Today the 18 is going to... (Day 14 of the world trip)

18.09.2019

That was the most restless night in a long time :D When we came back from dinner yesterday, the street in front of our hotel was closed for construction. What we didn't expect was that the construction site would be operating for so long... Around 9:30 pm it finally became quiet and I went to sleep, but two hours later, Jonas and I were woken up again because the construction work was in full swing! Besides the jackhammer, the beeping of the reversing truck (which honestly lasted for up to 30 seconds at a time) contributed to an almost unbearable noise :( I grabbed my earplugs, the good ones from Ohropax, but unfortunately it made no difference. As if that wasn't enough, our neighbors in the next room (a middle-aged Spanish couple) also woke up and, as is typical for the stereotypically passionate Spaniards, engaged in loud conversations/arguments. Unfortunately, our Spanish skills obtained through Duolingo are not sufficient yet to understand the exact content, but the noise level easily matched that of the construction site... :(

At 5:20 am, the usual Muezzin battle began, but it wasn't a problem since our alarm would have rung at 5:30 am anyway. So we got up, brushed our teeth, and packed - because a taxi had been ordered for us at the reception for 6:00 am. When we arrived in the lobby, I could already see the taxi driver waiting outside, but when I tried to reach him, I realized that the door was locked :O

Only then did I notice that a cell phone alarm was ringing, and when I looked around the dark room, I saw the receptionist sleeping on a folding sofa in full uniform. His cell phone alarm was really not quiet, but he continued to sleep. I took a few steps back and forth, rattled the room key provocatively, but no chance. The taxi driver had already spotted me and looked at me incomprehensibly as I unsuccessfully shook the door. It wasn't until Jonas came down the stairs and addressed me that the receptionist suddenly woke up. He jumped up and quickly opened the door for us. Poor guy :D By now it was shortly after 6 am, and what surprised us was that breakfast was supposed to be offered from 6 am. How the receptionist intended to be ready for it is a mystery to us ;-)

At 6:20 am, we arrived at the train station, which was great because the train didn't leave until 6:55 am. The train station itself wasn't that big, but the handling seemed very professional. Right at the entrance, you had to let your luggage pass through a security checkpoint and walk through a metal detector like at the airport. Then we could wait in the waiting room, and when our train arrived, everything got into motion ;-) Before entering the actual platform, the ticket and the passport are checked (also like boarding an airplane at the airport). So it's impossible to fare evade here^^ Since we had assigned seats, we didn't stress and took a few more photos :p

The seats on the train were super comfortable. It's a high-speed train that runs daily from Konya to Istanbul (almost 650 km) and since it's also used by commuters, it wasn't particularly surprising that it looks just like a ICE :) Legroom, a luggage rack at the beginning of each car, and of course an onboard service (also like on an airplane with a rolling cart for snacks and drinks) were included. There were monitors displaying the route and the current speed (our maximum was an impressive 250 km/h). So the nearly 4.5-hour journey was once again super relaxed. Well, when it comes to traveling long distances by public transportation, Turkey is really not bad! :O :)

Jonas slept most of the time and I ate flatbread with chocolate spread and read the train magazine, which was really exciting. According to the magazine, Turkey is in the process of developing its trains and highways. They want to build and connect even more, and yeah. Sounds good ;-)

With only a 10-minute delay, we finally arrived at our stop, Istanbul Pendik. As we later found out, we could have traveled two more stops, but instead, we switched to the Marmaray, the tram. We cleverly wanted to buy an Istanbulkart that I had researched. It's a prepaid card that up to 5 people can use, and you just have to tap the card at the entrance to the transportation without having to dig out any (small) change :) That was the plan, at least.

After several unsuccessful attempts at a machine, we decided that it couldn't be our fault and tried the next one. However, we were still boycotted here :( The card itself costs 6 Lira (1 €) and can then be topped up with any amount to use it. We were so proud that we had 6 Lira in coins because the machine informed us that it didn't give out change. So we didn't want to use our 20 Lira banknote... Eventually, a (we suspect) student took pity on us and offered her help. She was super friendly and not only bought the card but also paid for Jonas' first ride :D By now, we also understood the principle. If you buy the card and put 10 Lira into the machine, you get the card plus a credit of 4 Lira. That means we should have actually used the 20 Lira and would have already had a balance of 14 Lira, but whatever. In the end, we are now proud owners of the Istanbulkart. Yay! ;-)

After a bit of confusion with Google Maps, we finally found our Airbnb apartment. Check-in is only possible from 6 pm, but our host had mobilized a friend who at least let us in to drop off our luggage. Really nice! By now it was around 2 pm, and we still had 4 hours to kill. Jonas had been looking forward to go bouldering here for days. I could fulfill that wish ;-)

Our apartment is in Kardiköy, a hipster neighborhood where there is also a small bouldering hall. Personally, I could hardly find any routes that were climbable for me, and the system was a bit confusing at first, but overall it was quite nice. And Jonas had even more fun than I did. We will probably go there again, maybe I'll just go as a photographer :D

After bouldering, we strolled through the neighborhood, ate at a restaurant that only offers vegan and vegetarian dishes (and the food was really delicious!), and finally were able to properly check-in.

Then we went shopping because we have to take care of ourselves here. I found oatmeal, yogurt, nectarines, and I was in heaven <3 (I still have chocolate cookies left from yesterday :p).

Now we just relax, catch up on sleep (!!!), and tomorrow we will do the classic Istanbul tourist route :)