Turkey - Istanbul and beyond

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We arrived in Istanbul on 22nd September. A Turkish colleague of Charlie’s had booked a hotel for us (thank you Almila!), although, because of the very good rate she had managed to negotiate we had only one complimentary breakfast per room! We could see the hotel but couldn’t reach it so pulled into a garage to ask the way. A very kind man leapt into his car and led us to it, another example of the sort of kindness and hospitality we have found throughout our trip so far.

We checked in - it is such a lovely change to have a bit of luxury - and almost immediately were whisked into the centre of Istanbul on the shuttle bus. We did the usual tourist things over the next day and a half visiting the Blue Mosque (slightly disappointing), Hagia Sophia (beautiful), and the Topkapi Palace (see photo). The famous diamond quite took our breath away, it shimmers in its display case and is absolutely stunning.

One thing that has surprised us is that prices across Europe (fuel, food and drink) have been more expensive than we expected, almost at UK levels, and Turkey is no exception.

The traffic in Istanbul as we left on Monday morning was horrendous - the standard of driving as we go east has markedly deteriorated! We drove over the Bosphorus Bridge and there was a big sign ‘Welcome to Asia’. The only problem was that once over the bridge, we found it was only open to subscribers and we had a few problems trying to sort this out! Finally we were on our way.

Camilla had read about a village called Safranbolu so headed for that and found a lovely place to camp. As usual we were in bed by about 9 pm but at 3 am were woken by drumming which then set off all the village dogs. The noise went on for about an hour at which point we were able to go to sleep, only to be woken by the Muezzin at 5 am. This was to be the pattern throughout Turkey where this is the custom during Ramadan. Sometimes the drumming is accompanied by music making it an even more exciting night!

Progress Report

Day 8 1,999 total miles 247 today's mileage Edirne in Turkey just over border Hotel Tuna


Day 9 2,152 total miles 153 today's mileage Istanbul at last Hotel Novotel

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Photos

Istanbul
Siteseeing - Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

Istanbul 2
Looking across Marmara sea Istanbul