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Taxis in Istanbul beware!

doolox · 2015-07-01 11:28:15

I was on a cruise holiday last week which included a 6 hr stop over in Istanbul. We arrived at Istanbul port at 8am and I debarked from the ship and it became evident that there was a choice of transport to the city centre. On inquiring I was told a taxi to the city centre would cost €10 or 30 Turkish Lira (Tl ). My wife,…

01-07-2015 11:28am

#1

doolox

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Join Date: September 2007

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I was on a cruise holiday last week which included a 6 hr stop over in Istanbul.

We arrived at Istanbul port at 8am and I debarked from the ship and it became evident that there was a choice of transport to the city centre. On inquiring I was told a taxi to the city centre would cost €10 or 30 Turkish Lira (Tl ).

My wife, daughter and I took a taxi to the city centre and all was well.

My wife and daughter took a taxi back to the ship at about 12.00 noon as my daughter had a toothache and could not continue. I remained in the centre of Istanbul on my own.

When I returned to the ship by taxi the taxi driver charged me 124.45 Tl, much more than the 30 Tl that we paid on the way in.

Also he scammed me of €50 claiming that I had handed him a 5 Tl note, the colours are the same, but I was definite that I had handed him a €50 note.

He left me 100yds from my correct destination on a parallel road to the correct road.

Since cash was involved and I was on my own in ,to me , an unknown country I realised that it was my word against his and I was conned out of my money.

Do not travel in Istanbul on your own.
Do not carry mixed currencies and always state the amount and currency you are handing over in a slow and deliberate manner.

On their return journey in another taxi my wife and daughter were also conned out of €50 for 5 Tl but refused to pay the fare when this was demanded and threatened to call the police. The taxi man then ran off.

I was too scared not to pay up and also confused and tired in the heat so came off worse in my encounter with Istanbuls Taxi drivers.

Be warned, there are several options for getting from the cruise port to Istanbuls city ctr including trams etc. A bit of research would have helped me as a search for Istanbul taxis showed me that this is not an isolated occurrence.
Several tourists have been subject to the sleight of hand turning a €50 note into a 5 Tl note worth €1.66 for a net gain to the taxi man of €48.34, not bad for a few seconds work.

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