First Stop Istanbul - Day 1

When looking for flights to Kilimanjaro from Toronto, I really only had two choices of airlines - Ethiopian or Turkish Airways. Turkish Airways offered a deal that included two nights of free accommodation during a layover in Istanbul so we jumped on that. So did Pat and Gail. It would break up our long flight and we would have a short holiday in Istanbul before heading to Tanzania.

As planned, we took Red Car to the airport. What was unexpected was that the other couple in the car were old friends of ours. Our daughters went to school together. We had 1 1/2 hours to get caught up on news. It made the trip go fast.

Our 10 hour flight left at nine and we were able to see the beginning of the 5th game. An important game as the Dodgers and the Jays so far have each won 2 games. Of course we couldn’t watch the game while we were in the air but the Jays started out great with two home runs in the first three pitches! Towards the end of our flight someone on the plane learned that the Jays had won! Exciting!

Turkish Air was a bit of a disappointment for us. So hot when we got on the plane, the touch screens on the TV monitors didn’t work, some of the seats didn’t recline and the food was not very tasty and served cold. But we did look forward to staying in Istanbul for free for 2 nights.

Our plan to leave our bags at the airport and take the metro didn’t pan out. The bags cost $12/day each to leave at the airport. The metro was cheap but we were tired. So we found an orange metered taxi that cost $50 U.S. to take us and our bags right to the hotel.

The hotel was something else - the Mövenpick Hotel Istanbul Marmara Sea. We were on the 8th floor and had a wonderful view of the city and the Marmara Sea. Everything was new and so modern and the service was outstanding.

We walked to the nearby Fişekhane center where we ate our first delicious Turkish meal before meeting and having a Turkish beer in our hotel with Pat and Gail who arrived at around 9.Read more