Munich to Istanbul

My flight from Munich to Istanbul was at 07:15am - whaaaat ?!?!? So early !!! I set my alarm for just after 4am and did the final bit of packing of sleep clothes and toiletries into my suitcase. Lizelle had prebooked a taxi for me which was a good idea to get to Hautpbahnhof in time for the S1/S8 U-Bahn to the airport. I got to Munich International Airport with ample time and checked in and did all the security bits and pieces.

Waiting for SBahn at Hauptbahnhof

On the S8

The flight was only a short hop of a few hours, so enough time to have a quick brekkie and then we were there. Could see the weather was pretty yuck when I got in. Wet and drizzly.

Boarding

At my seat

Looking out a window

Drizzly in Istanbul

Welcome to Istanbul

Inside airport

I had arranged for the hotel shuttle to pick me up. This is where the issues started. I couldn't find where I had to meet them as they had never said. Checked all the places where people were being picked up. Nothing. I was then stuck, what to do, no way to communicate easily with people and no way to get hold of the hotel. I chatted with my sister and she called the hotel from her work and turns out they were too busy or had forgotten or whatever, so there was no shuttle for me and to take a taxi. Stress I could have done without, especially seeing I wasn't exactly refreshed after the early wake up.

The hotel said to take a taxi, so got in a yellow cab and then headed to my hotel. The airport was about 1hr away from where I was staying (in Old Town area). I wasn't sure if I trusted the option for whatever reason. It worked out cheaper to take the taxi than the shuttle would have so that worked out OK in the end, as I said - just stress I could have done without though. Taxi dropped me a short way (few blocks) from the hotel as there was crazy traffic, was a bit on an uphill walk on cobbles to get there, but was OK. Got to the hotel at about 1pm and checked in and offloaded my stuff at the room and then headed out for some sightseeing. More in the sightseeing in the next post.

I was pretty knackered so didn't want to hassle or venture too far for dinner, so just had something at the hotel. which was tasty enough. Had the "Chicken Casserole with Cheddar Cheese Sautéed chicken thigh tomato with green pepper, onion mushrooms and cheddar cheese." They brought bread too. I had already had a few snacks while out and about so was sufficient.

View from Hotel rooftop restaurant

Dinner