Marpalace Hotel in Istanbul

For the rest of my stay in the Philippines, I only stayed in the big city of Manila. I only went about eating the things I missed and meeting up with friends. You may wonder why I don’t have photos of these places I ate at but there was another reason: I neglected to bring the battery charger for my camera. Imagine the horror on my face when I realized that I forgot to check if I threw the charger in my luggage. While the battery on the camera isn’t totally drained, it wasn’t 100% full either. Because of this, I thought it would be prudent to save the battery on the camera for what comes after the trip to the Philippines: Türkiye!

I never considered going to Türkiye but it was only when I was booking flights to the Philippines that I saw that stopping by Türkiye was actually an option. Because of this, I decided to allocate a few days to explore the city of Istanbul. I have never been there and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do so. Türkiye is trying to establish itself as a regional transportation hub competing with the likes of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. In my opinion, I think Türkiye has a good shot at this as well since I think Türkiye would have more to offer and some might say that it has a more tolerant society. On the other hand, Dubai, Dhabi and Doha would be able to break up a very long flight more evenly. Still I think the idea of having more places to visit is more appealing to me.

The flight arrives in the city of Istanbul early in the morning. Because of this, I thought it would be prudent to arrange for transportation to and from the airport. I would later find out that there is a metro line that goes to the airport but it wouldn’t have been open when I land. I was instructed to head towards a specific exit in the terminal and there will be someone waiting there. Indeed there were people waiting there and it seems that this guy is a dispatcher of some sort. I was brought to another place where the driver would pick me up. Naturally, it did cross my mind that this is all some con and I would be taken to a place where I would never be seen again but it never happened. A van came to pick me up and you can tell that this is the type of van which picks tourists up. The insides of the van were nice although the driver didn’t speak much English apart from the name of the hotel.

I realized that the airport is some distance away from the main city. I think it still took us a good forty five minutes to get to the Marpalace Hotel. By the time we got to the hotel, morning was starting to break. The immediate surroundings of the hotel weren’t very nice to be honest. It was almost like it was just some run down neighborhood where there was a hotel for some reason. The hotel itself isn’t anything fancy either. Obviously this is just a budget hotel. Concierge is actually just a table on the ground floor. But there was someone sleeping there and unfortunately, he doesn’t speak English. We ended up using Google Translate to communicate and I was told that I can only check in twelve noon.

I didn’t care, I was tired and I just sat in front of the table and tried to get some sleep while I would be allowed to check in. By nine in the morning, I was told that my room is getting prepared and I would be able to bring it up soon. I then realized that this place doesn’t have a lift and I was assigned the third floor. I had a very large bag with me and it was a pain to bring it up the stairs. I was given what is said to the best room of the hotel. It was on the top floor and it had a view of the surrounding area. It isn’t much but I will take it.

The room itself was what I expected it to be. It is small but it was a big enough bed which is actually two beds combined into one. There is also air-conditioning which is a godsend in this weather. The bathroom was also basic but at least is has as western style toilet instead of the squat type which is also used here. The shower works and it also has hot water if you need it. For the price I was paying for Marpalace Hotel, I can’t really complain. Just remember what to expect when coming to a place like this. The staff was friendly but you would have to use translation tools to communicate with them. As for facilities, the nearest metro station is the one on the bridge. It isn’t too far. There is also a row of ATM’s as you go up the bridge. The location of the hotel is good since it is very near the Grand Bazaar. I was happy enough with Marpalace Hotel and I wouldn’t mind coming back here.

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