It was our last day in Istanbul so we decided to take it easy. We woke up early to have brekky, pack our things and check out, and decided to visit Yildilz Palace as it was included on the Museum Pass we bought.
So we jumped in a cab and got there around 11am, quickly realising the Presidential cycling race was right outside it as the roads had been blocked off and there were police everywhere. As we walked up to the palace we were greeted by three guards and police cars and even a guy holding a big Uzi machine gun. They promptly took our things from us without asking and rifled through them, before giving it back to us and letting us in. Turns out we were the only ones there, and we found out why - the Palace was super boring! The palace was only recently built in the late 1800s, so there wasn't a huge amount of history and they just had a bunch of "old" things that the Sultan used, such as his thrones, carriage, etc. Ryan and I quickly finished the museum part and walked through to the back of the palace where there was a nice garden, but as we walked back round we could hear all this yelling and a guard came power walking towards us telling us we couldn't go to the back because it was under restoration. And then as we walked to the exit gate the dude with the gun stared at us - eeekkkk! As if we even looked like we'd start some trouble!???? Anyway, we walked over to public park and read a little bit and watched the cyclists go by, before heading to a huge shopping mall close by for lunch.
It was then back to the hotel to grab our bags and off to the airport for our flight to Cappadocia. Once we arrived we were transferred to our hostel, and we realised how spoilt we'd been in Istanbul as our hostel room was like a dump compared to the other place. But hey, running hot water and a bed, so nothing to complain about!
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