Singinalot's 2023 Land Trip to Istanbul, Cappadocia, Rome, Amalfi Coast, & Florence

[PurpleTraveller]

Great to see another trip review from you! I'll be spending four days in Istanbul next June before flying to Athens for a Celebrity cruise, so I'll be following closely to see what you do. 

 

I went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum many many years ago and can't remember a lot but recently went to the Museum of Flight in Seattle and spent more than six hours there and still didn't see it all.

 

Looking forward to reading about your trip. 😊

[bobmacliberty]

The National Museum of the US Air Force at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH is one of the best museums that I've ever seen.  It's the largest military aviation museum in the world with aircraft from the early days of flying, every war era, and even space vehicles.  They also have a few retired Air Force Ones that you can walk through, including the Boeing VC-137C used by Kennedy through Clinton.  They do a great job of telling the stories of people who were involved with these planes with lots of other artifacts.  Well worth a visit if you're ever near Dayton.

[Guest]

20 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

I visited the the Smithsonian in the late 70s but didn't know about this place.  I bet I would of liked it.  Although I been to Huntsville Alabama, I have not yet visited the U.S. Space & Rocket Center.  I should someday.

Sharon's 1st cousin is James Voss, an astronaut that has gone to space five times.  He and another astronaut is recorded as having the longest spacewalk at 8 hours and 56 minutes. On the way back from one of his missions and while orbiting earth, he was able to call us through some radio operators in I think California. He called to congratulate our oldest daughter for graduating from High school.  

oh wow! What a call that must have been!

 

13 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

Great to see another trip review from you! I'll be spending four days in Istanbul next June before flying to Athens for a Celebrity cruise, so I'll be following closely to see what you do. 

 

I went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum many many years ago and can't remember a lot but recently went to the Museum of Flight in Seattle and spent more than six hours there and still didn't see it all.

 

Looking forward to reading about your trip. 😊

 

Istanbul was incredible. Can't wait to get to that part of the story...almost there.

 

47 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

The National Museum of the US Air Force at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH is one of the best museums that I've ever seen.  It's the largest military aviation museum in the world with aircraft from the early days of flying, every war era, and even space vehicles.  They also have a few retired Air Force Ones that you can walk through, including the Boeing VC-137C used by Kennedy through Clinton.  They do a great job of telling the stories of people who were involved with these planes with lots of other artifacts.  Well worth a visit if you're ever near Dayton.

 

 

Oh wow. I'll have to add that to my list.

[Guest]

Who’s ready for the final leg of the journey to Istanbul????

Me, Me, Me!

 

This was our first time flying Turkish airlines and this plane was set up a little differently than any business class I’d seen before. The seat pattern is 2-3-2. When picking our seats, I stayed away from the middle section as I wouldn’t want to be stuck in the middle even if it is business class. Seems like an odd set up to me, but I didn’t hear any complaints when we were actually on the plane.

 

 

 

 

refreshing welcome drinks

 

the 3 seat selection

[Guest]

 

 

[Guest]

I had been excited for the food on the flight as it is all prepared by chefs onboard!

 

 

[Guest]

 

arriving into Istanbul

 

[Ozark_Kid]

2 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

The National Museum of the US Air Force at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH is one of the best museums that I've ever seen.  It's the largest military aviation museum in the world with aircraft from the early days of flying, every war era, and even space vehicles.  They also have a few retired Air Force Ones that you can walk through, including the Boeing VC-137C used by Kennedy through Clinton.  They do a great job of telling the stories of people who were involved with these planes with lots of other artifacts.  Well worth a visit if you're ever near Dayton.

Just went through Dayton on our way to Lakeside a couple weeks ago.  I didn't know about this place. 

[Ozark_Kid]

Looks like you had nice spacing on the plane and the food looks good too.

[Guest]

47 minutes ago, Ozark_Kid said:

Looks like you had nice spacing on the plane and the food looks good too.

 

 

yes! very satisfied with the flight. The crew were wonderful too.

[Guest]

I spent several weeks researching airport transfer services for IST to our hotel. Most were priced around the same and had decent reviews, but one stood out: Istanbul Shuttle Here. They had different classes of cars you could pick, would allow me to pay with credit card, had an Instagram, and great reviews.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293974-d23980367-Reviews-Istanbul_Shuttle_Here-Istanbul.html

 

I paid $112 USD for round trip transfer in a Mercedes Vito VIP van. They sent very detailed instructions and a video on where to meet them at the airport. Everything went very smoothly.

 

[Ozark_Kid]

Wow, seeing all the travel pics and luxury I feel like I am following a couple of rock stars!

[bobmacliberty]

3 hours ago, singinalot said:

the 3 seat selection

 

I've never seen that either.  Did the seats seem a little skinnier so they could fit in an extra seat?  

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

Wow, seeing all the travel pics and luxury I feel like I am following a couple of rock stars!

 

hahaha don’t worry…the flight back was miserable

 

4 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

I've never seen that either.  Did the seats seem a little skinnier so they could fit in an extra seat?  

 

definitely! Nate said his shoulders didn’t fit well…i had no problems sleeping though.

[Guest]

We have Hilton diamond status and one of their benefits if you pay for 4 nights with points is to get a 5th night free. Happily, I found a Hilton curio property in Istanbul. We had stayed at a Curio property in Crete last year (see that report in my signature link) so I felt good with choosing this one.

https://www.hilton.com/en/book/reservation/rooms/?ctyhocn=ISTHSQQ&arrivalDate=2023-08-17&departureDate=2023-08-22&redeemPts=true&room1NumAdults=2&brandCode=HH&inputModule=HOTEL_SEARCH&bm-verify=AAQAAAAH_____xKuYmc16wYfVMFzvngLHAoImCsV7W5evJUIHg5FMuEteiPzCYX8wKyPyo97vZSj25GGawFkgfNHA43K6ECzmSH_4fIThiktw-prkoVj6GrpI2CszwJpdVvPP34LVlWLm1anphs0VstKQILpbYpsxfKxPKdAQj8panqiPaccPqsr-cUzgwEkq_NP76jH2dZqf38LrWjG_A18toS23djdcY5eJmyfsmhvX5HqWVV7WVOxD9DBOm2KbxMtvGP9n1DdKKGa0YFRakcyy8frURhC9pzPIb9CBlpeu-NPLy2PwqV2o1owln1zn_kFP0dT4rVCZQ28WX3G42jgkCUb0QiJCEFbKJCZPxKnrCVXXPs_MXW-L6UuH7icGO-lpLmkdXXVQlBgSj1lyc8VqAD-N1zHVQUPpJueQ2Lky0bgAzjRovA09vhN_uNl6XwURj6ALVMGSH7cpsom-i3-DtB5GRSK-fGwnwC08xY5FlVZdRlf25G_usckXubsGrx9S1BbwbMQjc9NqyfIgnigHtweRwSIdqNH

[Guest]

Prior to our arrival, Hilton emailed me and said we should have the driver call them 5 minutes before our arrival to give instructions for drop off. Once we arrived, U could see why. The actual entrance to the hotel is not accessible by vehicle and so they come to meet you in a golf cart. In front of the Topkapi Palace I might add 🙂

 

The property itself is spread out over a couple of blocks and unlike any hotel I’ve ever stayed at before. It was previously the housing for the sultans’ guests and they renovated into a hotel! I want to decorate my bathroom the way ours was here.

 

 

 

 

stairs leading from our room entrance up to the courtyard…where I would spend quite a bit of time 

 

 

[Guest]

We quickly showered and changed clothes so that we’d stay awake.

I had researched restaurants and followed a couple on Instagram, but only made 1 reservation for our time there…for our first night.

I booked Turk Art Terrace restaurant for 2. It was 10 minutes walking distance from the hotel.

 

Its a 5 flight of stairs climb to the rooftop, but oh SO WORTH IT!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

We walked around a bit after dinner but headed back to the hotel pretty quickly.

 

 

 

Topkapi Palace entrance on the right below. The lit center is a water fountain.

 

 

[Guest]

we got back to the hotel and I decided to go explore some more 

 

 

 

 

 

after wandering for a half hour or so I headed back to the hotel courtyard for a drink

 

 

the hotel spa pool:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

meanwhile, I got a text from my sister that Sam was living his best life back at home.

 

 

 

[erby2283]

Loving this (as always).  How long was your flight to Istanbul.  When did you book this trip (I may have missed reading this). 

 

As always, worst part is leaving the fur babies. 

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, erby2283 said:

Loving this (as always).  How long was your flight to Istanbul.  When did you book this trip (I may have missed reading this). 

 

As always, worst part is leaving the fur babies. 

 

youre right! I don’t think I mentioned, but I booked the outbound flight on March 31 and the Istanbul hotel on April 11.

 

 

[Guest]

 

The next day was our first full day in Turkey! We got up and walked around a bit.

 

 

 

 

this is a water fountain in the photo below. a place to fill your water bottles and refresh.

 

 

[Guest]

We made our way to Galata Bridge, which separates old Istanbul from modern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2023 by singinalot