Europe Asia Europe Asia

Our stopover in Istanbul is coming to an end. In the last two days , we visited the spice market, the grand bazaar, and some viewpoints, and took a trip down the bosphorus. In doing so, we have been hopping back and forth between Europe and Asia. But today, no more hopping. Instead, we fly for 8 hours to Ulaanbaatar capital of 🇲🇳 Mongolia.
People told us we maybe shouldn't go to Istanbul, either because of the recent earthquake or because of the elections in 10 days' time. I am glad we didn't listen since this has been both fun and enlightening. Istanbuhl was incredibly important historically, and now it's also a charming modern city. That's not to ignore the political and economic problems of Turkey, but rather to say one has to give credit that this is a wonderful place to visit.

For this part of the trip, we had three "luxuries." 1st, we did not need to plan the details, as this was done by Grandpa Bernard and his travel agent. 2nd and very important, Bernard joined us along with cousin Audwyn for our stay here. Third, Grandpa generously invited us for lunches and dinners that would have blown a big hole in our budget. Thank you, Bernard, and thank you, Audwyn.Read more