Day 48 - Istanbul

We arrive in Istanbul at 6am, with the help of a few sleeping pills both Ben and I had a few hours sleep on the bus ride over. The guys from the bus company told us to wait till 7am and then a shuttle will come and take us to the area we needed to go as Istanbul is just so big. 7am came and the guys told us no shuttle is coming and to catch a tram. So with our experience of trams in Sydney and London - we got to the place we needed to go with a little bit of help from a few locals.

We got off the tram at 'Sultanahmet' and walked just 30 meters up the road and happen to see our hotel right next to Starbucks. The team at 'Faros Hotel' were so lovely and to be honest it was nice to have a conversation with people who speak English. We didn't know whereabouts in Istanbul to say but Creative Holidays helped us and we are so happy with the location and the quality of the hotel. It's very central and the free breakfast of muesli, fresh fruit, eggs, potatoes etc is perfect - as we are a little over the kebabs. The hotel room is amazing and so cosy, we instantly relax once we walk into the room - we feel at home here. An early checkin of our room at 10:30am was a big bonus too.

We wind down after a big day of traveling and just enjoy the peacefulness of relaxing in Istanbul - the final stop of our Europe journey.

We go out for dinner at Faros restaurant, just in our hotel. I got a Greek salad and Ben got carbonara. Bens dish was creamy and delicious whereas mine looked amazing but it came with rocket salad which took over the flavors of the salad.

We got an ice block and explored our area, we came across the 'blue mosque' which we will get taught about when we do a sightseeing tour bus tomorrow.

There are a lot of kiosks here selling just corn on the cob for cheap. And the McDonalds across the road sells Mcflurry's through a widow outside the store as they are so popular. We look forward to seeing more of the city tomorrow.