Istanbul Stop-Over with Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines has an awesome benefit — you choose to schedule a longer stop-over for free in Istanbul if you already have a layover there, and they will provide either a free hotel room or a guided tour of the city.
Other cities like Singapore and Taiwan, I know, do this already but this was the first time I heard of an airline doing it. If you want the hotel room instead of the tour, you will have to email them ahead so they can get that ready for you.
For the tour, just head out from your arrival gate, pick up your luggage, and go through customs. US citizens — you will need a visa and you can get one online for $20. Turn RIGHT and head all the way down to almost the end of the airport. Other people you ask might lead you all around, but don’t go up or down any stairs because I did both and it’s a LIE. If you ask any of the Turkish Airline desks, no one will know what you are talking about for some reason. I ended up walking all around the airport to find it.
There is a luggage storage facility right next door to it, which is convenient, but it will cost you around $7 USD per day, and they take cash only — which was outrageous to me.
There are a few different options of lengths of tour available, so go on over to the Turkish Airline website to find out what the latest availabilities are. For the summer, they also added a cruise and dinner tour for the evening.
Head over to the counter and show them your boarding pass and let them know you wan to take one of the tours. They’ll hand you a sticker.
Right on the dot, a tour guide showed up and went through everyone’s names to make sure everyone was here. Then we all walked on over to the bus, where a gift was waiting for us — a multiuse bandana. The whole bus ride, our guide was explaining things about Istanbul and just doing tour guide stuff.
Our first stop was a restaurant called Mihmandar Et Lokantasi located halfway between the center of the city and the airport. We had given preferences of our meal option between meatballs, chicken, and a lentil soup option. We walked over and sat down at the tables, and immediately had peach juice, nectarine juice, sodas, and a watery and salty Turkish yugurt drink called aryan. This was where I was the most impressed! To serve a meal at a restaurant is way above and beyond what I would expect from a free airline tour.
Then our bus went over to Taksim Square where we got off and walked all the way down to the Galata tower, stopping at Cicek Pasaji, Sent Antuan Kilisesi, and numerous other short stops and one long stop near Mado for free time and shopping. There are dozens of Turkish delight shops, Turkish ice cream shops, coffee shops, and chocolate shops.
This city is crawling with tourists and a number of proportionately greedy locals trying to make money off it. They will charge you more than 3x for a bottle of water or ice cream. I bought a 1L bottle of water for 2.5, and ice cream for 10. That is what the locals pay (or so the locals told me) and that’s how much you should try to pay as well.
The bus was heading back to the airport so I said goodbye and headed over the Galata Koprusu bridge with all the people fishing off the pier and the Suleymaniye Mosque (I think maybe) in the background.
Right off the bridge was the Mısır Çarşısı, a bazaar. So i walked through that seeing textiles, dishes, and lamps of all shapes and sizes. There was a locals line for a coffee shop somewhere in this maze, so I got some. No idea if it is good. I don’t even drink coffee.
I got a hostel near the Blue Mosque, and it was a mess. The power was out, my roommate talked too much, some other lady in the lobby talked too much, and the guy at the front desk told me he’d book me a shuttle tomorrow and that I shouldn’t worry about it. Turns out the guy just didn’t show up till it was way too late, and his replacement was a girl who couldn’t even recommend somewhere to go for breakfast. After the confusion with the front desk guy and the shuttle and what was happening, I just called a taxi and she made me cancel my taxi by telling me a shuttle was actually coming! Which, of course, was not. Anyway, that was Istanbul Harmony Hostel so screw that place, don’t go.
I walked over to the Blue Mosque and the area near it, and my oh my it is indeed beautiful. It reminds me of Disneyland with the people and the fountains and the fences. The Mosque was closed so i couldn’t go inside, but entrance is free. Don’t believe anyone who tries to tell you that they will help you cut the line or anything. Just go early yourself. Also don’t talk to anyone who pretends to just want to practice English or wants to be hospitable — this is not Kyrgyzstan. This is a tourist fishing spot. For locals fishing for tourists. Any local who talks to you pretty much wants to scam you or sell you something.
That’s what made my experience negative overall — the stark contrast between how down to earth and genuine the people were before I came to Istanbul. A great and beautiful city is overrun by tourism and the negative effects it has on the locals.
I did enjoy the city, and though I normally don’t love Turkish food, I headed out for breakfast (no thanks to the hostel front desk girl) two blocks down. I’ve never heard of a traditional Full Turkish breakfast but apparently it is a thing. Bread, cheese, olives, jams, cucumber, and tomato is what constitutes the breakfast. I love these little layout sets, so at least the trip did end on a good note.
