Istanbul Diary. Day 1

I decided to tell about my visit to Istanbul in the form of a diary - it is a new format for me, but I will try my best.

January 23, 2022

06:30. Arrived at Sabiha Gokcen Airport from Tbilisi. Was surprised to see so much snow in Istanbul.

07:00 - 08:30. Getting through the passport control, changing euro to Turkish lira (the rate was 14.20 liras for 1 euro - not the best rate, but I needed some cash, and it was the only currency exchange point working at that hour), getting to the city centre by bus.

I payed 36 liras for the ride, but as soon as I entered the bus, I regretted that I hadn't gone for a taxi. The bus was full and multiple people were coughing - during the Corona times it is scary and I am really hoping those coughs were just colds or something else. When I am returning to Tbilisi, I will take a taxi - don't care about the price!

08:45. I dropped in at the Kovan Firin cafe on my way to the hotel. For just 22 liras I got myself a small breakfast - black tea and a cheese croissant (?). I wanted to stay at the cafe for some time but the people there didn't wear masks, I understand why the customers didn't - they need to eat after all, but the personnel?! Besides, some customers coughed continuously, after the bus ride it was enough coughing for me, so I left as soon as I finished my meal and decided to go to my hotel to leave my luggage at least, as the hour was still early and my check-in was scheduled no earlier than 1 pm.

The pavements were really slippery, by the way, I was wearing sneakers, so I needed to be careful not to slip and fall.

09:10. I found my hotel and to my surprise and delight, my room was already waiting for me! After no sleep last night I just went to my room and got into bed as soon as I got the opportunity!

15:00. I woke up feeling a little rested, scrolled through my Facebook feed, almost all the posts are from The Book Hangout Spot group nowadays, which I am quite ok with - I am getting good vibes from the group as well as a lot of book recommendations, but there are some news as well, e. g. Novak Djokovic's deportation from Australia because he was not vaccinated has been a trending piece of news recently.

16:20. I managed to go out. My plan was to just wander around and visit some bookshops I marked on the map, because my motto is: If you don't visit a bookshop when you are in a new city, then why come at all?! :) Just kidding.

The first bookshop, "Remzi Kitabevi", was really close to my hotel, so I got there in just 5 minutes. At first I thought there are only books in Turkish, but deeper in the shop I found quite a large table with non-fiction books in English. I looked through the titles, and one stood out: "Books That Changed History". I love books about books, so of course I wanted to buy this gem. But I left it for later, as it was a big and a bit heavy book, I wanted to look around more before making my final purchase. There were fiction books in English in the shop as well, so I went to check them out. I chose two books "The Travelling Cat Chronicles" by Hiro Abikawa, because I liked the title, sometimes I do that while choosing my books, and "The Black Book" by Orhan Pamuk, because I am in Turkey and I certainly need to buy a book by a Turkish author (this is for my reading challenge).

I thought two books would do good and turned to the large table where "my precious" was to see that some man was looking through it! I became jealous, and was thinking: "Please don't buy it! I want it!" In a few moments, during which I felt like Gollum when the ring was stolen, he left it alone and I quickly grabbed it before anyone else could do it. But of course my worries were all in vain, there were other copies of this book in the shop. :)

17:20. I left "Remzi Kitabevi" and went into the direction of another bookshop in the area. Like this was not enough. :) What can I say, I just like being around books. But first I wanted a substantial meal, as I didn't eat properly since yesterday. For some reason, however, I couldn't find a restaurant with nice hot meals, only cafes with desserts, I still don't know why - was it because it was Sunday, or because it was the wrong time of the day, or the wrong neighbourhood, but I had to settle with just a cup of tea and a cake. I paid 25 liras for it, not expensive I would say but I was a bit disappointed: the cake was tasty, but it seemed to have been stored in a freezer and the waiters didn't defrost it properly - some part was hot, and some was still icy - who would enjoy eating ice when it is -1°C outside, actually, who would enjoy eating ice ever?!

17:50. Found the second bookshop - "Pandora". It is a great name, I must admit, because when I opened that box, I couldn't stop: I bought seven (!) books there and there were more I wanted to buy, I didn't only because I realized it would be quite a heavy "cargo", so I think I will come back to the shop later to grab those I left.

The books I bought:

• "The Untold Story" by Genieve Cogman. This is the last of the "Invisible Library" series, which was published not so long ago, and I was surprised to find it here, but apparently Istanbul knows its books stuff.

• "Shadowless" by Hasan Ali Toptaş

• "Tanpinar's 'Five Cities'" by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

• "The Midnight Library" by Matt Haig

• "A Court of Thorns and Roses" by Sarah J. Maas

• "How to be a Travel Writer" from Lonely Planet

• "Better The Fiction 2" from Lonely Planet

18:40. I left the bookshop feeling really happy, ecstatic I might even say, I wanted some of the books for some time already but couldn't find them in Tbilisi. I also was a bit embarrassed to spend quite a sum on books, but on the other hand - why not?

18:50. As I didn't find a restaurant, I had to buy some food, so I dropped in at a supermarket, bought some light snacks and fruit and came back to the hotel.

19:30. Started to read "How to be a Travel Writer" but after reading just one chapter fell asleep, I am not blaming the book - I did sleep for just a few hours today after all.

P. S. I don't really want to be a travel writer, (or do I?), but I do have a travel-bookish blog, so I thought it could be an interesting read.

22:00. I woke up, made myself a good cup of tea, watched some YouTube videos and continued reading.