Istanbul

I arrived in the metropolitan city of Istanbul and knew straight away I was back in Western civilization as the size of the airport was huge. It took twenty five minutes to get from the landing strip to the airport gate. There were organised queues of people waiting in line for the passport control. I got the bus into the city center and had the afternoon to explore the area before Ciara arrived from Ireland. She got a little bit lost when she got off the airport bus so she was relieved when I found her at the bus stop. After a quick change we went for dinner in a local restaurant and paid for an overpriced (but tasty) bottle of wine while having a good catch up. We didn't know where to start as there was so much to catch up on.

We decided to do a walking tour with Pinar from Free Tours. She walked us through Sultan Ahmet Park explaining to us about the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace. I learned that there are over three thousands mosques in Istanbul. Pinar was very good at explaining the history of Istanbul and giving us good tips on where to visit. She was also very good at persuading us to join her boat trip in the afternoon as most of the group from the walking tour went on the boat trip. The boat sailed through the Bosporus Strait and Golden Horn which is the strait that separates the European side of Istanbul to the Asian side of Istanbul. It was interesting to see the big expensive hotels and houses on the edge of the strait. We got a very good view of the whole of the city and saw a lot of mosques in the distance. After the boat trip Pinar walked us through the Asian market pointing out different food and allowed us to taste some of the Turkish delights and ice cream.

The following day we got up early to miss the queues for the Blue Mosque. It had some lovely blue mosaic tiles on the ceiling. We didn't stay as long as we had predicted but this helped to also miss the queues for the Topaki Palace. Topaki Palace is where the Sultans and their families lived. It had four main courtyards and multiple smaller buildings containing dorm rooms, school, library and mosque. After lunch we stopped at the Serefiye Cistern to watch a light display on the columns of the walls and to take cover from the sun. We went back to our hotel for a rest and then went to the Galata area for dinner. Galata is the new town of the European side of Istanbul. There a tower with a view over the city, a tram line that ran a long the shop street and plenty of ice cream shops. It was nice to people watch while having dinner and a delicious ice cream.Read more