Credits go to Turkish Airlines for providing us with this free walking tour of Istanbul. Very adequately named, the Touristanbul brought us around the city, allowing us to have a sneak peek of what Istanbul has to offer.
After a short flight, we landed in Istanbul Ataturk airport early. We immediately went to clear the customs as we really want to do the Touristanbul. Fortunately, we made it for the 4PM to 9PM tour. We waited at the Starbucks until the tour began. We got up a bus, which took us into the city. Our tour guide joined us on the bus and immediately started to introduce the city to us. I fell asleep on the bus ride there as I was so tired. We started our walking tour somewhere near the Blue Mosque. Our first stop was the Sultanahmet Square. Here, there were three pillars: Walled Obelisk, Serpent Column and the Obelisk of Theodosius. It was quite interesting because the obelisks were carved with hieroglyphics, something that looks like it came straight out of a game. Interestingly, the base of the Obelisk of Theodosius is made from a different material, and is intricately carved. They most probably belong to two different eras, and the Obelisk was mounted into the base later on. The next stop was the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia.
Hagia Sophia is very huge. It's too bad that since it is a short tour, we could not go inside to look at the exhibits. Our next stop was the Grand Bazaar. According to the guide, there are thousands of shops inside the Bazaar. We walked inside just to get some pictures, and then got out. There was not a lot of time to explore, and we are worried about getting lost inside, so we did not venture too much. The guide then brought us to our dinner place. We were very pleased to find out that the dinner was at a local five star hotel, and was provided free of charge as part of the tour. They served a three course meal. Appetizer was tomato soup and a kind of cheesy snack, the main was chicken and rice, and the dessert was lokma, fried dough dipped in syrup. We were very happy with the dinner. Afterwards, we were led back to the bus and the bus took us back to the airport. We were surprised that we needed to go through a bag check before even entering the airport. Worse, after we entered, we did not recognize the place since the departure hall and the arrival hall was really different. After walking about, we found the same Starbucks and went there to chill until about midnight, and that was when we entered the gates to go to the boarding area for our flight back to Singapore.
15 July 2018, Istanbul > Singapore, Partly Cloudy
We boarded the plane at about 1 AM. This was the first time I am having a long flight with dearie. We played some solitaire together after the plane took off. After we ate, we just kept sleeping until it was time to eat again. Soon, our plane reached Singapore and we landed safely. This was the end of our long tour in Europe. We felt extremely thankful that throughout our trip, we packed our itinerary with many things to see, but yet found time to rest when we were really tired. Everything went according to plan and we were never mugged or have our important items stolen. Many memories were created in this 17 day (excludes flying days) trip, and they will probably stay with us forever. If they don't, I always have these blog posts and our pictures to refer back to from time to time. We also came back safe and sound, albeit with lots of itchy mosquito bites from Italy, and have many exciting tales to share with our families and friends.
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