We flied with Turkish Airlines, so u get a meal on a short 3 hours flight.
Best part is you get a packet of hazelnut instead of the typical crackers or peanut and I love hazelnut.
On the downside, the ride was pretty bumpy and for the first time, I experienced first hand what do people mean by saying airline food suck.
With Leyla, a Just Ask Me off duty.
Anyway, getting to Sultanahmet was a breeze.
We got the jeton (token) and hop on the metro to Zeytinburnu from which we switched to the tram (Prague wins in term of tram) to our destination, Sultanahmet, the most touristy place I've ever been to.
Since we were only armed with a big empty luggage and 2 backpacks and no map to the hostel, we had difficult time to locate the hotel.
Anyway, it's a good thing that Turkey tourism placed youngsters wearing blue shirt shouting Just Ask Me in the area.
We got 3 of those to take us to our hotel.
We checked into a small but cosy room in Kaftan Hotel.
We combed the area for place to have dinner and we decided on Hayat Cafe, tucked in a small corner.
They served the best lentil soup among all the eateries I went to in Turkey.
However I don't recommend their stuffed pepper though.
Since Blue Masjid and Ayasofya by foot is the same duration as cooking a pack of Maggie, we spend the evening in the park located in between those 2 historic buildings.
As of any other popular tourist spot, there were some people trying to sell you some things.
Istanbul for me is too hot and stuffy in summer but minus the crowd, I wish I had spend more time in Cappadocia and as of Pamukkale 2 days seems o be more than enough.
Still, the fact that it's a Muslim country, albeit secular, gives me the sense of familiarity.
It has been quite sometime since I heard the azan.
I also like it that there are generous number of hijabis going around and mostly I like it when I went to visit the masjid.
The food?In all honesty, not so much.
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