Tuesday, 21 May 2013 at 5:15pm
Istanbul TR
Up early, 7.30 ... coach into Istanbul centre through grid-locked traffic to meet guide at 9.00. Coach driver gets pulled over by Police and gets 70Lira fine (which we later cover).
Then we begin a day of breathtaking sights of Istanbul:
a cruise on the Bosphorus, the Santa Sofia mosque/church museum and the final grand architectural flourish of the Ottoman empire, the unbelievable Dolmabahce Palace. Very large mezze type lunch included.
Book in to reasonable hotel for two nights.
Back out with fellow travellers in the evening, six of us taking the tram to sample the city in the dark. Snack and drink.....back to bed.
Day 2
Leisure day...that's a day to do what we like..ah! Show provided in the evening.
End up spending the day with Monica & Richard as we alone seem to have similar plans.
Walk to:
Grand Bazaar (gigantic, more restrained than expected. Sue gets excited when she finds one alley virtually unchanged from her hippy visit 40 years ago...but the new flooring tiles are about to go in...); Spice Bazaar; hardware market; Suleymaniye Mosque (brilliant...than man Sinan again); lunch in a backstreet workmens' cafe (a highlight!).....and then....and it's getting quite late...
We decide to take a ferry across the Bosphorus to the Asian continent side. This should, of course, be a simple task for us world travellers and, indeed, it's pretty easy to suss out the automated token system and hop on the largish ferry. But, after 10 minutes or so it becomes clear that this ship is heading on down South at a rate of knots..not across the water. A chat with locals reveals that we are headed for Kadaoi, which turns out to be no bad thing as it's a really nice Asian town...just a bit further on...well, OK, quite a bit further on... Catch ferry back...tram...bar (knackered) then time to shower & change for show night....
Show night turns out to be an average meal plus reslly high class music, traditional dance and belly dancing from some quite beautiful girls. Finish with the silly bit where Richard & Monica end up performing.
Wonderful Day
Day 3
Complete Istanbul stay with organised visits to the Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern (fascinating massive underground water storage system that supplied water in case of seige), Topkapi Palace (valuables beyond imagination), Grand Bazaar....whew!
Then it's back to camp to prepare for the 8 hour drive tomorrow....to the capital, Ankara.
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