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Published: April 16th 2024
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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 , Turkish delight by the ton . Istanbul was very much a city of smells . A heady scent always seemed to fill the air .
We stopped a cafe for a mint tea served in a tulip glass . It might have been mint but then again it equally could have been eucalyptus . I should have asked and then could have
purchased some to bring home. Pomegranite was easy to distinguish due to the seeds in the bottom of the glass . This green concoction could have been anything from mint to eucalyptus .
We picked up some extra liras and headed for the yellow ticket machines which sold the Istanbul card . We had already done our homework . Cards were available for one day, three days , a week or there was a top up card . This cost 70 lira - £1.74 for the card . There was a queue waiting for the machines but eventually we go to the head of the head of the queue . We pressed in the option for English and began to follow the instructions . We pressed the option for a top up card and started to put in liras . What the machine did not tell you was that you could only put in 100 lira and the card would be supplied topped up with 30 lira to spend . I put the notes in. They spewed back out . Eventually a guy who in the first instance looked helpful came over . "English " he said and pushed
the button to display English . We had already sussed this one out . Then he asked which card we needed and pressed the top up card . I had not put anything in but we noticed that he had switched the machine over and put a card over the reader . A fraudster preying on unsuspecting tourists . Had I topped the card up it would have added the money to his card and not the one I wanted . We shooed him off with a nasty comment but noticed he hovered around preying on other tourists . In the end we went up to another machine in a busier part of the city. Card purchased , topped up we were offered help again by a fat man who again seemed friendly enough . Before we knew out two men - the fat guy and another had each other by the throats. Seems they both were trying to fleece tourists . The fight went on for a while . The police turned up and broke it up . One man disappeared . The other stayed . Moral - never get into conversation with a man trying to help you as chances are he is on the make .
We headed with our cards to serkeci station . The home of the Marmary underground line and the Orient Express . We had wanted to see the small cafe and museum but sadly like many things in the city they were both closed . It must have been wonderful to arrive at the station from Europe in the grand age of travel but sadly we got to see none of it . The city trams though were some of the cheapest and best we have seen and in a few days we would try the underground to Asia .
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