Turkey 2 - Istanbul night life / Risotto and pizza - expensive back alleys / Should we have tried our luck and asked for an upgrade ? / Getting a feel for the area

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Our first evening was a colourful noisy one . Istanbul was alive with people . Queues everywhere . We had no idea at times what they were queuing for . I might have been to attend the mosque and prayer . Women dressed in black , men talking and children added to the noise . We had lost track of time . Turkey was two hours ahead of us here in the UK and it was pitch black at 8.30. We were trying to acclimatise ourselves . We felt tired after our early morning start . Were overwhelmed with the sheer volume of people? Not really . Cities have that unique feeling and we have always avoided them in the van with the exception of Athens and a few scattered around France and Spain . We are not city people but then sometimes you have to tell yourself you are only doing this once and you really have to put up with the crowds .

The area around the hotel felt extremely safe . In the evening there was a large police presence . In the daytime that seemed to increase ten fold. Our hotel was set at the bottom of a street just off the main touristic areas . The road was busy with a never ending stream of taxis plying their trade. The Dosso Dossi was similar to most city hotels . Unless you choose a boutique hotel the rest seem rather old fashioned as if harking back to a past that no longer exists . As always noisy doors being slammed late into the night , paper thin walls where every conversation is shared . Our neighbours were an Australian couple who had no idea just how loudly they were talking . In the end feeling tired I went next door and kindly asked them to speak more quietly . Eventually the guy called round and apologised . He and his wife were staying in the city before heading on a river cruise and ending up in Denmark.

We ventured out up the street to the hub of activity . What struck me first was the sheer joy of everyone walking that night . The shops were still open and we were invited in if we wanted to see hand luggage and bags , leather goods and carpets . We would shouted at by the shopkeepers . We were described as lovely lady and man, honeymoon couple ., holidaymakers . It did wear off a little but it was novel at first . The second thing that was difficult was the pavement areas . Very narrow , quite step with many steps . The steps of different sizes and in different states of repair . Some broken . It felt like a health and safety nightmare . In the dark it was easy to trip over or hit your head on overhanging walls . Something I did once and ended up with a bleeding forehead and a bruise . Bollards got in the way and we had to fight our way through trams , scooters delivering fast food and the walking hoards . The shops sold many tacky items but then we buy magnets and hunted out a Turkey flag and an istanbul skyline to add to our collection .

We found a quiet alleyway lined with cafes and restaurants . The one we choose seemed friendly enough . There seemed an overwhelming welcoming when you sat down. Nothing seemed too much trouble to the waiters . We ordered two cokes , a risotto for me, a Pizza for Glenn and two espressos . The place to be fair was nice , the food OK but the prices shocking . 49euros for a meal that would have cost £20 at home . A tip had been added and that was something we Brits are never comfortable with . Tip yes but not added on to the bill without asking . The lad serving us even offered us different rates of tipping 10% , 12% .20% . It all felt a bit wrong . But if that was the way it was then we would get used to it . We did find the food similar everywhere we chose to eat . The tourist menu was king in Istanbul . Even the high class restaurants offered little in the way of diverse food . It looked like a week of donner kebabs and chips unless we found something different on our travels around the city .

Sunday night - one of my favourite writers on the day to day calendar Shunayu Suzuki had written that "If you live completely in each moment , not expecting anything , you have idea of time ". That seemed true of Istanbul at night . We felt tired due to the early start and lack of sleep but so much was going on that we just had to join in with the celebrations .

A group of musicians had congregated near a Mosque and were set up for an outdoor performance . Dressed in red Ottoman clothing they banged drums of different sizes as they marched up and down the square. Crowds followed the music which could be described as sounding like bagpipes . The sounds of banging pots came from cafes as the waiters broke the clay pots holding the food which was being cooked in an Ottoman style . The mosques were all lit up with neon lighting draped from minaret to minaret . The message read muhammadur rasulullah”. which I think means Mohammed is the messanger of Allah .

What were our first thoughts about the city having walked for a few hours just to get a feel of the place . The whole experience so far was very unique and the events in the area with the band and the lit up mosques added to the feeling of uniqueness . Istanbul was always a city we wanted to visit when in the van but never made it . Our first night was fulfilling every hope we had for a good holiday . Tomorrow was going to be a busy day so in the end we headed off for bed and a well earned sleep . We had a lot to take in , photographs to remember the night by . First night Istanbul had delivered in bucketloads .

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