Ashes in the Light

After hours in the air, we finally arrived in Istanbul at around 10 in the morning.

There’s always something surreal about arriving somewhere completely unfamiliar after a long flight — the tiredness hasn’t fully left your body yet, but your mind is already trying to take everything in at once.

The airport felt huge and busy, but thankfully, we had already arranged for an airport pickup beforehand. And honestly, after an overnight flight, that was probably one of the best decisions we made.

Unfortunately, we were too busy trying to find the airport pickup meeting point, so we didn’t really get any photos in. The wind was chilly too, which made everything feel even more unfamiliar the moment we stepped out.

As we made our way into the city, I remember quietly staring out the window most of the time.

The roads felt different.
The buildings looked different.
Even the light somehow felt different from Singapore.

And then there were the little things — Turkish flags hanging outside shops, groups of people sitting around smoking, stray cats casually walking around like they owned the streets.

It slowly started sinking in:
we were really here.

Since we arrived too early, our hotel room wasn’t ready yet, so we left our luggage and decided to walk around the area nearby first.

We stayed around Sultanahmet, which turned out to be one of my favourite parts of the trip. There was something charming about it — the slight chaos of tourists and trams mixed with old buildings, cafés, and little shops tucked between the streets.

But honestly… there were a lot of steep slopes. 😂

We eventually stopped for lunch, which honestly felt like our first proper moment to pause after the journey. We went to Sosup Doner for Kebab.

Everything still felt slightly blurry from the lack of sleep, but at the same time, there was excitement in doing even the simplest things somewhere new — reading unfamiliar menus, hearing conversations in another language around us, watching people pass by.

After lunch, we took a slow walk back to our hotel to check if our room was finally ready.

Thankfully, it was.

And I think that nap saved us. 😂

By evening, we slowly headed back out again for dinner and stumbled upon this little gem called Genco’s Fish.

The air had turned much cooler by then, and the city somehow felt softer at night. The streets were still lively, but slower.

It was unfamiliar, but strangely calming too.

Fish seemed to be such a staple in Istanbul, and somehow it felt especially comforting in the cool evening weather.

I still remember sitting there feeling tired from the journey, but also quietly happy to finally be there.

The food was so good that we actually returned again before leaving Istanbul for the next part of our honeymoon.

Looking back, our first day in Istanbul wasn’t particularly packed.

We didn’t rush to major attractions or try to “maximise” the day.

But maybe that’s what made it memorable.

It was simply about arriving.
Settling in.
And quietly letting the city introduce itself to us.