15. Cold Türkiye

 We landed in Istanbul on a cold night. Luckily we'd had our initiation in London!

Our hotel booking was made on booking.com and honestly, it's a bit of a lottery. Even though there are reviews and ratings it makes you wonder who writes them. 

We got out of the taxi from the airport and wandered down the road looking for our accommodation. Walking past dilapidated buildings on a cold, wet night in an unknown country on broken pavements and walking past loud local lads was slightly intimidating. 

We found the hotel and even though the and mentioned a lift, we faced a spiral staircase leading up to the check-in counter on the first floor. There is a lift, but it starts on the first floor! The lift was needed as Max's leg is still healing. Thank God we'd left those big suitcases behind. 

The young fella at the check-in counter was very pleasant and showed us up to the room. It was spacious and very warm. The smell of cigarette smoke goes throughout the building as most Turkish men smoke heavily. Even though it's a "non-smoking" hotel, ashtrays are provided in the rooms. 🙅 Even the guy at the check-in furiously tries to wave the smoke from his cigarette away as we get out of the lift!

It only gets better from here!



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