Luxury Trip to Istanbul 🇹🇷

I travelled back to Istanbul from Izmir in Turkish Airlines business class. The last time I flew Turkish, from Istanbul to Antalya, I was disappointed with the business class seat, which was just a basic economy seat with the middle of the 3 seats blocked out, so you're not rubbing arms with a stranger. This time I did a bit of research, and learned that out of the 13 daily Turkish Airlines flights from Izmir to Istanbul, 2 of them use wide body aircraft (Boeing 777) with lie-flat business class seats. The price was the same, $180 USD, regardless of which of those 13 flights was booked, so well worth it to figure out which one has the good seat. An economy ticket on the same flight was $75 USD, so I basically paid $105 USD for all the comfort of the seat, skipping the check-in queue, airport lounge access, boarding first, a tasty meal on-board, free on-board WiFi, and my suitcase being the first one on the baggage carousel. It was well worth it. And that meal was one of the tastiest things I've eaten on a plane. It was a tasty Turkish sausage wrap served in a plate of melted cheese. Superb! I stayed in the Beşiktaş, which is known to be a trendy area of Istanbul. I booked a corner room at 'Swissôtel The Bosphorus' which cost a little bit more than their standard rooms. They told me I'd been given an upgrade to a higher category, but the room I was given was more like a downgrade. It also had a folding bed taking up a bunch of space and a connecting door to the next room. I hate a connecting door as you can hear every little thing in the adjoining room. So I had to waste some time arranging to get the actual room that I booked, that was much, much better. My first meal of the trip was at an old famous Iskender restaurant called 'Iskender Kurulus 1867'. I'd eaten İskender kebab in Izmir at a cheap joint, but I was excited to try a fancy version at this restaurant and it didn't disappoint. I went on a dessert hunt, but stopped on the way to eat Borek, which is a Turkish pie. I'd eaten a simple version in the airport lounge earlier on, but this shop had a minced meat version, and it was proper tasty. After a lot of searching, I finally found the dessert that I was looking for, Tavukgöğsü. It's a sweet dessert made with shreds of chicken breast. I know, that sounds disgusting, but it's sweet and delicious, with a marshmallow texture. There's no clue that there's meat in your dessert. The next day I visited what I was told was a popular street food area, at the Ortaköy ferry terminal. There were a couple of dozen stalls with some enthusiastic vendors, but all of them were selling Kumpir (loaded jacket potatoes) and nothing else. I wasn't really in the mood for Kumpir, as I wanted to try something I haven't eaten before. There were a few sit-in restaurants but they just sold the usual most common Turkish foods that I've already tried. I saw something on the menu that looked interesting called 'Beyti Couplet'. It was just an Adana kebab in a wrap, and I wasn't too thrilled with it. It was also very expensive for what I got, and so I think this Ortaköy port area is some kind of tourist area. If you eat at a restaurant who's customers are mostly tourists then you can expect expensive and below average food. I had some fun with a tricky Turkish ice cream vendor there, grabbing myself a pistachio dondurma to walk back to my hotel with. The next day I was leaving Turkiye, but before my flight I had time to visit the Dolmabahçe Palace, the ultra luxurious home of the last Ottoman sultans. I enjoyed the Turkish Airlines lounge at Istanbul airport before my flight. Thankfully I went there with an empty stomach, as they have some much freshly made tasty Turkish food on offer. After enjoying my final Turkish meal of the trip, the foodie adventure hadn't ended, as I was able to order a full Turkish mixed grill on the plane. 0:00 Izmir Prime Class Lounge 2:28 Turkish Airlines Domestic Business Class 5:40 Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Wrap 8:40 Disappointing Hotel Room 14:00 Swissotel Bosphorus Corner Room 18:46 Exploring the Hotel 29:17 Famous Iskender Kebab 34:57 Dessert Hunt Fail 46:47 Borek Turkish Pie 51:34 Chicken Dessert 1:01:02 Ortaköy Ferry Terminal 1:03:45 Kebab Restaurant 1:10:37 Turkish Ice Cream Trickster 1:13:22 Dolmabahce Palace 1:27:00 Istanbul Airport Lounge 1:36:53 Turkish Airlines International Business Class Iskender Kebab -📍İSKENDER Kuruluş 1867, Sinanpaşa, Süleyman Seba Cd. No:10, 34357 Beşiktaş Borek (Turkish Pie) -📍Meşhur Sarıyer Börekçisi, Müeyyetzade, Kemeraltı Cd. No:7, 34425 Beyoğlu Chicken Dessert -📍Murat Muhallebicisi, Karamustafapaşa Mah., Halilpaşa Sok. Aksu İşhani 14/C, 34440 Beyoğlu 💗 Help the channel grow by like, comment and subscribing. If you want to be extra nice please share my video with your friends on social media. 📱 Instagram: Instagram: Daleroxxu 📱 Facebook: Facebook: Daleroxxu 📱 TikTok: TikTok: dalephilipvlogs