Monday, 24 September 2012

Travel Log: A Long Escapade (Day 15)


Destination: Greece & Turkey
Duration: 18 Days 17 Nights (Aug 06~Aug 23, 2012)

Day 15: Izmir –> Istanbul

Costa Atlantica docked at Izmir port around 8am so this would be our last breakfast on board. Our English Speaking Hostess mentioned that passenger who disembarked could basically stay until before the ship sailed for the next destination – we still could enjoy lunch or tea break or go for a swim or something as long as we cleared out our room before 9am.

A surprise was we found a sealed letter with 4 EUR100 vouchers (2 with our names on it and 2 without name) at out letterbox. Not sure why we were given this though, perhaps they gave this to all the passengers? Or to all 1st time passengers? Or maybe they felt sorry that they cancelled all our booked shore excursion tour? Anyway the vouchers were only valid for booking by end of 2012 and cruise before Aug 31, 2013.
Last Picture in Costa Atlantica near Florian Cafe
Goodbye Costa Atlantica! Sammy and I will miss you especially our Obstructed View cabin 5146!
Since we had a 2.30pm domestic flight to catch, we’d decided to leave at around 10am so that we could have ample time to find our way to Izmir Airport with train! So the question was whether we could find the train station. Well, amazingly it was quite easy to find! Our experience was:-
1) Turn left after you came out from the port, walk straight until a big main traffic light.
2) Walk straight again to pass the traffic light and the train station would be at your left beside the main road. The walk from port to train station was around 10minutes if walked slowly. 
3) Get into the Train Station – follow a sign to get to Izban train line. The Izban train line is at the back of the main building. 
4) Get a ticket to Izmir Airport  - a transit is required though, from Alsancak -> Halkapinar (1st stop) to get on the Cumaovasi route to Havaalani (2nd last stop of the route).
Izmir Tourist Map - See the Railway Station?
The Railway Station
Looking for Izban Line
The Alsancak Train Station Entrance for Izban Line
How did we know which train to take? It was all thanks to the friendly people at the Izban Train line! It was public holiday that day and the place was practically empty with only a few workers/guards who didn’t even speak English. They were so helpful by giving us direction with minimum English and we were really glad that we ran into these guys. They also helped us to get into the entrance as people actually needed a card to go through which we obviously didn’t own and they only charged us 1 Lira per pax to get all the way from Alcansak to the Airport! I hope they didn’t get into any trouble on this.
Get off at the 1st Stop to catch the Cumaovasi Route!
When we reach the transit station (Halkapinar), we were basically ‘adopted’ by 2 seniors who obviously knew that we wanted to get to the airport thanks to our touristy look. They told us not to worry and just followed them and they would tell us when to get down. They even scolded a child when he started playing near our luggage. Wow! We were truly blessed to meet friendly locals!
Random Photo from the Train
We reached the airport before 12noon and printed out our AtlasJet boarding pass through a self check-in machine. AtlasJet was a low-cost airline (similar to our AirAsia) but with better service. They even served food on board without additional charges. We were given a pipping hot sesame cheese bun and sour cherry juice for our 1 hour journey.
Arriving Safely at Izmir Airport
The Airport
Color Printing at AtlasJet Self Check-in Counter
Sesame Cheese Bun & Sour Cherry Juice
Look at the Cheese!!!
We were picked up at Istanbul and were sent to Daphne Hotel in Sultanahmet. After so many days of non-stop exploring, we were simply too exhausted and rested until dinner time to look for some food. The streets were simply swarmed with people – I guess due to the public holiday.
Random Photo from the Plane
Picture of City Wall from the Airport Shuttle
View from our Hotel Room
Building near our Hotel
A lot of people!!!
We ended up at Amebros Café – currently ranked 8th out of 9637 restaurants in Istanbul. Unlike other restaurants that had waiters calling out for customers, the customers just walked in continuously without any urging. The café was quite small and quite full and we only managed to get a table near the tiny exit.
Amebros Cafe
The Interior
Let's have some Drinks!
The View from our table...
We were quite lost on what to order and the waiter recommended us Revan Kebab and Sehzade Chicken so we went with it. Turkish bread and olives were served and we also decided to order fried calamari as extra.
Turkish Bread & Olives
The fried calamari was ordinary – it was fresh but simply not that special and we’d had better calamari in Mykonos (link). So you might want to skip this.
Fried Calamari
The Raven Kebab was basically pieces of lamb cooked with spring onions, garlic, flaked chili peppers and apricots in cream sauce served with mashed potatoes. I was not a fan of lamb thus the lamb texture tasted just all right to me. But the sauce! The sauce was really something else! The sauce simply made this dish!
Revan Kebab
Sehzade Chicken was chicken pieces cooked with raisins, almonds, peanuts and cream and served with rice. I must say I loved this more than the lamb. The chicken was tender and the sauce! OMG!!! This restaurant was trying to KILL me with all the sauces! Strangely enough, the sauce tasted a bit like sesame and nutty but yet so creamy! I’m ashamed to admit that I lapped up all the sauces from both dishes with the Turkish bread and ate them all. *facepalm*
Sehzade Chicken - This is the BEST!!!
A wonderful dinner of course came with a price, this meal set us back EUR50 with tipping. Apparently the waiter wrote on our receipt that the price in menu didn’t include service charge thus hinting us for tips. I must say I was not that familiar with tipping system but we tipped at the typical 10% rate. Guess the waiter was cursing us at the back for cheap tipping? Hehehe.. I heard Americans tipped the most among tourists as they could tip at 25% but we were no Americans! =P We were given some kind of liquor at the end of our meals which tasted like almond. Still preferred the lemony liquor at Naoussa Restaurant though (link). 
Okay, they are famous! We get it!
The Almond-y Liquor
Is the waiter angry at us for Cheap Tipping? =p
After the dinner, we simply walked around the area and reached blue mosque. We took some pictures at the courtyard until the guards closed the main gate at around 10pm. We would be having a city tour tomorrow anyway so we simply called it a night.
Stalls at the Street
Blue Mosque at Night
Blue Mosque Courtyard Entrance
The Main Building
A Miniature!
Next Day (Istanbul City & 2 Continents Tour)

Masterpost (Click this to get to day by day link)

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