Istanbul

One of the things I like about travel is the self-discovery. Discovering that you are lazy and are nowhere near as fit as you needed to be. Discovery that you really do need glasses and can't guess at Turkish words. Then the discovery that peace of mind and happiness are fleeting creatures and may only appear a few times during the day despite the stunning architecture,  sunsets and culinary delights. And lastly, the discovery that Eric has not learned sufficient Turkish, which was his mandate. We have been calling people donkey snakes instead of saying Thank you. 😵 the puzzled looks made sense.

In Dubai we managed to get all 4 of us into Merhaba airport lounge for our 5 hour layover. Hot breakfast, showers and as the coffee wasn't up to certain group standards: G&T's with no ice and no measuring at 8:28am went down better than expected. We all slept well on next flight ✈️

You can't help but fall in love with Istanbul that it has evolved with so many different cultures and civilizations building on top of each other, which may account for the very steep hills we walk up. We're staying in a 200-YEAR-OLD European style apartment with gorgeous views of the Bosphorous. Very squeaky floors and a ghost that I had to have a chat to in Bill's room.

Everyone seems to my be quite tolerant of each other's driving, reversing and dangerous moped rally driving despite a lot of beeping and no one took offense at Eric's offensive Turkish.

We booked a Hammam in an ancient bath house and  it was extremely cleansing being scrubbed head to toe with no water pressured into places unwanted. The oils and water splashing and attention, pampering were wonderful and we floated home down and up the hills and my bath attendant had to lead my by the hand to our sunbeds where we drank tea with dried fruits and slept.

Lots of cats. You'd think more than could be loved but not here in Turkiye. They love their street pets. And I'm guessing no mice.  There are also sea chooks which look like seagulls but are the size of chooks. At least their waste disposal is obvious when the large amount is falling from the sky.

The locals are extremely friendly and hospitable. Shopping for bargains is quite difficult as they are in a recession and haggling seems greedy. I would really love to buy a carpet but I'm not sure my haggling skills are sufficient as I have no idea how much a reasonable price is. We'll have to use the plane to fly home.

Sewage infrastructure. My pet hate. You can expect some issues with the infrastructure having three thousand years of civilization messing with the pipes . Our first night  in Galata went without water but did not go without Eric having to use the toilet before the water came back on at 3:00 a.m. I'll leave it there....

Now that we have acclimatized culturally we take on the big historic sites. More to come!

Galata Tower
Istanbul archaeological museum
Aya Sophia
Blue Mosque
Basilica Cistern for the civil engineers 🔨Read more