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Blue Mosque at night
During the Light show.Arriving at Atatürk airport late at night, full of tired travellers. Some going home, some going on their German August holidays and me, on my own now for the next..... Who knows!
A Turkish mother on the plane asked where am I going, I said "Australia on my own". She replied "Won't that be boring??" I hope not.
Picking up the Metro and a tram to Sultanahmet was easy, just the idea of 2 types of money was tricky. I bought my Metro ticket for 1.10 YTL and my tram ticket for 1.100.000 Lira. It can be a little worrying when you are a bit tired.
Checked in to the originally named Istanbul Hostel in a part of town I completely missed last time I was here. I can't see how, this is backpacker madness here, plenty of Internet cafes and travel shops. I had a walk around the Sultanahmet district and down to the seafront. It was 11pm and quite empty, but I was back and it looked good!
After a big sleep I went on a walking tour and checked out The Grand Bazaar. My dark wraparound shades were on, no one was going to
Aya Sofia
1500 Years of Tourists all wanting the best pic. This is it! hassle me due to no eye contact being made. Food time, everything seems a lot more expensive than last time I was here in 2002. so I had a cheese omelette which must have had about 6 eggs in. I didn't feel great afterwards.
The next day was visa chasing time. I need a Syrian visa, I was unable to get one in London due to not having enough time. So first I needed a letter from the British consulate to "recommend" me. I was "recommended" as soon as I gave them 110TYL of my honest British earnings, just to get a letter. Ouchy! I found the Syrian consulate eventually on top of the highest, steepest hill in Istanbul, but I was too late to apply. Will have to go there tomorrow morning.
Back on my side of the Golden Horn, to get lunch. A 44p chicken kebab, these were 28p the last time I was here. Awful! And then off to the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofia. The Aya Sofia is well worth the 15 YTL to just be inside it. It's huge! The domed roof is 1500 years old and it is still standing strong.
Suleymanm's Mosque
In the cool courtyard A quick wander around and some dinner plus some beers at the hostel. Pearl jam is on, a bit like a night shift, "Who's getting the curry??"
Next morning I was up early to apply for my visa. Apparently its getting hotter here but its stupid coat wearing day every day for the Turks. I am wearing a sweaty T-shirt, shorts and a cracking pair of walking shoes. I really can walk in them all day in them. I walk over to the other European side and fill out my application, now for the 5 hour wait. So I kill some time writing up my Prague and Berlin blogs. Hope you enjoyed them!
After 2 hours on the net and 2 hours mindless walking I headed back to the Syrian consulate to collect my passport, stamp and all. After walking back to Eminonu on my side of Istanbul i decided to celebrate my efforts with a chicken kebab, all 44p's worth. Absolute delish! Then back to the hostel for a quick power nap on the roof terrace.
That evening I went to the Gedikpasa Hamami (Turkish Bath), I was going to go to the famous Cemberlitas
Domes and Minarets
View from the Aya Sofia to the Blue Mosque one like last time, but I walked into the lobby and it was full of tourists, nothing like 3 years ago, so I went for the Gedikpasa option. Much quieter and any other people in there were Turks. A lie down on the heated marble stone for 20 minutes or so before my bathing man called me into a room for a full massage, brillo pad scrub, hot wax and rinse. Lots of muscles stretched to their full capacity and bones cracked. Is is possible to make your skull crack?? Once it was all over I layed in my private changing room, wrapped in 3 towels wondering if I would squeak when I walk back.
After a squeaky, non sweaty walk back, it was time to eat. Being a lone traveller, it can be hard to decide what to have for dinner, and when you do no one comes to serve you because they want 4 people at 1 table. It's their loss, I really fancied the Fillet steak with fresh lobster and a few bottles of wine that night! I finally settled for The Sultan cafe in backpacker central for a meal which was good, not as good
Boat, Bird and 2 Great Landmarks
The Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia. Bird and boat try to spoil view. as The Sultan in Newport Paggers I might add!
Then a walk back to the hostel to confirm another night in Istanbul and to ask how to get Fenebache tickets. "No chance" the receptionist said "Fenerbahçe are playing in a empty stadium due to crowd trouble". Fair enough. I ask another bunch of Turks to see if there is any other footy on in Istanbul this week. They are both season ticket holders of Fenerbahçe and they confirmed by looking on a Internet fan site.
Their version of Arseblog.com. It seemed to have the same effect, plenty of swearing and moaning about other forum members (you know who I mean people:thumbup😊. They told me that Besiktas are playing on Sunday, but that is too late really. I will watch the Fenerbahçe match with my new found Fenerbahçe friends on Saturday night.
Another hot day, so time for a walk! I walked up to the Grand Bazaar and up some more hills to Suleymanm The Magnificent Mosque. Really big and a lack of tourists who probably only see the Blue Mosque, but they are missing out a better one in my opinion. Then I walked down to the Eminonu docks back to the
normal hustle and bustle to catch a boat to Asia. For 44p it is the best boat trip you can do. I would love to find one as good as this! Time to get my camera out and take a few shots. Once on the Asian side I got myself a orange juice and looked for the next boat back to Europe. Once back in Europe I treated myself to a goats cheese toastie and a Fanta all for, yep, 44p.
Back up to the Sultanahmet area for a quick blast on the Internet and a listen to the Cricket. Blimey! COME ON ENGLAND!! Then for some dinner and a few beers. Another call to prayer rattles the windows and nearby buildings around me. The non-cricket talking Aussies call it the call to beer. Good Idea, but I don't think I will be saying that too often when I get into Syria!
Next morning I went to the Otogar (Bus station) to pick up a ticket for Canakkale for Sunday. With soo many choices I chose the company in my Lonely Planet guidebook. Although when I got my ticket I had another look and Lonely Planet says in
Arsenal Hostel
Do I get a discount as I am a Season Ticket holder?? Thought not. another part to "Get the ferry and then a short bus ride, for a faster more enjoyable journey" Cheers Lonely Planet!! Guidebooks are great, just don't trust them too much.
Once back in Sultanahmet I booked my hostel in Canakkale, then back to the hostel for a few beers and some dinner, before the big match. Fenerbahçe versus Diyarbakýrspor.
At the hostel I met a Turkish girl called Miriam, Who was just starting to learn English. I don't know why she wanted me to learn some word as I can only just speak a little more than her! After discussing why the English talk about the weather all the time, I said my goodbyes to a reasonable conversation and as agreed went to watch the match. Our hosts were 2 travel agents, and with me was 4 others from a country I refuse to mention. Who in my estimation went down 200% in niceness.
We went to a Turkish restaurant, the food was superb, shame about the footy and the other guests. Fenerbahçe were hopeless and went down 1-0 in the first half, but the support in the restaurant was still pretty high. Everyone apart from me
2-0 Down
The Stress is starting to show. was on the Raki, which was a very good idea. During the second half Fenerbahçe went 2-0 down. The place went silent apart from the unmentionables who were cheering for the other team.
Now being a lifelong footy fan, I know winding up football fans when you don't care about it, is not a good idea. Especially in Turkey, when the home fans have been banned from their ground for killing a rival fan. But they didn't care, and non footy fans will never understand.
By pure luck Fenerbahçe got 2 back. The place goes nuts, with one of our hosts punching a wooden post so many times his knuckles started to bleed. Fair enough, I thought. His team had just come back from the dead. I would never harm myself or others if my team equalised in a early season match. Not even a last minute end of the season championship decider!
Things got "a little" rowdy in the closing minutes of the match, causing a waiter to tell our host to calm down (I think). This just made our host even madder and he shouted louder and louder making our other host tell him to calm down (I think!). After that he just started to shout and throw punches at a group on another table. So I decided to leg it.
It could have been a scam played on us foreigners after eating loads of food and drinking high amounts of alcohol. I don't know, but the best thing for ME was to leave and let the others pick up the mess.
Thank God I didn't actually get a chance to go to the match!
I like Istanbul. I just think I overstayed my welcome at the end. It's full of western "yeah, I know"'s and Eastern "What the hell??"'s. Istanbul is 100 times more hectic as London, the Taxi drivers have one hand on the horn ready to beep and another insulting someone else. The street sellers will try to sell ANYTHING! And the women are either dressed up like teenagers or covered head to toe in black. It's a crazy place, I just hope the rest of Turkey calms down a little.
Hoþçakal Ýstanbul!
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