Day 4 – Final Day in Istanbul | Dave and Nadine's Travels

Today would be our last day in Istanbul, before moving on to Mauritius. However, since our flight doesn’t leave until 1:55 AM, we’ll have the entire day to explore. The hotel gave us an 8 PM check-out, which was nice, as it allowed us to leave our belongings in our room, and freshen up before heading to the airport.

Our plan today was to take a cruise of the Bosphorus. Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy in the morning and overcast for much of the day, but we made the best of it. Here are some photos from our cruise.

Here we are passing by our hotel, which is not far from the port where the cruise left from.

We proceeded north, along the European shore of Istanbul.

We continued pasted the Bosphorus Bridge.

Past the second bridge, we crossed over to the Asian shore of Istanbul, and headed south.

Finally, we crossed back to the European side and headed for port.

As we were arriving back to the dock, the sun started shining. Not the best timing! After browsing a few shops in the open market, we walked back up the street toward the hotel.

This particular seafood restaurant caught Nadine’s eye.

After getting packed for our return to the airport, we relaxed on the terrace by the river. The weather has improved dramatically, and it would have been nice to have had these sunny skies during our cruise.

Here is Nadine sitting by the river enjoying the views.

While we sat by the river, in a space of about 15 minutes, a total of four nice boats came by to pick up guests. Some picked up as few as one person, while another was boarded by several dozen. Here are a few of the nice boats to come by.

Before heading in, we took another walk by the hotel pool.

Our car arrived to take us to the airport, and we were on our way. I can’t say enough good things about the service at this hotel. The staff at the Four Seasons Istanbul at the Bosphorus were all very attentive, helpful and friendly. There is a lot to see in Istanbul, and we will need to make another trip to properly see the rest of the sights. The main purpose of this trip was to visit our next destination, Mauritius, and because we had a flight connection in Istanbul anyway, we just decided to extend our stopover for a couple of days, and we were glad that we did.

Fortunately, the traffic was much lighter for our return trip, and we arrived quickly at Istanbul Ataturk Airport. Security here is high, after the bombings in 2016. There were several police checkpoints on the roads approaching the airport. Then arriving at the airport, there was a pre-security checkpoint, just to enter the terminal building, with all baggage x-rayed and passengers screened before we could even check in.

We made it through security, and found our way to the Turkish Airlines Business Class check-in, and relieved ourselves of our bulky luggage. The lines at passport control were HUGE, but we were routed to a priority line for business class, which had nobody in line, and the lone border agent just sitting there using his phone. We whisked through passport control and security, and headed to the lounge.

The Turkish Airlines business class lounge at Istanbul is certainly the nicest airport lounge we’ve been to (even better than some of the First Class lounges). The place is massive, with lots of choice for food. Here is the central staircase between the various levels.