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.