On Sunday, June 1, I flew from Chicago to Istanbul. It was Monday morning local time when I arrived in Istanbul. Fortunately, my checked luggage was checked all the way through to Singapore, so I didn’t have to worry about collecting that. In my carry-on backpack, I carried a smaller lightweight flash pack. So I packed up the flashpack with items I wanted with me for the day of exploring Istanbul. Then I paid to store my larger carry-on backpack at a luggage storage place in the airport.
I was then ready to head to the city for a day of exploration!
Turkish Airlines offers free tours through Touristanbul to many of its passangers who have long layovers in Istanbul. But the tours don’t offer a lot of flexibility, and may not visit all the key places that a visitor wants to see.
I opted to tour the old city on my own. I did purchase an audio tour through an app on my phone that gave me a great background to what I was seeing as I explored the city.
The main Istanbul airport is about an hour’s drive from the old part of the city of Istanbul. On the way in, I took a Havaist bus from the airport to a drop-off point relatively close to where I wanted to be in the city. From there, I did a lot of walking!
Some of the key places that I wanted to visit in Istanbul were the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and the Grand Bazaar. Fortunately, I was able to visit each of these places, along with many other interesting sites!
My departing flight for Singapore was scheduled for 5:05 PM, so I had to be careful to leave the old city soon enough to allow me to get to the airport in time. I ended up taking a taxi that I requested through the bitaksi app.