Originally Posted by
JapesUK
Thanks for both the tip and the correction. That breakfast spread at the Skalion certainly was extensive but the quality was not great. It beggars belief that they have a 4.5 rating on trip advisor, maybe I was just really unlucky in my experience there, maybe.
I was looking into it a bit and came to a conclusion that a lot of these hotels cater to an emerging middle eastern middle class, who are... well, easy to please, seemingly, and happy to review the hotels. I'm also suspecting that fake reviews might be involved.
As usual, I would suggest everyone to not just go by the total rating, but look at the worst reviews and see what they complain about. Either you will find there stuff which will make you reconsider, or irrelevant quibbles like "they did not have fat free yoghurt on breakfast". You can then decide for yourself which one is better.
Originally Posted by
VorelNaCestach
I visited Istanbul last year when the metro station was not opened. I used Uber from and to the airport. It was extremely easy to book it. If I remember right, there are two types of official taxis - yellow and white. But I don't remember the difference anymore.
Taxis are yellow and blue, and IIRC yellow are smaller and cheaper (typically Fiat Tipo) while blue are larger more comfortable cars but more expensive (typically VW Passat).
Originally Posted by
VorelNaCestach
Buy a travel card - you can use it on trams, metro, ferries and a cable car (to Galata Tower).
I second that. Istanbul public transport is good and easy to use, particularly in the center of the city with the trams and the metro (and the boats). But I have also taken a bus to a more out-of-the-way location and it was just fine too.
Originally Posted by
JapesUK
And it continues to be one of those days, it happens. Decided to book an evening food tour, did the deed and minutes later whatsapp pinged… sorry, you’re the only guest, can you do tomorrow? sigh… refund number one.
back to google and after perusing numerous 2 minimum guest tours found a second one. Booked and, you guessed it, whatsapp pinged.. sorry, guide is ill, can you do tomorrow? …. Refund number two.
Losing the will to live at this point it was a change of tack and a search of nearby top rated restaurants. Found something that looks interesting and is ten minutes away, only time will tell if that is going to be a continuation of todays theme
I still recommend you try 1924
Originally Posted by
JapesUK
My next job is to arrange airport transport for tomorrow, time to see if reception can help for the outbound.. For the return from the airport I’ll use the same group I used at the start of the trip, they were efficient and drama free.
Taxi is going to cost about 1000 TRY (~30 eur), but again, I would not worry about using public transport. You can walk about 10 minutes to the Unversity stop of the metro and then get to the airport with one change. Otherwise Havaist busses are also fine, used to be they stopped at Beyazit maydan but not any more since the road is pedestrianized. Now you would have to go to Aksaray to catch it.