Istanbul Day 2

Today we made the most of NOT being on tour and slept in, although the 5am call to prayer from the local mosques woke us up! We well and truly missed breakfast (which wasn’t a surprise). We finally got ready and walked up the road, picking up some unknown Turkish food things on the way. We found a camera shop which sold us a power cable for Andrew’s camera charger (which he forgot to bring). We walked up the Sultanahmet area where the Blue Mosque etc are located.



There were lots of decorations and stalls being set up to celebrate the start of Ramadan. Everywhere you looked you could see a Turkish flag. It could create a challenge when all of the people start fasting during the day. Maybe we’ll have to join them?? And Starve??

After a lot of walking down streets and past markets and shops, we sat down in a square for a break. Just as we were about to leave, an English teacher approached us and asked if we could talk with some of his students. There were about 5 of them but more turned up. Some of them spoke English quite confidently but others were very hesitant and shy. After a while they took us to a café to try a local drink called Ayran, basically yoghurt or buttermilk and water. We also had a shish kebab which they payed for since we were their guests. We walked with some of them to the Grand Bazaar but it was closed on Sunday.



Back at the hotel, after freshening up, we met our tour group. The group is only 14 people, mostly Australians, 2 Irish, one Kiwi and one American. We had dinner with the group at the hotel restaurant. Since it was organised by the tour the food was pre-selected and not as nice as last night’s meal, but still ok.

Just as a final note, the weather here is great, although a little windy today, it was sunny, and it's only going to get hotter as we travel down the Mediterrenean coast.

Istanbul!

We had an early start from Chelmsford this morning to get to Heathrow. As we didn’t want to pay the exorbitant amount for the Heathrow Express (no more staff discount), we decided to just catch the tube instead which took us just over 2 hours door to door. Once there (Terminal 5!) it was very quick through security to airside, where we spent all our time in WHSmith looking at books till it was time to be at the gate. We boarded quickly but then got delayed for some unknown reason.



4 hours on the plane and an very protracted descent finally got us into Istanbul. Only after landing did the First Officer make an announcement and apologise for the circling over the ocean. Apparently it was busy and we were diverted about 70miles for a 40 mile approach. We needed a Visa for Turkey. Well, Andrew needed a Visa on his Irish passport, NZ doesn’t need one. We managed to figure out the metro to get to our hotel. A quick shower and we were back out to try and find our way to meet Chris & Sandy at their hotel. We figured out that Grace had printed off the wrong information for their hotel but thankfully the Lonely Planet had a map which had the name of their street on it as well as the nearest tram stop. So onto the tram we got. Several stops later and some wandering down side streets we found their hotel as they were walking out the front door. What great timing!

We wandered down the road and found a restaurant for dinner. We had a salad mezze and a mixed kebab platter which was good though way too much food. It’s typical around here to have people trying to tempt you to eat at their place. I’ve also noticed that the men like to look or should I say stare at the women, which is disconcerting when it first happens but I think it’s just something that you learn to ignore - hopefully. After dinner we went for a walk along the waterfront where people were setting up stalls to sell their wares. Lots of different types of items being sold from clothes to shoes, bags etc etc, including food, though none of it interested us.

We walked across the bridge where there were lots of men fishing over the side with huge fishing rods, catching tiny fish (some of them nothing).



Another thing we have noticed is the number of mosques around the city. As we landed it was easy to see them as each has a tall spire which stands out from the rest of the building.

We headed back towards our tram stop and picked up some water (can‘t drink the tap water). It was time to say goodbye to Chris and Sandy.

Moving out of London!

Well, Andrew has accepted a new job in Harwich and we are moving to Chelmsford.
After a couple of weeks of looking i.e. going up to Chelmsford on 2 no. Saturday's and viewing loads of places..., we have finally accepted a 2.5 bedroom house, yes it's a house, double storey and all with a back patio. We are due to move in later this month, but for now there is lots to sort out including buying some new furniture, as the new place is unfurnished. The priority is a bed and the rest can wait.
Anyhow, we are still way behind on our blog and have a lot of catch up to do. Hopefully we'll be able to do something before our Turkey trip in September.