Overnight trip to Istanbul.

It was our wedding anniversary so we decided to spend it in Istanbul, why not? 135 lev/70 euro,good value for a trip like that. Let me tell you before i start that this trip is not for the faint hearted and especially not for those with children.Its a long long bus ride.

We were picked up at a bus stop close to the hotel at around 5 o clock.This was all arranged with a company called OK TRAVEL.Its about an hour and a half to the Bulgarian border,here the passports are checked and you get a chance to have a smoke,visit the toilet,stretch your legs,then on to Turkish passport control. 15 euro was the cost of the Turkish visa and this was collected by the tour guide.The bus was fine, it was modern,comfortable and air conditioned.An hour and a half to two hours later you stop at a road side cafe,here you get 20 min to get something to eat etc.We found alot of the passangers had trouble communicating what they wanted, as the staff only seemed to speak only Turkish.After this, another two hour trip to Istanbul where we were taken to our hotel.I must say, I expected the hotel to be a bit low budget but was pleasantly surprised.It was right in the centre of Istanbul and the restaurant on the roof had a lovely view from the terrace.The rooms were fine,two sngle beds,ensuite,air-conditioning.Here we got time to freshen up and it was off on the first part of our tour.The highlight of this was the Blue Mosque and it was great to see and look around this great building.We then crossed the river to the asian side and had something to eat there followed by a visit to a leather outlet and back to the hotel.Everybody was given the option of a Turkish night out,bellydancers etc for an extra 30 euro and a trip on the river the following day another 30 euro,we had to opt out of these due to budget constraints.We used this time to wander around Istanbul and it was nice and relaxing.I was glad I did this trip.Would I do it again? NO! On the journey back unfortunately there was some sort of problem at the Bulgarian border which meant we had to spend three hours on a bus unable to go anywhere.We were wrecked when we got back but you could say it was an adventure!

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Thanks for your report.

We did the Istanbul trip about 3years ago. We enjoyed and were pleased to have done the trip but as you say it is very tiring.

Sounds like we stayed at the same hotel as you and it was fine. We also did the Istanbul by night trip and the river cruise, which was followed by a trip to a carpet shop and some time to walk around the grand Bazzar. Lunch in the Orient Express restaurant before leaving for the long trip back to Sunny Beach.