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Blogs from Istanbul, Marmara, Turkey, Middle East
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May 16th 2013
Thursday May 16, 2013. Istanbul Day 1. We had another posh breakfast today as were were in no hurry to explore the city as we have another 3 nights here before we return to Barcelona. We eventually walked down the gangway at around 10.45. We walked up to Taksim Square through a rather lovely pedestrianised (supposedly!) with old fashioned trams running through the middle of the street.This was a very modern part of the city with skyscrapers with big high street names all represented. There was a McDonald's where you could 'enjoy' a McBeefy or a McSpicy. Taksim Square is a large open area where the photography museum is located. There were lots of stalls selling fresh flowers. We later found out that it seems to be a Turkish tradition for shops selling similar items to ... read more
May 14th 2013
Random thoughts about Turkey: - the cities have multi family housing apartment buildings and not single family. It's not uncommon to drive into a small city of say >30,000 and see 8 story apartment complexes and not much in the way of single family houses the roofs in turkey are red clay tiles and the building colour mainly light beige. the men were getting better looking as time passed Turks have a fairly good sense of humour for the most part. The women are nice and so are the men. The men will insist on giving you the seat on the bus or metro Which we don't see much of any more in our western culture. Everyone is genuinely happy to help you out with directions and so on If they can speak English. - I ... read more
May 9th 2013
Five fishermen dressed in multicoloured robes and turbans gather their fishnets near the shore. It must be spring. Beside cypresses grow violets, daisies and lilies. Fishing has been abundant and soon seagulls will appear trying to catch their part of the booty. On a similar vegetation, next to a haima, the harem entertains a gentleman. Two women play the lute for his ears while other offers coffee to him. Another harem enjoys a warm scented bath in a hammam. As these I was passing, one after another, pages once attached to a book and now dismembered. Endless pages, each so beautiful, decorated with fine flat colours and gold leaves. Gently profiled. Full of patiently hand-drawn calligraphy. Pages that slid in front of my eyes while changed in my ... read more
May 7th 2013
Woke up this morning and the weather has changed for the worse. Its not raining but it is overcast. It will be a good day for travel. Caught the early train to downtown and now waiting for the airport shuttle. I'm not going to miss this €13 transfer to the airport just to save face and prove that I can save €57 euro. Lol 😃 I'm looking forward to new adventures. Istanbul is getting to be old hat. Four full days here is more than enough to see everything really. It's supposed to be super hot in the interior and so the cloud cover today should five some reprieve From the heat. I guess there was a big plane crash yesterday at the airport I taking out of today.... read more
Pascua Ortodoxa en Constantinopla, Orthodox Easter in Constantinople
Published: May 6th 2013Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul
May 6th 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecumenical_Patriarch_of_Constantinople http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Salvador_de_Cora... read more
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May 6th 2013
It was a bit of a late start today - 10am. Jumped on the bus to head to the Basilica Cistern - one of several hundreds in Istanbul - this one being the largest. Amazing how they built these underground caverns consisting of 336 marble columns - some engraved with elaborate designs including carvings of water nymphs. These cisterns were built due to the demands of the palace mostly. It felt a little like I was in an underground mine and made me feel right at home. We are going to have to teach our miners at home a little something about carving stone and art. This way we can really throw off the next millennia of archaeologists. After that It was time to hang out under the bridge and drink beer. Every so often a ... read more
May 5th 2013
Today was up early and on the metro to the East meets West side of town. Dolmabahce Palace is where a hero of Turkey died - father of the Turkish Republic and they stopped some of the clocks in the palace when he died Nov 10 1938 @ 9:05am. The palace has a horse shoe shaped crystal staircase Which I did not see. Taksim Square is just up the hill from the palace really interesting place. Modern Istanbul is located there and home of the riots 5 days ago. They were still washing the blood off the streets Of the 29 people injured. You can find all the Western stores there and tones of people. Had a really nice lunch and a beer. Not many places in turkey serve beer. Beer is not cheap. 8£ = ... read more
May 4th 2013
Headed out early for a full day of new walking blisters. The Palace and the Sultans Harem's quarters, looked for a Haman (Turkish bath) and shopped the bazaar. The bazaar in Istanbul is the oldest and the largest in the world with over 4000 shops. I was able to make some minor purchases of which I hope don't look out of place when I get home. They had some really good knock offs at the bazaar as well - best ones I've seen yet in any of my travels. I guess what stood out today for me other than the blisters was the Sultans Palace in downtown Istanbul. Wow what an amazing place.... read more
WoW Istanbul! You are more than I ever expected!
Published: May 3rd 2013Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul
May 3rd 2013
I had not realized that there were no a towels in the room other than a terry cloth bathrobe until I was wet in the shower this morning. It was a lightbulb moment. There is always a first time for everything and one must improvise at times, so i used my robe for much more than prancing around the room. Things got better after that thankfully. It was a full 12 hour day walking tour today! I didn't feel jet lagged other than when i fell asleep waiting at the train station at 4pm today and i didn't get too down on myself for that. Wow Istanbul - what an amazing city you are. You truly have outdone yourself with the Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Bosphorus channel to the Black Sea where i froze my cahoonies ... read more
April 23rd 2013
A short 3hr flight from Zurich and we were in Istanbul. Taking the visa on entry was easy. If you have a valid US or Schengen visa / resident card, Indians can get it on the spot by paying a $20 fee. When we arrived, the visa lines were mostly empty and it took us under 30 min to complete the process going from one window to other. We exchanged some currency there, not recommended due to high fee and bad rates. As we will find there are much better places to do this outside near Aksaray. From there we went to the metro station where we were suppose to meet our couchsurfing host. He got busy and was not there, so we bought a 32TL phone card of some unknown company, another mistake. We called ... read more
