Turkey and Germany – Transportation

I can’t believe that I’m already getting to leave Istanbul. I feel like there is still so much left to see in this city. Istanbul is huge, but surprisingly, I’ve only used public transportation once while here. Most of our lectures take place in the conference room of the hotel at which we’re staying, so for me, “getting to class” mostly involves rolling out of bed two minutes before lecture time, throwing on some pants, and running downstairs. Although, even then, I’m usually one of the first people there because Turkish culture is very lax about being on time. We’ve also had quite a few field site visits, including to the Gulen Movement, Istanbul Aydin University, and the old city. To get to these sites as a group, we have a charter bus and an English speaking tour guide.

As for my own personal explorations of the city, I have done a ton of walking. It’s not unusual for the pedometer on my phone to tell me that I’ve walked twenty miles in a day. There are buses and trains that you can take to get around the city, but I really have no idea how to use them. I like walking because I get to see things that I wouldn’t notice on a bus or train. I did take a train once to get back from dinner. It cost 4 lyra or a little more than $1 and was a little like what the green line would be if it was nice. I got this cute little token to use as my fare for boarding the train and I almost bought an extra because I didn’t want to part ways with it.