Unguided Blog

I occasionally come across this question in travel forums and the similar: “How can I go to Sabiha Gokcen Airport from Istanbul International (Ataturk) Airport?” As there is no direct shuttle available, people who like to travel without a tourism company and with a tight budget usually want to learn if there is an economic way. Well, yes, there is.

A little geography first. Istanbul Airport is the main international air gateway for Turkey and situated on the almost far western edge of Istanbul, at the European side as the locals call it. Whereas the recently built Sabiha Gokcen is on the far eastern edge, at the Asian side, mostly used for domestic flights and some charters. The following is not only the cheapest but also maybe the fastest way if you strike rush hour traffic. It is convenient, relaxed and air-conditioned all the way.

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I promised to give the link to the virtual gallery of Istanbul Puppet Festival. Since I moved the events/news to the blog section, the updates will be made here. For those interested, the on-line photo stream of the puppet festival is now available.

Among the participating countries, namely Cambodia, China, Thailand, India, Indonesia, I have found particularly Indonesian entries most interesting, although it is really difficult to choose. Well, it was not a contest anyway. I am sure that you will like them all.

I am a bit disappointed for not finding all of the entries in the photo stream, but the organizers only uploaded the photos belonging to the “shadow theater” division. I would really like to see pictures of especially Burjubas Puppet Group of Fabianne Villareal from Argentina or Stefan Libardi’s Theater Im Ohrensessel (they adapted Grimm Brothers’ fantastic story of Iron Hans - Der Eisenhans) online.

The Istanbul International Poetry Festival starts today. Among the guests we can count Saadi Yousef, Claudio Pozzani, Jean Pierre Balpe, Pedro Shimose, Pio Serrano, Sergey Gandlevski and Joan Margarit. It may sound awkward to promote such an event to travelers, but it is really difficult to find those names (read: poets) together anywhere. So, if you’re around Istanbul, do not miss it. I will not say the same thing for the festival’s crappy, flashy, ugly site Istanbul Siir Festivali, which is a pain in the neck (apparently they did not think linux users and/or they have other technical problems).

The main theme of the event will be Catalan poems and two of the poets mentioned, Iraqi Saadi Yousef and Cuban Pio Serrano both live in exile.

There is an opening concert of Cihat Askin at the Archaeology Museum, the closing concert will be given by Ayse Tutuncu Percussion Group.