Our wonderful hostel-owner told us that it took a half hour to get to the airport by train, and so we took his word for it. We arrived at the train station about 15 minutes before departure, so we just hopped on a train that left 5 min earlier than planned. Little did we know that this very 5 min would be the difference between catching our flight and staying another day in Budapest!
The train ride itself was very pleasant, until we arrived at the station for the airport...we arrived a bit ahead of schedule, the train barely paused there, and then the train door wouldn't open! We missed our stop.
A kind hungarian man explained to us that the car door was broken, so we should move to the next car and get off at the next stop (unfortunately 15 min away) and go back. We did as told, with the help of those natives who took pity on us in our (and by our I mean mostly my) frenzied state.
Once at the airport, we breathed a sigh of relief. Yet our troubles were far from over. It was 11:05 - we had a 12:30 flight - and we were standing in front of Terminal 1 with Terminal 2 nowhere to be found. Luckily (we thought), we found a bus headed to Terminal 2. A half hour later, we were dropped off at a bus depot somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
11:35. We looked around for some sign of Terminal 2 in utter disbelief. There! A bus - the same number that we had just taken - was clearly marked for both terminals. We asked the bus driver, who demanded tickets. We, of course, didn't have tickets, nor did we have cash (see Day 7)...and then a miracle happened. A nice Irish lad, also looking for Terminal 2, had extra bus tickets that he offered us. For the next 40 minutes, while we literally re-stopped everywhere we had just been, including where we got on, our new Irish friend made small talk with us and assured us that Hungarians wait til the very last minute to close flights, so we shouldn't worry.
When we finally arrived at the elusive terminal (by the way we still haven't figured out how the first bus didn't go there - it was the exact same route!!), we sprinted up to departures and made the flight by the skin of our teeth. Phew! All's well that ends well, I suppose. Despite a few grey hairs.
The rest of our transit was MUCH less interesting (mercifully!), and we checked into this cute hostel right in the center of Sultanahmet which is the older part of Istanbul.
We began to tackle the city by just walking around to get our bearings. We had three goals. Get money, find water, and then find dinner in a place that was neither too touristy nor too sketchy and cheap. After heading towards what seemed to be the shore (which we never got to) and dodging some heckling waiters, we found a nice restaurant full of turkish folk. We didn't realize how close to sunset it was. As we ordered, the people on either side of us were sitting in front of their soup waiting. At first we thought they might be waiting for us to eat, but then we heard a brief singing over the loud speaker and everyone dug in. We realized after that since it is Ramadan, everyone was just waiting for the sun to set. After ordering my(karla) usual dish of beef goulash, we started to feel more comfortable. At least we weren't one of those tourists across the street at the "Istanbul Restaurant and cafe.". The meal was great and we felt ready to explore a little more. Did I mention that we'd planned ahead and found some baklava to eat later. At least we both have quite the sweet tooth.
On our walk home, we popped our heads into a little market place full of water pipe smokers and shops filled with rugs and lamps. It felt like and underground cave tent (well lit and colorful). We met one of the vendors who showed very beautiful but very expensive rugs. Turns out that his name is Ali but he does not in fact sell Magic carpets. He spoke pretty good english and had travelled quite a bit and so had a lot to say. We joined the crowd of turkish people and had some delicious apple tea while he told us about turkey. It was hard not to stare at the many ornate and colorful lamps overhead.
After about an hour we started walking home again, but we stumbled upon a huge outdoor concert. It was quite the show of traditional music. We think it might have been a some sort of Ramadan celebration but we could be entirely wrong. When it ended we headed back to our room and finished off the night with our baklava!
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1 comment:
See my comment for day 7
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