Safranbolu - Istanbul

Sun 24/12/23

As we were having breakfast today, another guest had a conversation with us- turned out he was a Malaysian solo backpacking around Turkiye for 2 weeks. The weather forecasted today to be snowing in Safranbolu and nearby areas. 

True enough, after we checked out and about 30 minutes after we left Safranbolu, it snowed near Karabuk on the stretch between D755 state road and E80 motorway. We made a detour to Lake Golcuk national park in Bolu as we didn't cover it when we were in Bolu 3 days back. The route to Lake Golcuk was through a pine forest area and climbing, and it was snowing here. The entrance fee to Lake Golcuk is TRY 60. 

snow along the motorway from Safranbolu to Bolu

Since it was snowing at Lake Golcuk, the path around the lake area was already covered with thick snow. We didn't have any snowshoe or crampons on, so we didn't venture far. We took pictures at the lake with a house across the lake. Then we had lunch at one of the restaurants there, Golcuk Manzara restaurant. We had Golcuk karisik izgara (meatball) and Golcuk Bolu mantisi (dumpling) with Cay. There was no charge for the cay. Our lunch cost TRY 760

snowy Lake Golcuk

Golcuk karisik izgara (meatball)

Golcuk Bolu mantisi (dumpling)

After lunch, we continued our journey back to Istanbul, but stopping again at Tursan park rest and relax area on the E80 motorway for prayers. We then continued again our journey, stopping by near the airport to fill up the tank before returning our rental car at the airport. We reached the airport at 6 pm. We had to return the car at the same place we picked up the car at Otopark level Basement 3. The process was smooth and Avis would be returning the deposit after calculating the toll charges within 3 days.

Tursan park rest and relax area 

Avis car rental drop off 

From the SAW airport, we made our way to our hotel at the European side of Istanbul via metro. There were 2 line changes i.e. first via the M4 line to Kadikoy, changing at Ayrılık Çeşmesi to line B1 to Artakoy, alighting at Sırkecı. From Sirkeci, it is about 5 mins walking to the hotel. To use the metro, we bought the Istanbulkart which cost TRY 70 for the card only and top up value of TRY 100. The cost from SAW to Sirkeci was TRY 41 per person. One Istanbulkart can be used for both of us. Each person has to tap in to deduct the amount in the card.

SAW airport metro

in the M4 line metro

Istanbulkart

We arrived our hotel Senabil Hotel old city at 8.30pm. We booked our room through Agoda just a day before while we were in Safranbolu. I tried to book through booking.com but the listing of accommodation in Turkiye was apparently banned. Luckily Agoda did not have the ban and we were able to book our room. Our room cost RM 593  for 3 nights with breakfast (non refundable) - it was a last minute booking anyway and we were sure there would be no changes.

Senabil hotel room

Since we were already tired, we decided to just call it a day. It has been a long journey from Safranbolu today.

On hindsight, we would be departing back to KUL via a different airport i.e. the new Istanbul (IST) airport on the European side. When I bought the flight ticket, I thought it would be easier to go back via IST since it is located on the European side which is the same side as our hotel. It turned out that there would be 4 line changes from Sirkeci to IST via the metro. More on the that on my last post for IST-KUL journey. Self reminder to check the metro accessibility to the airport first prior to booking a flight ticket if it involves different airports between arrival and departure.