Travel to Corlu - A Little Diversion

A little note of caution to anybody who wants to take the Metro bus from Varna to Corlu. Make sure that the person in the office writes "Corlu" on your ticket, and not "Istanbul". It doesn't matter if she assures you that it's OK to have a ticket to Istanbul. That's not always true. I discovered this problem when my bus ran straight past the motorway exit for Corlu and continued on towards Istanbul!

What the lady in the ticket office (and the staff on the bus) forgot to explain was that not all the buses go into Corlu town. Sometimes, you have to travel on one bus to the motorway service station that is a few kilometres before Corlu, and then transfer to another bus. They both arrive at the service station within a few minutes of each other, so all you have to do is ask the driver to get your bags out of the baggage compartment. Easy - if you know that you have to make the transfer!

I have to say that Metro were very helpful. The stewardess called my hotel in Corlu to explain that I would be late. She looked after me at the bus station in Istanbul and personally escorted me to the next Metro bus from Istanbul to Corlu. She even arranged for a taxi to meet me at the Corlu bus station. But I missed an evening with my son, and I was very tired and stressed by the time I reached Corlu. So, my advice is - always insist that the ticket shows the correct destination, even if the price to Istanbul is the same.