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Published: September 24th 2011
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Day 128-131 Istanbul, on the edge of Europe.
After 3 days on the road (without a shower) we were looking forward to reaching our most easterly goal of the trip Istanbul. There was traffic chaos as we hit the motorway into town, one excitement was not knowing how to pay the tolls when we entered, (we had to buy a pre pay card before we could leave the motorway) the other was some kind of road rage where one guy was jumping on the bonnet of a car during an altercation, it seemed to calm down when a policeman with a big gun got involved!
We aimed for a campsite on the outskirts of Istanbul, although the site was on the map we found it had been turned into a car park. We have stayed at worse sites! but this one did not allow us to stay overnight. Luckily we met a very nice Greek man (whose daughter is studying in London), who said we could camp at another place nearby. When we arrived we found it to be a car wash! They seem to wash cars all hours of the day and night (Kim is thinking of a
new business opportunity when we get back!, and Bong had a Turkish bath!) After we agreed a price (helping to fund his daughters tuition!), we agreed to stay there one night but leave the camper there a further 3 while we stayed in a hotel in Istanbul.
Yes I know its copping out but we had been warned by fellow a campers that camping in Istanbul is almost impossible, so we booked a cheap hotel a few weeks ago. Much to our delight the hotel was right in the middle of the old town, Sultanamet, excellent for sightseeing. After making our way there by local train which was slow and the doors often did not shut!, we were just desperate for that illusive shower..... I can’t tell you how good it was!
Before we left the UK our good friends Deirdre and Neil had given us some Turkish Lira to buy a drink to celebrate our arrival, so of course we just had to have a cocktail in the roof top bar of our hotel overlooking the sight and sounds of Istanbul at night....... truly amazing.
The following two days we walked Istanbul, and saw the sights.
The highlights were, the Blue Mosque and its lovely blue tiled interior; the huge Hagia Sophia, now a museum but originally (300 BC) it was a church and later a mosque, where they have uncovered beautiful mosaics; and Topkapi Palace where the Ottoman Sultans lived and governed from the 14th to the 19th century, and yes they did have a Harem and Eunuchs to guard it. We also saw the famous Topkapi Dagger (apparently there was a heist film made about it in the 60’s) and the whopper 82 carat ‘Spoonmakers diamond’.
We walked the two storey bridge over the Bosphorus, where fishermen fished from the upper storey and presumably sold to the many fish restaurants on the first storey. The whole area buzzed with the chaos of ferries, fishing boats and tour boats. One amazing sight was guys cooking fast food on boats , that although they were moored rocked up and down consistently, making the passing of cooked food to the waiting punters quite comical.
The bazaars too were fun , they had so much stock to sell, but just walking the street was like running a gauntlet. The restaurants and shops all had people to
cajole you in, “where are you from” they’d invariably ask and if we said England, or London “Lovely Jubley” was the reply!
To culminate our celebrations on reaching Istanbul we treated ourselves to a dinner dance on a boat trip up the Bosphorus. We had a crazy evening with a work party from Sweden, belly dancing, folk dancing and loads to drink.....great fun.
Istanbul comes highly recommended, it has wonderful sights, a great atmosphere, and engaging people. I do understand there are easier ways to get there than driving over 6000 miles through 13 countries.... but hey what a journey!
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