From Pamukkale, we went to Izmir from where we flew back to Istanbul. Hugo’s parents went back to South Africa leaving the Two Monkeys behind in Istanbul. We booked an Airbnb room for 5 nights ‘close’ to Taksim Square for a relaxing ‘local’ experience. The neighbourhood looks a bit run down, but the apartment was quite modern inside.
Highlights
- We explored the parts of Istanbul we didn’t visit before (Taksim and Beyoglu)
- We went to Miniaturk, a large open air exhibition with models of all the noteworthy sites in Turkey.
- We ate all the delicious things we didn’t find before, like Kumpir (enormous stuffed potatoes) and Islak Burgers (wet burgers).
- We went to a sandy beach on the Black Sea, where a dead bee stung Hugo in the foot.
- We shared a meal with our hosts.
- We used all the variantions of Istanbul’s public transport. Underground Metro, Tram, Nostalgic Tram, Underground Furniculer, Buses and underground (and undersea) trains.
- We also worked and even had time to catch up on Game of Thrones.
