October 1, by jillianhayton Leave a comment. For our last full day in Istanbul we thought we took the metro into the main part of the city with the intention of finding a couple of funicular railways. Getting off at Eminiou to change to a tram was a bit of a challenge as the trams were jam packed, we really had to push to get on.
Having done that we then all had to get off at the next stop as there was a problem with the tram and pack onto the next one. We only had a few stops to go and then it was a little quieter. Had a wander around the square and found the garden that we had visited last time around which had a small cafe where we could refresh ourselves and watch the world go by. Back down on the funicular we decided that we would flag trying to get to the real tourist areas and just took a ferry over to the other side for a more relaxed wander along the waterfront before heading back home on the metro.
Tried out another of the local dining establishments just a short walk from the hotel before heading home to pack up once again. Our booked transfer back to the airport was spot on time and it seems that the day-time traffic obey the speed regulations as it was a very calm trip to the airport.
It was nice to see the route we had taken in the dark. The company allows an hour to get you to the airport but it only took just over 30 mins so as per usual we were super early for our flight, and as luck would have it the flight was delayed by an hour so it was a bit of a long wait. FlyDubai took us to Dubai in just under 4 hours, the flight keeping us well north of the troubled areas but right through the middle of Iran. Alison and Stefano were at the airport to meet us and take us home to the Embassy.
The first thing that struck us as we came out of the air-conditioned airport was the extreme heat coupled with very high humidity. That was interesting, with different rock formations as we came into the hills, plenty of sand dunes but no wild camels although I did see hoof prints in the sand.
