A new country, the fourth one on this trip. We traveled from Bulgaria to Turkey, more precisely from Plovdiv to Istanbul today.
Day 11, Friday, July 3: Travel to Istanbul
Today was the second time on this trip that we used a public (long distance) bus to travel from one city to the next. This time, it was going to be a long journey – approximately 7 hours was the prediction. I was a bit apprehensive about it.
Shortly after 10 am, we departed Plovdiv. The bus ride went without any problems (the only inconvenience was a woman sitting behind us who couldn’t stop talking loudly on her phone).
By 1:40 pm, we reached the Bulgarian border. We had to get out from the bus and show our passports at the border control. Twenty minutes later, on the Turkish side, we had to get our luggage from under the bus too. They were screened for possible illegal items.
Overall, getting through the borders went smoothly, 40 minutes in total time.
From the outskirts of Istanbul we traveled in a walking speed. The traffic was horrible! No wonder, Istanbul’s population is over 15 million.
A little after 6 pm, we arrived at the bus station. Now, do the math please! It took us 8 hours to get to Istanbul. And had to wait for one more hour for the minibus that took us to our hotel. Apparently, the driver experienced the same bad traffic.
Forty five minutes later, we were in our room at the Hotel Centrum Istanbul.
And at 8 pm our group met for the welcoming dinner at a restaurant, 2 minutes from the hotel.
The traditional Turkish dish called “testi chicken” was truly delicious. Chicken meat and vegetables are cooked slowly in a clay pot (known as testi). The pot traps steam and creates a rich aromatic stew. The exciting thing about this dish was that they cracked the pot open in front of us at the table.
After dinner, everyone went to see the famous Galata Bridge, which spans the Golden Horn. The bridge was full of life – people eating in restaurants or enjoying street food, fishermen casting their lines over the side. It was quite a site with the Bosporus and the mosques bathed in lights.
Shortly after 11 pm, we were back in our hotel to get a good night’s sleep before our first full day’s adventure in Istanbul.
