Topkapi Palace

PCR Swab

With remnants of Paris time in my body clock I fell asleep at midnight.  But for some reason I woke at 0145 super alert.   This is so unlike me.  After sitting up till about 0300 I took half a pill and slept till 0800

After breakfast, my priority was to 5 mins away to Viva Deluxe Hotel for my swab.  The doctor was already there at for my 1000 appointment.  I couldn’t work out whether she was Turkish or Russian.

A throat swab was done very quickly and I was back at my room preparing for check-out which I had organised for 1130.

An awful thought came into my mind.  What if hotels organise PCR Tests whereby they rig the results to be positive?  And then they sell you an isolation package for 10 days?  Could this be a scam?  Fortunately, all ended well when I collected my results later in the day.

Killing time

I took a walk around the waterfront to Galata Bridge.  It wasn’t a nice day.  There was a bit of a breeze too and risk of drizzle.  The thought of joy-riding Istanbul’s big and small ferries for a few hours didn’t appeal as I had done it before.

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Topkapi Palace

I decided to revisit Topkapi Palace nearby.  It had been about 20 years since my last visit with Mum and 31 since my first visit with Kim.  Entering via the Gulhane Park entrance (a side entrance), I spent about 15 mins in a ticket queue to then realise it was for the Archaeological Museum.

I proceeded to the Topkapi ticket queue where it was a similar wait but it was raining by now.  Together with a mainly Russian-speaking crowd (of mixed ethnicities comprising European, Asian and Central Asian appearances) I spent another 15 mins waiting and questioning my reason to be here. They seem to be the main tourists here, apart from those from the Middle East.

Tickets were TRY200 for the general palace and the St Irene church.  Add TRY85 for the Harem.  I got the full package as I may not be doing it again for another 20-30 years.

With a separate queue in the rain for the free audio guide, I couldn’t be bothered.  They generally waffle on too much for my limited interest.

I then struck it lucky with no queue to enter the Harem so I chose to do that first.  This was the place of the Sultan’s women, overseen by his mother, the Valide Sultan.  We first saw the areas use by the guards, the black eunuchs before visiting the more sumptuous facilities of the mother and the Sultan.

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Coming out, I decided to go to the further (second) courtyard.  The far walls overlook the Bosphorus, Asia, Golden Horn and Taksim.

There were various rooms here that were intricately decorated.  Some were just pavilions and chill-out areas.  One of the main exhibit room was for religious artifacts and relics.  They had a relic of the Prophet Muhammad’s beard and a richly decorated box for his banner, amongst other things.

Backtracking to the building surrounding the first courtyard, we have the entrance to the Harem, the Imperial Council and on the opposite side, the palace kitchen.  I’m not a big fan of seeing pots and pans and I glossed through that pretty quickly.

I remember exhibits of armoury and military stuff but I didn’t see any of that today.  Not all rooms are open all the time and for visitors with specific interests, there is a board at the ticketing counter which shows the opening status of various rooms.

Leaving the complex, I took a quick look at St Irene’s church.  It was rather bare, with exposed rock-block walls.  A net was in place under the dome and with other restoration in progress, there wasn’t much to appreciate.

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All-in-all, I spent about 2h30 at Topkapi Palace including the ticketing process.  With horrid wet weather and slippery marble floors, my interest was very limited.  It was an expensive form of entertainment or killing time.

I would have rather had gone to a hammam to keep warm but that would be silly in terms of Covid-risk.  That’s despite having had my swab taken for my immediate travel.  I still have to look after myself to ensure my upcoming dive trip is not jeopardised.

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Cosmetic surgery

Walking around Istanbul, I noticed a few men with freshly-transplanted scalps of stubbles, with hints of drying blood on some of them.  And I’ve seen some women with tightly stretched facelifts and exaggerated lips as well.  This must be the place to come for cosmetic surgery.  It’s important to tell the doctor not to overdo these things.  Some people looked so artificial.

Getting ready to go

I was full and bloated all day from yesterday’s borek and kunefe.  I had eaten lightly at breakfast; tomatoes, cucumber, egg and a small piece of bread.  Even after 1500, I had to force myself to eat a light lunch of chicken shwarma and rice.  With not much vegetables in my lunch, I bought a cup of strawberries and pineapple to follow.

It was about 1615 when I went to collect my PCR test results.  Fortunately, it was negative. Alhamdulillah! I exclaimed when the Azeri receptionist handed over the result. He smiled back, appreciating my relief.

With all the crowded metros, trams etc, I’m sure there would have been a few positive people around.  While, my Pfizer vaccine isn’t 100% effective, it’s certainly done its job for now.

I returned to my hotel and grabbed my luggage, hopping on the tram at Gulhane for Aksaray where I changed to the Hava Ist airport bus.  Apart from the crowds, it was all pretty easy.  The bus left on the dot at 1700 and crawled in traffic for two-thirds of the way getting to the airport an hour later.

Leaving Istanbul

We had to queue for security to enter the airport’s check-in area.  Laptops had to be removed from luggage even at this point.

While all Turkish Airlines flights till tomorrow mid-morning were listed as “Check in open” the reality was that the desks weren’t open.  I found one of few seats in the area to start doing my application to enter Sarawak.  I had had trouble doing it on my phone and fortunately it worked better on my laptop, thanks to the free airport wifi.

The first three hours went quickly with the Sarawak application, packing away the cold weather gear and exploring to ensure that there wasn’t a way I could check-in earlier.

Check-in opened about 3h15 after I arrived at the airport, or 4h30 before my flight.  It was a common check-in for various Asian flights with similar timing, including Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Taipei, Bangkok, Jakarta etc.

With only four counters, the staff worked through the queue admirably quickly and I had my boarding pass after 45 mins of joining the queue (I couldn’t see them preparing to open from where I had been sitting).

I believe they worked so quickly as many travellers were passport holders of their destination countries and they don’t need to check for visa or onward tickets.  They don’t scrutinise one’s Covid-19 test but more look for the fact that you have one.  Likewise with vaccination.

I was hoping they would check my cabin-sized wheelie bag all the way to Kuching and they did that without hesitation.  Sometimes, there’s hesitation about international-to-domestic as the ability to do that may differ.  However, my domestic boarding pass could not be issued.

Departure passport control wasn’t too bad tonight and security was a breeze.  I had over 2h in the lounge for a light meal; I was still full from the borek and kunefe from yesterday.  The lounge shower didn’t require booking so I managed to have one easily.  They issue disposable towels and foot mat for each person, and they seem to work well enough.

Covid-19 Precautions in various countries

Now that I’ve travelled around a few countries in the “new normal” environment, living with Covid-19, here’s a comparison.

• Cyprus:  Masking, Vaccination Certificate.
• Italy:  Masking, Vaccination Certificate, Bluetooth tracking.
• France:  Masking, Vaccination Certificate, Bluetooth tracking, Scanning-in (not adhered to strictly).
• Turkey:  Masking (not adhered to strictly), tracking with transport card.