The original plan was to stay in Istanbul for one (1) night, and then move on. But as we got wrapped up in more and more red tape during the long and tedious process of sorting out our visas, we realized that we couldn’t get all of them before the Rally start in London.
The rooftop in Istanbul shown in the movie Skyfall and Taken 2
Istanbul is a good place to pick up visas underway. So we figured, if we’re lucky, we can get the last ones done in two days.
We were not lucky.
If you are going to get an Iranian visa, ALL your papers have to be sent off to Tehran. As we spoke to other teams in the rally, it seemed like pure randomness as to how long that process actually takes.
Ours came through at the Iranian Embassy in Oslo – the day after we left for London. A full 10 weeks after we applied for our visas originally!
The story goes like this: as long as you get the confirmation code from the Iranian Embassy, you can pick up the visa at another embassy or consulate abroad. That is, IF the Embassy where you applied for the visa at actually informs the other embassy where you will pick it up.
That was not the case for us! We arrived in Istanbul on a Tuesday. Since it was during Eid, the religious celebrations after Ramadan, all Consulate sercives were closed. This was also the case on Wednesday. On Thursday we were finally able to go to the Iranian Consulate in Istanbul to get our visas.
Except we didn’t get them.
The Iranian Embassy in Oslo had forgotten to inform the Consulate in Istanbul about our visa. The rest of the day was spent on the phone trying to sort things out, and in the afternoon we were told that it would be ready the following day.
So on Friday morning we are the first in line at the Consulate.
Still no visa.
Screw it! Off to the Uzbek Consulate instead, to get a hold of their visas. Now, you have to understand that Istanbul is a city of officially 14 million people, although some say the real number is closer to 20 million, including the last surge of Syrian refugees. Additionally, the Uzbeki consulate is at the other end of the city from the Iranian Consulate.
The trip through the town and to the Uzbek Consulate was hot in 33°C and a humidity of approximately what you get at the bottom of a swamp. After arriving at the Uzbek outpost, we saw a dozen people or so who had had the same idea as us. The vaguely smiling official didn’t seem to do much, besides picking up the phone which rang every 2 minutes or so, undoubtedly with some cryptic message as to the fates of our papers.
Our fellow Rallyers outside the Uzbek Consulate
After standing in the baking sun for about 10 minutes, some fellow Mongol Rallyers showed up to pick up their own visas. A few minutes of backslapping and the telling of tall tales later («you were robbed by the Turkish mafia of all your cash? No shit?»), the official in his stuffy porta-cabin let us all in to the holy of holies.
Where all of our friends got their visas.
Except for us.
You see, the Uzbek Embassy in Berlin, which we hadn’t had enough time to apply to, informed us earlier that as long as we had a fixed route for our travels and a concise plan with accurate dates, we didn’t need a LOI. A LOI is a Letter Of Invitation, issued by a travel agency or other government-approved body, making sure that you are qualified to even get a visa.
However, the Uzbek Consulate in Istanbul insisted on such a letter, and getting one takes up to 10 days.
Great! Our 4th day in Istanbul was coming to an end and so far not a single visa! And if that wasn’t enough, now the weekend was upon us! There was only one thing to do: drink beer and wait for Monday!
Outside Haga Sophia
We decided to retire to a rooftop restaurant within shouting distance of Haga Sophia, to plan our next move. As we consumed the excellent Shish-Kebab at the Buhara Restaurant and our car was being blocked in by a minivan further down the street, we decided that we didn’t have all the data we needed yet to make a proper decision.
So we had some cake.
Next, we went to the Nobel Hostel, where Snorre had stayed earlier and where the kind staff let us sit on the roof, close to the wi-fi.
Snorre testing the wi-fi at the Nobel Hostel
Some 7 Billion calories later, and we finally had a gameplan. We decided to spend the downtime on Saturday and Sunday to play at being tourists in this fascinating city, before continuing on our very own tour of Hell in the guise of the different countries’ Consulates.
The next day, we went to visit and marvel over Haga Sophia, the Topkapı Palace and fabulously atmospheric Yerebatan Sarayı, to mention a few. What we saw made us realize that this city has more ancient history than you can shake a stick at.
Inside Yerebatan Sarnıcı, Istanbul
In the evening we went back to our hostel to relax and update this blog using their excellent wi-fi. No, seriously. The wi-fi was excellent. We never had any problems connecting to the hostel’s router, although the connection to the Internet itself rarely worked.
This place inexplicably has a really bad rating at several websites, eventhough there is hardly any major leakage in the toilets and the rooms are virtually free of mold, insects, dirt, dust and the smell of stale sweat.
Now, with the weekend finally over, it was Turkmenistans turn and their particular set of rules: to be allowed to apply for a Turkmen transit visa (which we needed), you have to have the visa from the country you are coming from when you enter Turkmenistan, and the visa for the country you are exiting to. These have to be present in your passport before you even apply to the Turkmens. Since the entry and exit visas in our case where the Iranian and Uzbek ones, this meant we couldn’t even apply for the Turkmeni one.
Fantastic (sarcasm)!
We still had to go there and try.
The answer from the official was no, nope, nada, nix, nein, njet. Of course these Consulates are also on the opposite sides of town… you can figure out the rest. Next we went to the Tajik Consulate, which of course was another hour of mind-numbing traffic.
When we arrived, we were surprised to realize that this Consulate was situated in a villa-neighborhood, complete with a swimming pool and lush gardens. No security guard, no barbed wire – just a door being opened by a smiling representative of the Tajik people. We were invited to sit and wait in leather sofas, while being in spacious rooms with tasteful furniture and expensive wall prints.
After no more than two hours, we had our newly minted visas in hand, and were so grateful for this example of bureaucratic efficiency and friendliness, that we almost considered emigrating to Tajikistan.
All this being said, we have totally enjoyed our week in Istanbul. This is an amazing city, and we will definitely come back in the future!
Outside the Blue Mosque, Istanbul
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