When I got to Istanbul today... I got a taxi at the airport...he brings me to within a few blocks of the hotel and says he can't go further....can't go back around to find hotel because of one way streets and traffic etc etc....makes me get out, with my luggage. I pay him 35 lira...and off he goes. He tells me hotel is just around corner to the left. Ya...right. so there's me....with my confirmation print out showing address of Antique Hotel...which of course is not just around the corner. No one on the street speaks English, no one on the street knows where to find Antique Hotel. So, I drag my luggage around for a while over the cobblestones and broken pavement ....a taxi pulls over...I show him the address...he mutters something unintelligible and takes off.. I'm standing there wondering what to do. A nice shiny black car with a chauffer pullls up. Realizes I am in distress. He finds a place to pull over....makes a few phone calls.....schleps my luggage into the car. and takes me to the Antique Hotel...about 10 blocks from where he rescued me. He leaves., refuses money, just a nice guy. Now, I had intended this hotel to be the same place Tony and I stayed in three years ago. Which is sorta why I'm here...a little trip down memory lane. Tuns out we stayed at the Antiques Hotel....with an S. Not the same place at all. And this place is a real dump! Not enough room to swing a cat...and good thing there is no one to share the bed with because I am sharing it with my suitcase. There is no where else to put it. Hence the reason Singapore is back up to the top of the "Favorite Cities" list!!!
Pre booking things on line does not always work out! My lovely little apartments on the islands in Greece were precious jewels...this place? a lump of granite! Oh, and did I mention? I had more than half a jar of instant coffee left in Greece and decided to put it in my carry on.......the lid came off during transit. Probably while I was dragging stuff around on the cobblestones looking for this hotel!
Before being able to go through passport control at the airport, foreigners must first get in line and buy a visitors Visa, which allows one to stay in the country for 90 days. Big list on the wall of what the citizens of each country have to pay to be here. US citizens...15 Euros ( $20) Canadians 45 Euros ($60)
This has not been one of my better days.
Pre booking things on line does not always work out! My lovely little apartments on the islands in Greece were precious jewels...this place? a lump of granite! Oh, and did I mention? I had more than half a jar of instant coffee left in Greece and decided to put it in my carry on.......the lid came off during transit. Probably while I was dragging stuff around on the cobblestones looking for this hotel!
Before being able to go through passport control at the airport, foreigners must first get in line and buy a visitors Visa, which allows one to stay in the country for 90 days. Big list on the wall of what the citizens of each country have to pay to be here. US citizens...15 Euros ( $20) Canadians 45 Euros ($60)
This has not been one of my better days.
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