Trip to Istanbul - Day 1

Through the lovely but very busy T2 International, to the Turkish Airlines (which changed my pre-booked seat numbers without informing and later altered the seats on request - so mixed feelings about the first leg of journey) with professional hostesses/hosts (which is neither good nor bad), with the Raki, Ayran and Local wine onboard, and finally to Ataturk airport in Istanbul.

A little help to get IstanbulKart (10 Lira) with a 20 Lira top-up (24 Lira effective balance), and all of us were on our way through the Metro to Zeytinburnu. Dragging the luggage along, we went to the T1 tram stop next door and faced the rush of the busy tramway right up to Cemberlitas where we got off and made our way down steep slopes to our hotel, the Oba Hotel, a quaint little 3 story building (along with another building- Annex building) run by a family and booked via Tripadvisor and Booking.com.

Located in a narrow alleyway close to the tourist spots of Sultanahmet, on entering the hotel, we were invited with some water, wonderful Turkish Tea, and delicious cake (or scones) with an elaborate advice on what we could see or do after knowing our backgrounds. It was a warm welcome. We were taken to the 2nd floor of the same building into our room with help to carry our bags up on the wooden staircase to bright and nicely decorated rooms with what looked like standard hotel amenities (except the lack of microwave we saw on the booking receipt).

After some much needed rest, we went out to fish for dinner and found some cheese and olives from nearby Bim supermarket, Migros Jet supermarket, some local Efes beer, and shops for full roast chicken and Doner Kebap sandwiches. All the while it rained and made for a very wet and cold walk through the Grand Bazaar which we went to fish for food but all was closed by the time we reached there except some freebies like Turkish Delight and chocolate. After dinner, our bodies, now cold and tired, dragged us to the dark depths of sleep.