December 3: Last Day in Turkey

We had a super early wake up (4:10 am) and we were on the road to Istanbul by 4:45 am.  Pretty smooth ride for most of this journey until we hit the infamous traffic of Istanbul.  Ugh — there were so many accidents with police and ambulances everywhere.  My calmness was quickly replaced with anxiety as the ride came to a standstill.  We finally arrived at our cute hotel — the Kaftan Hotel — at 11:00 am.  We only had a few minutes to drop off the rental car and get our PCR test at 11:30 am.  With these chores done, it was off to lunch and surprise, surprise we found a Korean restaurant.  After a decent lunch, it was back to the hotel for a nap and then Oman trip prep.

Accommodations: B+ (Kaftan Hotel)

Clean, comfy but extremely small room with no views.  On the positive side, the hotel was extremely responsive to our needs including coordinating the PCR test, printing of Oman related trip documents;  and scheduling a taxi ride to the airport.  Another positive was the complimentary coffee and tea in the lobby garden room.

Food: B

The food at the Korean restaurant was pretty good but not outstanding.  The kimchi soup was a big letdown for both me and Kimchi.  The jabcha, on the other hand, was terrific