We took a bus from Goreme to Istanbul - long trip but some beautiful county along the way. My wife picked out the hotel ... and it was interesting. In a very old neighborhood with bakeries, shops, and a ton of restaurants ... unfortunately it was at the bottom of the hill so we had steep climbs if we want to see anything.
I guess we were in a silly mood; we skipped many of the famous sights (which we saw before) and just spend a few days getting lost on purpose. Nice way to discover a different side of Istanbul.