Day 136 - Edirne to Istanbul. The bus adventure

November 24, 2018

Friday 16 November 2018.

Today we got up on time, got ready and went downstairs for breakfast. I was actually hungry and enjoyed our Turkish breakfast of a boiled egg, cucumber, tomatoes, different kinds of cheese, cold cuts and olives. Luckily they also include jelly, butter, honey, Nutella and bread and this is the part that we really enjoy with our coffee. Pretty healthy breakfast. After we finished, we went upstairs, brushed our teeth and got ready to go. Gregory thought it was too early but they had told us that they wanted us half an hour early for our bus.

After checking out, we asked the receptionist to call us a taxi. The taxi came and said that he couldn’t fil all of our suitcases but he called another one using his cell phone and in less than five minutes we had another taxi with a big trunk. And this is why I like to have extra time. Still, we made it to the bus station with plenty of time and there anywhere to sit or an enclosed place where we could hide from the freezing wind. We finally went into the ticket office and waited for half an hour.

The bus was nice, fancy and clean. The ride would have been smooth if it hadn’t been for the heat. It was like a sauna in there. I fell asleep but I thought we were all going to suffocate. Before we knew, we had made it to Istanbul. But no one said anything so we had to go ask if we were there. The driver just waved his head and told us to hurry up. Well, I think he said that. We got off and asked for our suitcases.

The bus station really needs some fixing. The bus didn't drop us at the station, but underneath instead, where there were free shuttles into town. Gregory wanted to take a shuttle to Taksim Square, but I didn't want to complicate things by taking a bus to a shuttle to a taxi. I just wanted to take a taxi directly. Gregory called Uber. We waited outside a small cafeteria. Gregory got us food when he saw that we were all in a bad mood. Ok, mostly me. The thing is that it was cold and raining. I just wanted a taxi but we waited for Uber, which took like 20 minutes to arrive! Apparently, we were far from downtown. [Gregory's note: we were at the main bus station which is about 20 - 30 minutes from Taksim and the touristy side of town.] The Uber ride was fun, mostly for the kids because it was a limousine and it had a funky red skylight.

I started to get a little worried when I saw the narrow, dirty streets we were driving up. The driver finally stopped in a newer building but the neighborhood didn’t look great. The rain didn’t help but outside there was a doorman waiting for us. He took our suitcases and helped us bring them up to the second floor.

This is the part of the trip that I dislike because you never know what you will get with Airbnb. Most of the times, the pictures lie and the place looks different. Gregory and I knew that it wasn’t anything fancy but we both were disappointed with the place. I guess it was just old looking and could really use a coat of paint. [Gregory's note: it's in need of TLC.] The man who helped us with the suitcases told us that we could choose between two apartments. Mustafa, the host, had been in touch with Gregory and had offered us a bigger apartment for more money. Well, we ended up taking that one mostly because the furniture looked newer and because it came with a dining table and chairs. The bummer is that there was a queen bed for the kids which means one of the kids would have to sleep on the couch in the TV room. No problem, the children said, but Gregory and I like to have the TV room available for us in case we want to watch a movie. However, since all the stations here are in Turkish and we don't have enough Internet to stream movies, we didn’t care.

We settled in. Sunshine tried to send all her assignments. She had a hard time and had to sit outside in the cold trying to get a better signal. I felt bad for her but at the same time, mad because yesterday, at the hotel in Edirne, we had a great internet connection and she didn’t send her work in! Anyway, another lesson to learned. While she did that, Gregory and I ventured out to the neighborhood to look for a grocery store. We found one, not far away and it was interesting to see what they had. Not much in the way of choices of food, almost no canned food, not even pesto or tomato sauce. We basically got breakfast and pasta for dinner. The selection of fruit and vegetables was super small, which makes sense because I’m assuming there must be a morning market with fresh items. We also don’t like to buy much when we knew we had to carry it all back up the hill, so yes, I left some cans and my Diet Coke!

I made spaghetti with tomato paste and ground beef. Thank God I had saved my chicken bouillon and a garlic clove that gave some flavor to the meat. Actually, it wasn’t bad at all. Gregory wanted to go out. Sunshine volunteered to go with him but in the end, we stayed home and watched a movie. Yes, we were finally able to get some streaming, after Gregory complained to the host!