Dharma & Nita travel blog

Last day today in Istanbul, had a big late breakfast than final pack up, brought all luggage down to concierge, and completed the check out process. Now to browse the side streets of Taksim and spend the day just chillaxing!

Went through a few side streets and somehow ended back at the Istiklal Street. This truly seems to be the heart of Taksim.

Some more last minute shopping, then we decided to split and just roam about, and all meet together around 5pm.

For lunch we tried out the HOUSE Cafe, they served the best mushroom risotto.

Then it was more roaming about, finally off to Taksim Square to meet up with Jayesh & Priya.

All headed directly to Musafir Indian restaurant, wanted to have an early dinner. The chef “Momi Raja” cooked up a great Aloo Paratha and also provided the recipes to Nita & Priya (still waiting for the home version!). We were becoming regulars there, this was our third and FINAL visit.

(crew at Musafir Indian, Momi Raja – chef between Jayesh/Priya)

Bid our farewell, and headed back to the Hotel, quick freshen up and it was not long before our taxi was there to take us to the airport. Ride to the airport was met with heavy traffic, the half hour ride took over 1 hour – lucky we left early.

Nothing real flash about Istanbul airport, we had our last EFEs beer in the pub and than it was time to board. Unfortunately with the full flight, all four could not sit together. Flight departed on time @ 12:40 am, dinner service was quickly done which included the normal Turkish cuisine, Nita totally rejected it and I only had a small bit – lucky we had a big Indian dinner earlier.

Landed at Bangkok airport just past 2pm local time, bid farewell to Jayesh & Priya – they had to catch their flight in 5 hours, we had a 10 hour wait, so decided to head out and see Bangkok. We all shared a great holiday experience together and the memories will be cherished for a long long time.

Took a train from Bangkok airport to the Siam mall, which was massive and on a grand scale. Had a great Italian lunch, Nita was able to do some quick shopping – gifts for Mum and Tina. Then it was back at the airport, for a quick shower and a foot massage. Had a Thai meal at the airport around 9:30 pm, this was soooo nice & spicy, than around 11:10pm it was to the gates for our flight departing at 11:59pm.

Landed in Brisbane and jetlagged, Dad, Pooja and Veer came to receive us, Pooja was overjoyed at seeing us and even Veer was cracking up. Lunch & Dinner was at Mum’s, Nita was loving that – finally some good home food!

Slept in a fair bit, woke up the next day at 11:30 am, and then it was clean up time, Nita had lots of washing up to be done. Pooja was settling back in – sorting her dolls in her doll house. With me still in Istanbul mode, I refused to eat at home and ate out for lunch & dinner – it is always so good to just go out, order, eat and leave….. no making and cleanup mess!!!

Friday we were more settled, Nita was now back in action in here kitchen and cooked a full desi meal for lunch …. finishing off with rice and dhal. Around 12:30pm we got the confirmation call from in-laws in Fiji, Neha had been handed over to the airline crew as unaccompanied minor and was waiting for boarding – flight was delayed by 40 minutes and was now due to depart at 2:30pm (BNE time).
We got to the airport at around 6:40, just around when the flight landed, followed by the anxious wait, our baby was coming back.
After what seemed like an eternity, she finally emerged accompanied by the crew, Nita was already in tears, Pooja was just over joyed.

(Pooja waiting ….)

(Neha home after nearly 3 weeks in Fiji)

Headed home to mums place, lots of rejoicing…..

All good things must come to an end, this was the end of a great holiday for all of us, thanks to Jayesh & Priya for a being a great company and going along with my crazy jokes …….. till the next holiday “elvida” (goodbye in Turkish).

Today for breakfast we decided to try the iST cafe in Istiklal St (we had our first Taksim lunch here). Breakfast was good, but not to the buffet style variety of Titanic. Still they have the best milkshakes!
Plan today was to visit the Princess Islands, the ferry departs from Kabatas, so it was a short subway ride from Taksim. Reached the ferry piers around 11:30am, got on board the 12 pm ferry. Being Sunday, the ferry was packed with locals and tourists. Locals love their weekends and they love to travel.

(In the ferry, first stop Kadikoy (asian side) – the mass of people waiting to get onboard!!)

It was close to 1.5 hours before we reached the largest island in the group – “BUYUKSEHIR”. The islands are not that far from Istanbul, coastline is always visible during the 1.5 hours of sailing, not once did the coastline showed signs of open lands, the place is jam packed with apartments, and high rises for 100’s of miles…. it does house over 25 million!

Got off at Buyuksehir island..

(disembarking at Buyuksehir Island)

This is one busy island with lots of people, we did after all come on the busiest day – Sunday!! It did add to the atmosphere.

For lunch, the only option on the island seemed to be Turkish or Turkish, we found some Waffle shops putting together some amazing fruit, ice cream combinations and that seemed like what we needed for lunch …

(waffles for lunch)

Some more roaming about on the island, then there was not much else to see, well not much to keep us 4 interested. Decided to take the express 4pm ferry back to Kabatas.

 
(Buyuksehir pier, and making local friends)

(Turkish Tea time, looking onto Blue Mosque)

(Tired – on the way back to Taksim in subway from Kabatas)

Out of the Subway, decided to head directly to Musafir Indian restaurant, ladies needed some good food. The waffles just did not cut it.

Following a good dinner, headed back to the hotel for a quick freshen up then out and about to explore the night Istiklal Street.

Istiklal Street @ night.

Time for dessert & drinks

It had been a long night, and around midnight, we headed back to the hotel. Near our hotel, we passed a group of Indian boys, who we had seen previously at Musafir restaurant. In typical Indian style, they started rubbing their chest and singing “Tu pyar hai kise aur ka, tujhe cha ha ta koi aur hain”, the ladies were cracking up laughing and all me and Jayesh could think of was typical “BARUCH”. Ladies were why did you not sing back with a counter song……. what da!!!!

Great way to finish off the last night in Istanbul

Breakfast in Titanic hotel was much better than the Efendi offering. I guess it was more in line with what we were used to, had a big brunch!
Plan today was to visit the Gelata tower and its surrounding streets, for the evening we wanted to visit Ortakoy.

Walked to Taksim Square, and organised the tickets to ride the Nostalgic Tram – travels through Istiklal street – we could not walk the entire length of that street again today – just too much walking.

(ride on the Nostalgic Taksim Tram)

Got off at the end of Istiklal st (also the end of the tram line), and walked the alleyways to the tower.

(one of the alleyways lined with shops for musicians….)

(this is one lucky dude, a great view if he only would look up)

(now Nita’s turn; the guy offered Nita to put her feet there for a pic, cool dude )

(soap time …. Turkish version of Lush, and some bag browsing)

Finally arrived at the Gelata tower, it is not an imposing or gigantic structure, however it does standout as there aren’t many high rises around that place.

Made our way to the top of the tower, the view was very worth it…

(the Gelata bridge)

Walked back inside the tower from the viewing area outside, ladies got interested in the studio setup, where we could take pics dressed up as Sultans!

^{(the aussie Sultans)}

Out of the tower, we stopped by at the Kiva coffee shop for an afternoon snack – this was basically our lunch!

We continued our walk downhill, passing numerous other alleyways…

Finished our walk near the Gelata bridge, took a Tram to Kabatas, then switched to the cable subway that connects to Taksim Square. Got back to the hotel around 5pm, allowed ourselves an hour and half to refresh, then off to Ortakoy.

Hotel advised the best place to catch Taxi to Ortakoy was a block away – due to the street being oneway, took that short walk, along the way, Jayesh found a good spot for taking portraits for our lovely ones….. (could never get enough of that!!)

Grabbed a Taxi and it was not even 15 seconds and we were stuck in traffic, they say Istanbul traffic can be horrendous, this seemed to be just that. Took us over 15 minutes to travel 500 meters or less, reaching a major intersection the driver told us he was not prepared to go to Ortakoy, due to the very very bad traffic jams and it would be quicker for us to walk there, walk was estimated to be around 15 minutes …. cool, so not too bad. Got out and did just that, we were moving faster than the cars, which did feel good. Came across another palace, time for more photo shoots, why not!

After walking for around 20 minutes, Nita was getting blisters in her feet, and there was still no sign of Ortakoy, we asked a couple of people around, and we had answers from only 3 minutes to another 30 minutes!! By this time the traffic seemed a bit better, we hailed another Taxi, and again within only 10 seconds or so, another traffic jam, but this time we were not getting out at all, we were going to ride this traffic jam….. the driver was great, he cranked up some amazing turkish tunes, just grooving along till we reached our destination.
Finally at Ortakoy, now to choose where to eat, this place is lined with many many eateries…

Dinner and desserts were great, it was already close to midnight, and the place was buzzing. Near the piers, Nita & Priya decided to fly a couple of wish lanterns…

Then it was time for some target practising …. we all had a go,

(Ortakoy eateries)

Next was a pub with live band around the corner, great Turkish music!!

Time to head back to the hotel, ladies were super tired – lots of walking today.

Checkout day from the Efendi hotel, today we move to the new side, our next hotel is on the Taksim side.

Got our luggage packed and moved to the lobby, the plan was to go out for a last walk around Sultanahmet and also have another shave – for me & Jayesh.
Got out soon after breakfast, and headed out along the back streets to Divanyolu Street, the main street of Sultanahmet where the Trams travel. Headed on the outbound direction – this is an area we had not covered previously.

(it is very painful sitting on a bollard with two girls on your lap)
 

(lots of cats around)

Back at the Efendi Hotel, we awaited for our Taxi to transfer us to Taksim….

(Ladies with the owner, me & Jayesh with the reception staff, both super friendly and helpful)

Taxi arrived soon after, and we were checked in to Titanic city Taksim hotel around 1pm. Now to explore the new Istanbul side…

(ready to explore Taksim and Istiklal street)

We walked through the Taksim square where all the riots and protests had taken place only two months back, there was no signs of the unrests, things were back to normal – big change from the scenes shown on TV during the unrest.

Into Istiklal Street, wow, this is one crowded open area shopping street, reminded me of the street from Paris – Champs elysees, this was just like that, but only for pedestrians and Trams – well some cars did come through every now and then, but not a roadway as such.

First stop, ladies to touch-up their makeups!!

Into the street, we could not fathom the sheer number of people there, and equally the number of shops/restaurants, just totally mad, had never seen anything like this before….

Walking almost the length of the street we were quite buggered, decided to head back to the hotel. Passed through the Taksim square again.

(Taksim Square)

Got back to the hotel, time to rest, needed that with all the walking, evening’s plan was to go to a belly dancing show.

(all ready for the nite, awaiting our taxi)

It was a good nite, we were still a bit tired from walking the Istiklal street – that thing is a monster! all hit the bed early needed the rest.