ride the Bosphorus ferries, but today was particularly lovely. 

At Kadikoy I had a Turkish coffee and baklava, sitting outside across from a flower vendor. The already lovely weather was enhanced by the scent of flowers, and I was very glad I hadn't stayed at the airport!

I was skeptical the 17:20 ETD was reality, but I could not find any alternative information, so I figured I better get back to the airport once I finished my baklava. My transit route to/from the airport was metro-metro-funicular-ferry-ferry-funicular-metro-metro and with all of that it felt like much could wrong, so I did not want to cut it too close.

The ferry ride back to Kabatas was equally enjoyable. I wouldn't get to Sultanahmet this time, but even seeing the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia, and Topkapi Palacce from the water is a treat.

I reached the airport at 16:00, and then had an incredibly long walk from the metro to the terminal and the initial security, through passport control, through flight security, and finally to the gate, which has to have been one of the furthest gates in what is a huge airport!

Much to my surprise, the plane was there and we boarded for our 17:20 departure. 

Still, we didn't pull back until 17:50, so more than seven hours behind schedule! Welcome to Central Asia life, I suppose...

For some reason our pilot gave us a top-to-bottom tour of the Bosphorus as we headed out, so that was pretty special!