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Published: November 16th 2010
Thursday 4th November 2010
After another filling breakfast we departed from the Aqua Hotel and set off for the 340 kms to Istanbul. The road wasn't as bad as we thought it would be, the GPS indicating it would take 5.45 hours. In fact most of the time we could sit comfortably at 80 kph so the time would reduce. The speed limits on the highway are very hard to understand, we knowing the maximum is 90 kph, but signs regularly reduce it to 50 then 30 for no apparent reason. The locals also seem confused, they pass us as if we aren't moving when we are doing 90 kph!
By lunchtime we were about 2/3 of the distance there so we stopped for a rest and lunch at Tekirdag. The town's waterfront stretches for about 1 km, with a large bitumen area between the road and the sea where the remains of the summer carnival season remain. There were tracks for go-carts, 4 wheelers, childrens' rides, etc still there, most closed for the winter. The area is also renowned for its grapes - used to produce some decent wines and even better raki. We didn't sample either of
Over 4,000 shops
You can even buy belly dancing costumes! Anyone need one of those?these, instead we went to a cafe and sampled Tekirdag kofte, very spicy meatballs.
As we drove further north the cloud/smog thickened as did the traffic. We didn't have a destination in mind, we thought we'd just find a hotel somewhere between Attaturk Airport and the city. We intended to then use this as a base for the 3 nights we have left and use public transport to get into central Istanbul. We were a little hesitant in driving in the frenetic traffic of the city as well as being able to find parking for the car.
As it was, we left the highway to a suburb just out of Istanbul, couldn't find any hotels so just followed the traffic. Ended up driving alongside the coast, getting closer and closer to the city, the traffic just locking us in. Judy punched in an address of an hotel on the GPS just to give us an idea of where we were. Before we knew it we were in the Sultanahmet district just near the Blue Mosque. We parked the car on a corner (as they do) and went to check out some nearby hotels. First 3 were booked out
so with some trepidation went to the one next door. Bingo, we had a room, had breakfast included, had wifi, and best of all the young lady pointed out a spot on the footpath in front of the building where we could park the car. The Emre Hotel may be a little more expensive than some around it, but they are worth every Turkish Lira!
After settling in we set off for a short explore, giving us some idea of where we were and what sights to go to over the next few days. We walked around the Blue Mosque, Rags not remembering much of what we had seen in 2002, deciding that this was a definite revisit site. Neither of us remembered the rows of carpet shops and cafes in the area, they were either built since our visit or we were in a different section. At this stage neither of us can pinpoint where we stayed last time.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the Orient Packpackers Cafe, where we had their special of kebab, salad and chips plus a well-deserved 1/2 litre of Efes pilsener. Back in our room we were
Weeping column
Legend says that if you your finger merges from the hole damp you will be healed of your ailments. now ready to do our 'chores', Judy her uni tutoring, Rags the writing of this blog. Efes Dark and viewing one of our pre-recorded TV series, Dexter, on a laptop, were our reward, concluding another successful day of our travels.
Friday 5th November 2010
Breakfast this morning was on the roof area of our hotel, overlooking the Bosphorus Sea on our left, the Marmaris on our right. It was quite foggy but still comfortable up there because there was no wind.
The Grand Bazaar (Kapali Carsi) was our destination for today, about 1 kilometre form where we are staying. That's about the distance the map shows, we managed to walk considerably further by taking some wrong turns. This covered market in the heart of the city has been there for centuries and has over 4000 shops as well as mosques, banks, restaurants and workshops. We didn't get to all of them but Judy certainly tried! From our memories of 2002 it has changed a lot, now being very tourist oriented with prices reflected accordingly. Judy tried on some jeans, which fortunately didn't suit, and the quoted price was what we would pay at home. In Dalyan, the
Bosphorous Bridge
The 16th longest suspension bridge span in the world. price started at about 50% of that price.
Never-the-less we did enjoy wandering around and taking in the atmosphere, buying a few nick-nacks but not looking for anything in particular.
Neither of us was very hungry by midday, due to the good breakfast we had, so we had a suvak, like a doner, to eat as we walked along the street outside of the market. We came to one of Istanbul's most famous monument, the Aya Sofya or Church of Divine Wisdom. A huge structure, this was a Christian church built in 537 AD, converted to a mosque in 1453, until in 1935 it became a museum. During this time it was rebuilt 3 times due to destruction by either fire or earthquakes. Even now it is undergoing restoration with the ubiquitous (love that word) scaffolding set up inside. We spent some time inside, checking out the murals dating back to those early days, ending our visit with Judy putting her finger in a hole in the Weeping Column. Legend has it that ailments are cured if your finger emerges moist. Judy's didn't!
From here we walked some distance along a cobbled road, through a park, reaching
an entrance to the Topkapi Palace. As we toured this palace last time we didn't enter, it did however give us a more definite idea of where we were, and we retraced our steps for about 1 kilometre back to our hotel. By then we had been walking for about 5 hours, enough, we thought for one day.
Judy did a search for a place to eat nearby and found a place called the Hayat. Just 3 streets up, very unassuming with plastic screens to keep in the warmth of the heater. We had a tasty meal, reasonably priced for one in the middle of a tourist area. Four people from the Netherlands sat near us, gave us a friendly hello in English. On our way out they were just getting their meal so Rags said: " Eet smakelijk". The look on their faces was worth the effort!
Saturday 6th November 2010
Today we set off after breakfast for the Galata Bridge which takes you to the suburb of Karakoy, still on the European side of Turkey. We met an Australian couple at breakfast and they said to follow the tram line from where we are, go
across the bridge and continue until you reach the terminus at Taksim Square. Easy! We did it a little differently of course.
When we reached the bridge a tout was pushing for people to come on a 2 hour boat cruise into the Bosphorus for only 20TL each. This seemed to be a very good price so after showing interest we were escorted to a waiting bus which already had some people in it. Five minutes later more arrived and the man started requesting payment. All paid except us, Rags telling him we wanted to see the boat first. As it was the boat was ok, Rags paid and we set off on the cruise. It was a pity the fog/smog was so thick, we were limited in what we could see. Some interesting buildings, palaces and harbours were passed, this side of Istanbul apparently more wealthy and newer than where we were. Several cruise ships were in, one, the Queen Victoria, an immense. luxurious ship appearing out of the fog.
We continued on, passing under a couple of bridges which reminded us of San Francisco, Turkey being very much in the modern age as well as showing off
its older heritage.
On our return we headed for the Spice Markets which were nearby, going through an underpass where people were crammed in so tightly it was impossible to move quickly. Rags felt quite hemmed in and almost claustrophobic as we inched our way through. With the thought of the terrorist suicide bomber only a few weeks ago in Istanbul, he felt this would be the perfect target. When we emerged on the other side it was as if we'd come to another world. Very few tourists, just masses of people going through the market where they were selling cheeses, vegetables, pastries, turkish delight of course, and household goods. For 5 TL (< A$4) we bought a kilo of Turkish Delight. We also bought a few curios as presents plus a set of 'worry beads' for Rags so that he could fiddle with them as the local men do.
Rags refused to re-enter the underpass we came by, we about to but turned back by the almost impenetrable mass of people exiting. Instead we continued along the path to the next underpass in front of the New Mosque (only 350 years old) which was nowhere near as
busy. From there we walked to the Galata Bridge, on which there were hundreds of men fishing. We saw the catches, a big fish was about 15 cms long! Under the bridge was a pedestrian path with restaurants alongside, and we stopped at one where they sold 'fish burgers'. Very tasty, and the waiter looked after Rags whose shaving cut from this morning started to bleed. He came out with bandaids, disinfectant and swabs, all concerned for his well-being.
From here we continued on, and after a very long walk realised we had taken a wrong turn somewhere and had followed the wrong tram track! A steep climb up a side road finally found us at Taksim Square, the original destination. By now it was 5pm and the light had faded as had our enthusiasm. A couple of photos and we took the funicular to the station below, from where we had just climbed, and onto what became a very full train back to near our hotel. Here we refreshed ourselves before going out for the last dinner in Turkey.
Dinner was at the Sembol Meat House, a restaurant a couple of streets away. Obviously they have had
good reviews from Tripadvisor.com as there were signs reminding you to comment on them. The service was excellent, the meal very good also, possibly the name incorrect as we found the vegetarian part of the meal better than the lamb casserole, and we appreciated the gratis cup of apple tea at the end, plus, we were presented with a souvenir cup with the cafe's name on it. We would definitely repeat our visit here if we were going to stay.
When we stepped out of the cafe we were surprised by the heaviness of the fog/smog. Already this had cut visibility to about 100m and you could feel the moisture in the air. If it actually rained it would probably make the air much cleaner. The foghorns of the ferries had already started and with only 10 seconds between each blast, getting a good night's sleep may be difficult.
Sunday 7th November 2010
Our last morning in Turkey, sorry to leave this great place. As we didn't have to check out until 11am and we didn't have to be at the airport until 4pm to return the car, we made our first stop a revisit of the
Ortaköy mosque near the Bosphorus Bridge
The original Ortaköy Mosque was built in the 18th century. The current mosque, erected in its place, was built between 1854 and 1856. Blue Mosque. This majestic building gets its name from the blue mosaic tiles which line the inside of the huge dome. This dome is supported by 4 pillars called 'elephant's feet' and is an amazing feat of engineering considering it was built hundreds of years ago.
From here we followed the tram line towards the Galata bridge to where we had seen some cafes with interesting displays of vegetarian food. Lunch consisted of mushrooms, spinach, eggplant and capsicum dishes, only the first coming up to expectations of taste.
We continued on to the ocean until we saw a ferry about to depart. We bought our tokens from the machine to get through the turnstile, jumping aboard just as it left. Pity we didn't check to see where it was going, we ended up crossing to the Asian side of Istanbul rather than just across the bay! We didn't mind too much, we hadn't been there before so it was something new.
On our arrival we found the waterfront there packed with locals, there being a fun-fair there including a balloon ride where a large balloon took a gondola with passengers straight up for about 200m, hovered, then
it was winched back in.
We left the hotel at about 3pm, driving through fairly light traffic to the airport. Here the problems began. There was meant to be someone there to return the car to but even though we drove through the drop-off zone twice we didn't see anybody interested. Instead we dropped it off in the carpark and tried to ring the owners to no avail. They have our phone number so we'll wait and see.
The next problem affected us even more. The plane schedules had altered when daylight saving stopped, we weren't advised and we missed the plane by several hours. There were no Qatar Airways offices open, neither at the airport or in town. We rang Australia to our insurance people, they tried by ringing Doha and they were told "They missed the flight". Great help.
We ended up checking into the Airport Hotel and had further discussions with the insurance people in Australia.
Monday 8th November 2010
After a broken sleep and a very poor breakfast for a Four Star hotel, we returned to the airport via the Hotel shuttle and went to the Qatar office. Rags had
Beylerleyi Palace
Built by a sultan between 1861 and 1865 as a summer residence and a place to entertain visiting heads of state. psyched himself up to be friendly and not to lose his temper, and Judy was not to say anything either. We didn't need to worry, Mehmet who assisted us was very helpful and cooperative, organising for us to catch today's plane at 12.30, with no charges made for missing the flight.
Later, after getting our bags from the hotel, all the staff from the office were working at the check in, and after smiles and thanking Mehmet again, he gave us complimentary entry to the Business Lounge. As we still had nearly 1.5 hours before boarding we made use of this, enjoying the free food and drink supplied. Rags enjoyed a couple of Rakes to toast farewell to Turkey, this time hopefully for the last time this trip.
The Qatar plane and service we found was far superior to most airlines we have traveled and we had a comfortable trip to Doha. As we were to have an eight hour stop-over here, due to the schedule changes, Rags spent over an hour waiting and discussing our plight of the last few days with the Qatar staff, he not being able to get an upgrade on our tickets but
at least he obtained entry to the VIP lounge. He must have charmed the supervisor because she then gave him meal passes to have a hot meal before we left.
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hans
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So nice! Thanks a lot for the photograps. Love, hans