IST-KUL 2023

Wed 27/12/23

We ventured out to the Basilica Cistern or Yerebatan Sarnıcı after our usual routine of breakfast at 7.30am on the third day. It is located nearest to our hotel, but initially we wanted to forego it after reading online reviews that the entrance fee is TRY 450 each for foreign tourists but covering only a small area. True enough, we finished covering the Basilica Cistern within 15 minutes. From wikipedia: It is the largest ancient cisterns beneath Istanbul, built in the 6th century during the Byzantine era. It is capable of holding 80,000 cubic metres (2,800,000 cu ft) of water.  The Basilica Cistern's water came from the Belgrade Forest, 19 kilometres north of the city and travelled via the Valens (Bozdoğan) Aqueduct, and the original  Mağlova Aqueduct, which was built by the Emperor Justinian.

Medusa head pillar

inside Basilica Cistern

inside Basilica Cistern

We then walked to the Sultan Ahmet park which is located in between Aya Sofya and Sultan Ahmet mosque (Blue Mosque) to just enjoy the views of the 2 majestic buildings. Then we walked to the Obelisk of Theodosius, an ancient Egyptian obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III re-erected in the in the 4th century AD at the Hippodrome of Constantinople , known today as Sultanahmet Meydanı. Another 2 columns remaining at the Hippodrome are the Serpent Column and the Walled Obelisk. (From wikipedia)

Walled Obelisk

Serpent Column

cats of Istanbul

It was almost 11am by then so we walked back to our hotel via part of the Gulhane park and packed our luggage for check out. After checking out at 12noon, we had our final lunch in Istanbul at a nearby restaurant Sirkeci Sultan. We had Adana kebap (ground lamb kebap) and Kuzu Pirzola (Turkish lamb chop) with cay. Our final lunch turned out to be our most expensive one at TRY 1050.5

Adana kebap (ground lamb kebap)

Kuzu Pirzola (Turkish lamb chop)

After lunch, we picked our bags at the hotel and made our way to the Istanbul airport via the metro which involves 4 changes of lines - first the B1 line from Sirkeci to Yenikapi, M2 line from Yenikapi to Sisli, M7 line from Mecidiyeköy to Kağıthane and finally the M11 line from Kağıthane to Istanbul airport. We had to walk quite a bit through a park with no covered walkway to transfer from the M7 Kağıthane exit to M11 Kağıthane entrance. Luckily it was not raining. The M11 train from Kağıthane to Istanbul airport has a frequency of 20 mins and we missed the train by a few seconds so we had to wait for another 20 mins. We departed from our hotel at 1pm and arrived at Istanbul airport at 3pm, a 2 hour metro ride with 4 transfers and cost TRY 78. 

walk outside to Kağıthane metro entrance

inside the Kağıthane - Istanbul M11 line

We performed our prayers at the Istanbul airport while waiting for check in counter to open at 5pm. Luckily Partner In Crime has just been upgraded to Gold tier in the One World alliance so it enabled us to get priority check in, priority luggage tag and access to the lounge. Since Istanbul airport is home to Turkish airlines which is part of Star Alliance and not One World, our lounge access is to the IGA lounge. The IGA lounge was super busy at the time with limited seats so it didn't give the relaxing ambience. Food and drinks choice was okay. There is a prayer room located at the IGA lounge so we performed our Maghrib and Isyak prayers here. We left the lounge at boarding time at 7pm.

inside IGA lounge

prayer room inside IGA lounge

It was a full flight for both IST-DOH and DOH-KUL sectors. We didn't change our automatic seat selection at the aisle seat as the seating configuration was 3-4-3 for IST-DOH and 3-3-3 for DOH-KUL. For the in-flight meals, as usual Qatar airways didn't disappoint with beef patties with stroganoff sauce for me and penne pasta with herb cheese sauce for Partner In Crime for IST-DOH.

IST-DOH Qatar airways economy seat

beef patties with stroganoff sauce

penne pasta with herb cheese sauce

At Doha airport, we had a 2h 45min layover time and had the opportunity to enjoy the lounge while waiting for our flight to KUL. For the DOH-KUL sector, we had chicken caesar sandwich, red thai curry chicken for me and wok fried noodles with prawn dumplings for Partner In Crime. 

Qatar airways lounge at Doha airport

Qatar airways lounge at Doha airport

wok fried noodles with prawn dumplings

red thai curry chicken

For in flight entertainment, the seat screen and headphones were provided. We enjoyed some Alfred Hitchcock movies Rear Window and Strangers in A Train; and a classic movie Double Indemnity while on flight. We arrived KUL on time at 3.30pm. There was a traffic jam from KLIA to home but we managed to arrive by 5.30pm

Thank you for the memories Turkiye. We will be back Insyaallah.