Our Istanbul Digs: Mangana Konak Suites, Sultanahmet
Anyone who doesn't know us and who has only read the last few posts of this blog would think we were intrepid travellers or something, because we seem to be writing often about Turkish hotels and hostels we've stayed in. Actually, it was a year of good hostel / hotel stays. We've had very few disasters in the past (well, a couple of stinkers but they were both many years ago) but 2013 did leave us with a how-lucky-are-we smile on our face when it came to our accommodation choices.
Earlier in the year, we stayed in the SRF Hotel in Eskişehir and Han Hostel in Ankara. More recently, we were in Kaş and over two nights, stayed in a boutique hotel and a pension; Gardenia Boutique Hotel and Meltem Pension. Both just lovely in their own ways. Well, we're going to tell you about another how-lucky-are-we hotel now. Remember when we were Istanbul in November and we wrote about how we stumbled into Before Travel Agency to ask them where our hotel was (and realised they were people we knew)? They phoned our apparently difficult to find hotel for us and it was around the corner, where we'd just come from. (We'd been on an overnight bus from Fethiye all night. Give us a break.)
So this time, the criteria was: Does the bed look comfy? Does the bathroom look like the shower's going to be good? Is it in Sultanahmet (where the finish line for the marathon is)? Can we afford it?
Mangana Konak Suites
Earlier in the year, we stayed in the SRF Hotel in Eskişehir and Han Hostel in Ankara. More recently, we were in Kaş and over two nights, stayed in a boutique hotel and a pension; Gardenia Boutique Hotel and Meltem Pension. Both just lovely in their own ways. Well, we're going to tell you about another how-lucky-are-we hotel now. Remember when we were Istanbul in November and we wrote about how we stumbled into Before Travel Agency to ask them where our hotel was (and realised they were people we knew)? They phoned our apparently difficult to find hotel for us and it was around the corner, where we'd just come from. (We'd been on an overnight bus from Fethiye all night. Give us a break.)
Mangana Konak Suites
If it's in our price range (as low as possible), in a semi-convenient area and it looks clean, we'll stay there. That's our criteria for booking places to stay. However, when Barry ran the Istanbul marathon in November, he was also going to need a few comforts, too. A cold, trickly shower is of no use to a pair of legs that have just run 26 miles, so we were expecting to pay a bit more for our accommodation on this particular trip.
So this time, the criteria was: Does the bed look comfy? Does the bathroom look like the shower's going to be good? Is it in Sultanahmet (where the finish line for the marathon is)? Can we afford it?
Mangana Konak Suites
While we were looking online for suitable hostels, Mangana Konak Suites popped up as being within our price range. Now, if you know Turkey hotels, you'll know the word 'boutique' is banded about quite freely. Well, 'suites' seems to be the vogue word for Istanbul at the moment. Was this room going to be a 'suite?' We didn't really care. It was within our budget and it looked the part.
The rooms are really spacious
And then when we finally found Mangana Konak Suites and the guy at reception showed us to our room, we had to do our best not to have ridiculous grins on our faces. We'd got a real find on our hands, here!
A panoramic view of our room at Mangana Konak
A huge, comfortable bed, flat screen TV, two work desks, a sofa, loads of space for us to spread out in and make a mess, wifi access, and then this...
Our room
A little kitchenette area complete with tea and coffee making facilities. Fruit juice, water and a couple of cans of beer were in the fridge. Nothing too fancy but more than enough for us. And, call us easily pleased - but a marble bathroom sink and an over-sized shower head - we're happy! There was a wall mounted hairdryer and there was a bath! We didn't know about the bath when we booked. Complete joy for Barry after a marathon! But would the water be hot enough? We'd have to see.
Breakfast time
Breakfast is served on the roof terrace. It's a buffet breakfast with so much choice. It was aşure time while we were there so aşure was on the buffet, too, along with just about anything you can think of to do with Turkish breakfast. My only complaint was, there were so many flavours of jam but no honey...and then on our last morning as we left the breakfast room, we finally spotted the honey!
Views from the Mangana Konak Suites breakfast terrace
Mangana Konak Suites is just behind the ancient city walls that divide Sultanahmet from the main road and the Marmara Sea. The views from the roof terrace are of anchored tankers and cargo ships, of rooftops leading the eye to the Bosphorus and back towards (perhaps) more familiar sights such as the minarets of Aya Sofya. We were very settled, here!
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