Blogs from Marmara, Turkey, Middle East - page 2

Our body clocks were all over the place . The two hour time difference from home was playing havoc with bedtimes and waking up. We did not seem to be able to get around the feeling of not knowing what time of the day it actually was . I guess we might have had a better idea had we listened to and taken notice of the calls to prayer . We decided to go for a walk . Was Istanbul a safe place to walk ? It was no different to any other city as we were to come to find out during our walk . The shops were still filled with shoppers and the shopkeepers shouted out continually to the tourists to call in and buy something . A carpet to take home , spices ... read more

In 2020 Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered the conversion of the city’s historic Hagia Sophia back into a mosque after a court annulled a 1934 presidential decree that made it a museum. Shortly after Turkey’s top administrative court released its long-anticipated decision Erdogan issued a presidential decree transferring the management of the site from the Ministry of Culture to the Presidency of Religious Affairs which paved the way for its conversion. Erdogan has been a major proponent of the move. I am not sure that the population were entirely happy as this was at odds with the idea of allying Turkey to the West and the EU . I wish we had visited before he had changed its status as viewing was going to be less of an experience than it could have been. There ... read more

Day 2 Monday morning early . Breakfast was served at 7.30. Breads, yoghurts, cheeses of every description, selections of cereals, jams and other nice things . Salad which seemed out of place . Fresh lemonade a feature of every restaurant . The bed had proved fine for me but rather hard for Glenn who prefers softer beds . Room service changed the towels . I would probably in the interests of recycling and reusing been happy to keep the old ones for another day . Room service came in three times during the day . Replacing towels on the first visit , replenishing coffee the second time round and a final third visit called room control . Never did find out what that was . I was accosted at breakfast by a guy who spoke to ... read more

After getting my morning coffee, I headed over to the area near the Spice Bazaar as that is where my food tour was starting from. I arrived a little early, so had a quick walk around the area. It was pretty quiet. I came across a little statue of a man and a boy with a table between them. The man was giving the boy a Simit and the boy was counting out his money. It was interesting because the table was empty, and there were some actual Simit and baguettes on it. I wonder if it was a good luck thing. I headed back to the cafe Brew Coffeeworks and met a couple of other guests who were on the tour and then the guide turned up and we went inside. The guide explained a ... read more

An overnight flight meant an early morning arrival into Istanbul. Getting through the airport was unproblematic and I made it down to the airport shuttle. The bus journey was quicker than I had anticipated. It was however pretty cramped and there was nothing to see as it was still dark and I think we were just on motorways. I had booked a place to stay that was near the shuttle drop off point, so there wasn’t a long walk with my luggage. The place was meant to have a 24 hour reception, but I sent a while in the rain ringing the doorbell as the desk staff were MIA. I did get to check-in early, so that was nice and it meant I could have a quick shower and freshen up after my flight. Once I ... read more