Last Day!

---

*On our last day in Istanbul, we spent some more time wandering around Sultanahmet, sat in the Blue Mosque for a while, and had a local hot drink made of milk, honey, and a variety of spices. As we were getting ready to head back to our hotel before flying out the next day, the Blue Mosque's muezzin started the call to prayer, and my son got this video. Note the dog near the end, who isn't bothered by the volume at all.


Our final day here and we cannot believe how quickly the time has gone (or how much ground we covered in the process!).

After a slower start this morning we headed to the Archaeological Museum - and by slower start I mean we weren't at the museum until about 9:45 😊. We spent about 2 and a half hours here - there is an awful lot to see and it certainly is good value given the low entrance fee. A word about museums in Turkey though: I found the layout of displays very haphazard and not necessarily with any flow. For instance, in this museum you entered and headed off into one of three areas (none marked) that turned out to be three different eras. While you were walking through one area, there would be sudden exits to other areas and you never had the feeling that you were seeing things in any semblance of order. I know that may sound OCD, but really it was clear that they were trying to lay things out in some sort of a timeline, I just don't know what the heck it was.

But it was impressive nevertheless, and we also lucked out because there was a display there on loan that inlcuded the discus thrower!

We wandered another section of town after that, had an easy lunch, and then re-visited the Blue Mosque. I found it an extremely powerful and moving place and was very happy to visit once again.

We packed, arranged for a cab for zero o'clock in the morning and counted our blessings from the past few weeks - there have been many indeed. Our flight leaves Istanbul at 6AM and my son connects in Frankfurt with his onward flight at 10. I, on the other hand, have no plans yet. I have another week before I was going to fly home and was hoping to crash someplace warm for a bit and slow down the schedule significantly. However, weather in Europe has been abysmal - snow in the north, heavy rain and massive flooding elsewhere - so nothing is resonating. I may just see about switching up my ticket and heading home earlier - not sure what is possible but will find out tomorrow.

While the weather across Europe is horrible, we have totally lucked out here. With the exception of a few overcast and drizzly days in Istanbul we have had, almost without exception, beautiful sunshine and 20 to 24 degrees most days. I would add that I had the same tremendous good luck in Morocco as well - even Austria was good (for winter!).

--------------------------------
For travellers:
In Istanbul we stayed at the Hotel Niles, and booked their airport transfer when we first arrived at the beginning of the trip. It was clean, well priced, and had the best staff ever. Rooms were smallish (pretty standard for the old city) and the breakfast was very good. There is an internet terminal in the lobby for guest use, and a 10% discount for settling the bill with cash. There was construction going on while we were there (which never interfered with our stay at all) to add 9 suites, a main level lounge, and an outdoor coffee bar. The construction work that we saw looked terrific, and it should be completed by this summer I would think (at the latest). I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again, or recommend it. You can access all of the major sites (Blue Mosque etc) by foot from here, and trams run past the area if you are exploring further afield. Cemberlitas hamam is within walking distance as well (don't miss this experience).

In Canakkale we stayed at the ANZAC Hotel (not hostel) and once again we felt we had lucked out. We had a large room, it was very clean, the staff were outstanding, and probably the best breakfast spread we had yet seen. We arranged our Gallipoli and Troy trips through the hotel as well - there are lots of choices, but prices are all the same and so for convenience we booked through the hotel. The room price was very good. You should be aware that there is a loud nightclub located to the front of the hotel, so you may want to request a room at the back. We weren't bothered by noise at all though.

For good, well-priced food in Canakkale we would recommend a little place near the water front called Damak Tadi - it is located just behind the waterfront restaurants and offers very good value, friendly staff, and we saw mostly locals eating there (always a good sign).

Canakkale was the only place we found easy access to the internet via a LOT of accessible internet cafes - very cheap! Lots of advertised wi-fi throughout Turkey though, so if you have a laptop and it is important to you, you might consider packing it.

Other places we stayed in Turkey were pretty forgettable, but not bad. If you are travelling outside of offseason you will have lots of good selection. In the Selcuk area we stayed on the beach between selcuk and kusadasi - it was perfect for us and this is where we kicked back for an extra day. Richmond Hotel - lots of tours use this place as an all inclusive as they pass through; we took half-board and the price was crazy low (I think 40 euro for the two of us and two meals a day). There are pools and the beach as well as a full spa if that is your thing.

We flew from Istanbul to Pamukkale and from Canakkale back to Istanbul - I found a crazy cheap seat sale via Turkish airlines that was cheaper than the bus and saved us lots of travel time. Worth looking into if you are travelling at all within the country.

English was widely spoken and we never had any difficulties on that front. Although the touts can be a pain, they usually had a sense of humour, and did not persist when rejected. Certainly less persistent pitching here than Asia. People were very kind and helpful - from the hotel staff to the corner store owner where we bought our water and oranges, everyone without exception was happy to see us and chat.

I found the prices in Turkey a real mish-mash. Accommodation was western pricing, food was all over the map. We paid as little as 70 cents for tea and treats for 2, and as much as $5+. There didn't seem to be much of a pattern, and all within the same block. You expect things to be a bit more expensive on the main tourist drags, but it seemed to me that Turkey was trying to figure out what it wanted to charge the foreigners and it was pretty uneven. Entry fees were good value but did really add up. Taxi wasn't bad at all - we got one to the hotel on our arrival from Canakkale and traffic was terrible (and slow) but it cost us about $20 which I thought was good value (particularly after a long day😊). And the young driver was a treat.

---

Photos

Archaeology Museum
Tile Kiosk

Archaeology Museum
Tile Kiosk

Gaia
Mother Earth. Ancient Carving

Frieze
Depicting Athena battling the gods/giants

Goddess Tyche (luck)
Known as Fortuna by the Romans, with Plouto (wealth)

Explanation
of the discus thrower

Cybele
Later Artemis and then Diana

Egyptian Obelisk
Where the Hippodrome was