JenGog

In a conflict between the heart and the brain follow your heart - Swami Vivekananda said this and perhaps sometimes it is right . However there are times when your heart wants to do something but your head intervenes and says no not sensible . We have found we start off with the heart - wanting to do something - our heads say it is a silly idea and the head takes over . But not often . More often we find ourselves doing some very odd things in somewhat seedy parts of a city . Parts of the city that no-one bothers to look around despite the work that is going on to prettify the areas. Yes sometimes like Marseilles they can be edgy areas where you always watch your back . But then if ... read more

We all piled off the Bosphourus Sunset as our luxury yacht was named and planted our feet on the Asian side of Istanbul . Our guide stepping off the boat explained that this was the wonder of living in a city that straddled two continents . The wonders of the East and the West mingled . We stopped at quiet sleepy Kanlica one of most beautiful and green districts of Istanbul . It was quite lively around the ferry port with cafes open full of Turkish muslims on holiday due to Eid . Old men and young sat in the cafes drinking coffee, smoking and there is a lot of that even amongst the young and playing cards and games . It reminded us of some parts of Greece . Very few women were about . ... read more

Istanbul is a city that offers a great deal to the traveller . So much history to uncover and so different to the usual city breaks . Has it been worth coming ? We had no doubts about that . Istanbul was delivering by the bucketload . We could have spent a week visiting mosques. A week spending time visiting museums when they were open . And to top it all there were palaces both ancient and modern and something Roman . We knew we were going to have to miss something in this city of millions of people . A cosmopolitan city which merged East and West quite seamlessly . From the cobbled streets to the carts selling hot chestnuts and corn on the cob it offered a different slant on life from other cities ... read more

We had moved location from our usual cafe to another one closer to Sultanahmet Square and our next port of call the Blue Mosque . I guess the fact that the guy outside Otantik began to wave at us as we arrived and the waiters blew me hearts and kisses it was time to move on and sample something different . Not that a few blown kisses go amiss at times . The cafe stretched along the street , was under cover , blankets were available if it were cold and the cost of electricity seemed nothing as the heaters were put on above every table at night . In the sunshine we enjoyed our baklava and coffee and discussed what next . We had a short window of opportunity between prayers to walk up to ... read more

Another decent sleep . It does feel odd to be sleeping in a large bed rather than the cramped interior of Gabby but we are beginning to get used to having the little extra room. Breakfast again was a brilliant affair . Our Australian neighbours heading for Gallipoli today were making the most of the small gym and the spa in the hotel . The Japanese guests of which there were many were filling their breakfast plates over and over again. At times the volumes on plates seemed excessive . Our pickings were sparse as we are not in love with large breakfasts . However each day I did try something different . Our plan was to pop the route to the Egyptian Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar into the phone using Holafly as our data ... read more