As the plane made its descent, I peeked outside my window to catch a glimpse of Istanbul’s skyline. It was almost midnight, thus my hopes of catching a bird’s-eye view of the Bosphorus were dashed. Instead, looking out, I witnessed millions of stars, shining like diamonds. I couldn’t complain. As we stepped out of the aircraft, I realised the airport was huge-one could spend hours just exploring it. However, by the time we were done with immigration, all we really wanted to do was get to our hotel and call it a night! Before our trip, we were warned by friends about Turkish cab scams, but we had to experience this ourselves to
figure out how real it was. We were completely drained by this point
though, so just agreed to give in — God knows, how desperately we wanted to reach our hotel. Entering the
Sheraton, we immediately forgot about the unpleasant experience with our cab driver. The hotel was welcoming and warm, exactly what we needed on that cold December night. The staff too,
was friendly and super accommodating. After a hot shower we were ready for a good night’s sleep. The next day, we woke up with renewed energy, ready to explore the city and it’s diverse culture. After
devouring the hotel’s indulgent breakfast spread — from freshly baked bagels and perfectly fluffy scrambled eggs, to crunchy leafy salads and an array of different flavours of rich yoghurt — we began putting together an itinerary for the day. We decided our first stop in this vibrant megapolis was going to be the historic Sultanahmet District, which is often referred to as the “heart of Istanbul.” Home to iconic
sites such as the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque, large bazaars and multiple hidden gems, visiting this area was going to be the perfect start to our trip. As we headed out, we all wanted to avoid another disappointing encounter with taxi drivers, hence, decided to take the Metro and were pleasantly surprised by how good it was. Having travelled on tubes in London, we found the metro here to be much better and
cleaner! On our way, we could see the city’s alleys and shops; crammed together, selling everything from
traditional Turkish teas to designe knock-offs. We enjoyed observing the hustle and bustle, as shoppers made their way in and out of the marketplace. We left at our stop and began walking
