Traveling Fifteen Kilometers To Get Our Laundry Done
It was just an excuse to visit our favorite part of the city.
We are staying at a fancy hotel that was booked on points for our first week in Istanbul. Of course, getting laundry done in these sorts of places is really expensive, so we set out to find a cheaper alternative.
While living in Istanbul the last time, we found a man near where we were staying that had washers and dryers and charged the equivalent of about $8/load, which is a very reasonable price. Around the area where we are now, however, there are only dry cleaners, and the price we were quoted was the equivalent of $50 per load.
No thank you!
While in Africa, most times I did our laundry by hand, or it was done by the staff where we stayed for a very reasonable price. After learning the price that it would cost us around here, I was almost thinking that I would be doing it in the shower in our room!
I had visions of Crocodile Dundee washing his socks in the bathtub of his penthouse suite!
I laugh at the thought of the hotel staff coming in to clean while we have laundry strung about drying.
Haha, no really, we don’t want to go there!
Today we were traveling into the city center to visit a friend of ours who opened a new hostel just one week ago. We actually met her the last time we were in Istanbul and also had a quick reunion with her while we were in Aswan, Egypt. We knew that she was planning on opening a hostel here, but we didn’t know if those plans had come to fruition or not.
After contacting her when we arrived, we planned to go visit her today and to see her new hostel. We scouted out the bus route before leaving our hotel, and I noted that it was a 12km trip and it was going to take 1 hour 20 minutes to get there.
Now, I should interject here and say that Istanbul’s transit system is incredible. We have fallen back into it like we never left and it runs seamlessly and smoothly. To go the 12km cost us the equivalent of just 50 cents. You can’t go wrong with that! I wrote a blog post about it back when we were here last, maybe you are interested in checking it out.
We decided to bring our laundry with us in our backpack, just in case she had a washing machine. It turns out that she didn’t and she didn’t know of a good place for her guests to get laundry done.
“We still haven’t figured that out,” she said.
After our visit with her (spoiler alert we will be staying with her next!), we decided to cross the bridge to Galata to check out the SALT library. Kim Baker had recommended it as a cool place to go, so we decided to do so while we were close.
We walked across the bridge that connects the north and south parts of the European side of Istanbul, and ogled at the boats and city life going on below us. This city has so much happening at all hours, and it’s impossible to not stop and take it all in when you arrive at such a good viewpoint.
We passed outdoor restaurants that lined the sidewalks and wound our way up the tiny alleyways that passed between buildings. We marveled at the difference between when we were here last during the peak of covid and winter time, and these days of post-covid and summer time.
There are so many more people in the city!
I’ll admit that we certainly took for granted how quiet it was then and how at times we felt like we had the whole city to ourselves, despite the fact that it houses over 15 million people.
Of course, back in 2020, it was a bit of a depressing state of affairs, though, with empty restaurants and stores.
It is so nice to see it thriving and alive these days!
As promised, the SALT library was an impressive building. Like most nice buildings in Istanbul, marble is the main construction material. The interior boasted a beautiful marble staircase and foyer. Thanks for the recommendation, Kim!
As we made our way up towards the Galata Tower, we couldn’t help but get excited about the fact that we were heading back into our old stomping grounds. At the tail end of 2020 we stayed in a hostel for 2.5 months and painted 4 murals for them. It is located near the famous Taksim square, and we were now headed in that direction.
Again, we were shocked by the number of people that were around, but we continued on anyways. We figured the trip down memory lane was worth it, plus, we knew that our laundry guy was in the neighborhood.
We marvelled at the storefronts and shops that were selling mountains of Turkish delights, and took in the adorable restaurants and incredible architecture along the way.
As we neared the area where the laundry man was, we left the main drag that leads right to Taksim Square and headed off into the winding maze of alleyways. It was then that we were reminded how much we love this area of Istanbul.
Somehow it is full of mystery and intrigue as you come around the tiny corners to see what can be found next. We didn’t remember exactly where to go, but we knew that we were headed in the general direction. Plus, these side streets are so much quieter than the main thoroughfare is. We were happy to wander aimlessly for a while.
Suddenly we recognized where we were, and a few seconds after that we spotted the shop.
“There it is!” Chris exclaimed.
We were ecstatic that it was still there and proceeded inside. The man did a double take at Chris, and I’m pretty sure that I noted a moment of recognition. Though, he doesn’t speak English well and didn’t say much other than to tell us how much it would cost, and when we could pick it up.
Thankfully, his rates haven’t increased much despite the high inflation rate in Turkey, and because our foreign exchange rate has increased also, we are paying pretty much the same as last time.
He told us to come back tomorrow at 1:00.
We continued wandering past his shop and back down the hill towards the water and the Bosphorus Strait. We knew there was a train at the bottom of the hill that would take us in the direction that we needed to go. Along the way, we spotted a display of HUGE fresh figs. We couldn’t help but stop and purchase a couple of the ooey gooey fruits.
They were so delicious!
While heading back home on the train, and on a totally different route, we realized that the first bus we had been on in the morning would take us all the way to Taksim Square. So tomorrow, we will ride the bus the whole way, pick up our laundry and ride the same bus back to our hotel. It will cost just $1 each and we will almost have door-to-door service.
Another adventure awaits!
You may wonder if a trip like this was worth it for just a load of laundry. Well, our answer is a resounding YES!
It was wonderful to revisit a place that we fell in love with the last time we were here and to be reminded why we loved it so much. We hope that we have more excuses to visit this part of Istanbul in the near future.
Plus, we still need to pop in on the hostel that we stayed at to see how our murals and the staff are doing:)
Thanks for reading and happy travels!
xo Jill
Hi there, we are 2 Canadians, Jill and Chris from Artistic Voyages. We have been nomadic since 2017 living in numerous different countries, and experiencing the life and diversity of our planet on the ground and firsthand. We paint FREE murals in exchange for accommodation. Consider tipping us on Ko-fi!
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