Time for a another airline: After flying with carriers like Biman Bangladesh Airline, Balkan Airlines
and United Airlines, I was quite sure that flying with Turkish Airlines wouldn't kill us. And so we let them take
us from Berlin straight to Istanbul (correct spelling: İstanbul). After a non-spectacular 3 hrs flight,
we walk along a long, modern corridor in Atatürk Int'l Airport before passing passport control -
no problem. Our luggage has already arrived as well. Customs - no problem, welcome to Turkey. All in all it
only takes a couple of minutes. Entering Turkey can be much more complicated and time-consuming, as I
experienced some years ago when I traveled to Turkey from Bulgaria. At first, we're heading for an ATM to
withdraw the ridiculous amount of 200,000,000 Turkish Lira - worth around € 130. Next stop bus station.
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Picture: Famous Aya Sofya. Once a church, now a mosque.
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Finding a good hotel is no problem at all (see →information on accomodation below).
Our Georgian visa is already valid - and it will expire after 5 days. Which means, that we will have to
cross the border to Armenia within the next five days. Via Georgia. Somehow.
And so we go back to Aksaray, from where we take the (finally working!) subway to the main
bus terminal in Esenler. It doesn't take long to find buses heading for Trabzon at the Black Sea coast.
A friendly Turk shows us some bus companies offering coaches to Trabzon. Departure next day, 3 p.m.
Duration: 17 hours. Quite a long time. But Trabzon is already pretty close to Georgia.
That is good news, and so we can calm down and go back to the heart of Istanbul. It is already past 6 p.m.,
but streets are bustling with life. Between adjacent Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque,
hundreds of tourists and countless touts offering virtually everything flock together.
The touts cannot spoil the mysterious beauty of Bycantium aka Constantinople aka Istanbul. Huge mosques, Roman aqueducts, old muslim city walls and vibrant streets between all this - it's my second visit to this marvellous place, but I marvel at it as if it would be the first time.
After enough food for the mind and soul, it is about time to get some real food. We decide to go to a recommended small and cheap street restaurant. It's called "Cag Kebab", right behind the bazaar, and it is indeed cheap - low quality food for little money. What a pity - a spoilt diner.
The only thing that can help the situation is to pour down the meal with a cool Efes beer at one of the countless rooftop bars along Kutlgün Sok.
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Picture: Minarets of Sultan Ahmet (aka Blue) Mosque
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