Blogs from Istanbul, Marmara, Turkey, Middle East - page 161

Tucker and I left for Turkey on Tuesday, June 28, flying through London, with a short overnight stay at a hostel by the airport in London. When we arrived in London, it was about midnight, which is in the afternoon in KS, so we were exhausted from the flight but not exactly tired enough to sleep, or I wasn’t anyway. After waiting about an hour to get a cab (which ended up costing about $40 US for about 5 miles), we arrived at the hostel, which was clean but very basic… Perfect for our purposes I suppose. The woman at the front desk literally had one tooth, and even it wasn’t looking so hot. I couldn’t sleep at all, partly because it was not night time in the states but mostly because I was so anxious ... read more

Geo: 41.0078, 29.1678Istanbul is somewhere I'd always see on Holiday programmes and always want to visit. So I jumped at the chance to visit. Even better, I was able to meet Nurlan on his way back to Azerbaijan. Perfect excuse! I had no idea Turkey, was such a wonderful country as a whole. I had a fantastic time, being a genuine independent backpacker, meeting lovely people on route. Despite common belief, it's fine being a lone female traveller in Turkey. You do get a bit of hassle but most of it harmless, just need a sense of humour. Plus you meet so many people (mainly Australians who have been working in Britain!) on route anyway it doesn't matter. the Turks are really friendly and lots of fun once you get past the compulsory chat up lines. ... read more

Greetıngs from Istanbul. So I decıded to start one of these stupıd blogs for two reasons. 1. Richard, my faıthful travellıng companıon, has one and that guılted me ınto decıdıng to keep a better record of my journey. 2. I am pretty much out of money and I hope that verbal descrıptıons of my near poverty and destıtutıon will convınce my Mom to reload my ATM account from the 24 dollars that seem to be left, and I stıll have no ıdea how much thıs Turkısh lıra ıs worth. Untıl I fıgure that out I wıll be unable to wıthdraw any money, and wıll contınue to dıne lıke I dıd today. Breakfast: I was not gettıng up thıs early after the Muslım Call to Prayer woke me up at 4:30. Daylıght starts really early here, and ... read more

Istanbul at last. It had been a long hard journey getting here, and we were more than ready to find somewhere to sleep!! So far we had been organising our accommodation ahead of time, but for the first time, we decided that we were going to get there and figure it all out!! Had been recommended a few places by others, and so, armed with our knowledge, we clambered out of our buses, hefted our backpacks and set forth!! 9am, peak hour just settling, call to prayer blaring from minarets. Two lonely travellers far from home wander the streets of Istanbul trying to find a place that they can call home for the next two days. With the backpacks getting heavier by the minute, and the sun getting hotter, tempers start to arise, and blame starts ... read more

Geo: 41.0245, 28.9881 GUN 7 GUNLERDEN ÇARŞAMBA Nasıl olsa sonu gelmeyecek mi ? Her güzel şey gibi bitmeyecek mi ? Evet her güzel şey gibi bu Güney Doğu Anadolu gezimiz sona erdi. Antep'ten uçağımıza binip Istanbul'umuza döndük. Seyahati yapacaklara önerilerim şöyle: Bu seyahatte bilerek ve isteyerek Diyarbakır ve Antakya'dan vazgeçilmiştir. Aslında bu turu yapacakların bu iki kenti kesinlikle programa almalarında yarar vardır. Uçakla gidecekler geziye Antakya'dan başlayarak Diyarbakır'da bitirebilirler. Ve ya Aksini yapıp Diyarbakır'dan başlayarak Antakya'da bitirmek mümkün.. Çok yer gezmek fırsatım oldu ama tarih'le lezzet'in bu denli at başı gittiği başka bir yer bulmanız bana göre mümkün değil..Denemesi bedava ... ( değil ama denemeğe değer) gelecek seyahatlerde buluşmak üzere ...... read more