Interesting journey to Istanbul! After a fascinating stay in the very, very old city of Plovdiv in Bulgaria I caught the train to Istanbul. Surprisingly, it left just after 10 pm close to the timetable. I actually fell asleep, as I had grabbed the disabled seats so had a complete row of three to myself. Everyone else draped themselves over seats and suitcases. Plenty of room for everyone to do so as well. Woken up by border patrol for passports at 1am, back on the train ready to doze off again. Come 2am, this time its the Turkish police for passports and visas. The entire train was queued to pay €15 for a pretty sticker in one office, a stamp in another! Incidentally, I was the oldest person on the train, everyone else looked like they were doing a gap year, 20-35 max. My grey hair stood out like a sore thumb,while at least my backpack wasn’t out of place at all, the suitcase definitely was!
Once we were stamped, it was out to the buses on two modern coaches and a minibus. Leaving at 3am, I was soon asleep again , two hours later a voice says toilet stop, loud enough to penetrate the sleeping brain. The most modern service station I think I have ever seen. Worthy of big time America. Souvenirs, coffee,food, the lot. Just couldn’t face turkish coffee and turkish delight or even baklava, in a half comatose state at that hour of the morning.
Once again back in the bus and in to Istanbul an hour or so later, yes, I went to asleep again!
Wonderful city to wake up to in the early morning, incredibly beautiful. I’ m going to love it here! As you can see I have already made an acquaintance with the mosques, now they’ll have to wait for another day. The weather is very, very hot but the days stunning, sight seeing only happens for me when there are shaded streets, usually before midday and after about three.
The usual rip off by the taxi driver who also tried to chat me up, I dislike some of these people intently. I am aware of it, I just try and minimise the damage as I can’t be bothered walking and finding my way in a very large and strange city at odd hours of the day. First obvious mistake he made was saying he knew where the place was, I knew he didn’t have a clue and had to ask others where it was.
Not surprising really there were no signs or names any where and certainly if I had walked there I would have had a great deal of difficulty finding it.
Once inside I was shown a lovely big room in the basement alongside the kitchen . Complete with ensuite , I was very pleased to see the electric jug in the kitchen. The room had been advertised as having air conditioning which it did not have but they did provide a fan for some relief from the heat. I was starting to get a little disturbed by these events.
Once settled in the room, because it was in the basement the windows were very tiny and opened on to the footpath level. As I have mentioned I suffer from a mild claustrophobia, this was not helping, but I decided to do my best anyway. Currently it is Ramadan in Muslim countries , which means the evening meal is eaten after sunset. The first night there were families and children laughing and playing outside until nearly midnight. Following a night with very little decent sleep the night before , I was not in a particularly good frame of mind , gritting my teeth , the night passed in sleep once the noises stopped.
The feeling of being shut in a small space was increasing, with the heat and the noise combined with the basement features.
At least during the day I had spent happy hours wandering around the mosques, I later found the area is called Sultanahmet. The hotel is well situated in that respect, all though the first walk had me following a family that were obviously on holiday. They seemed very purposeful, so it looked hopeful, as indeed it was. It was wonderful getting to the top of quite a hill, almost a 45 degree slope with cobbled streets, and appalling footpaths that included steps for good measure. The sight of the mosques , the grand bazaar, the shops on the street and in the middle of all this the tram station! It was definitely one of those wow moments, it would have been nice to share with someone.
After walking around these places and getting some turkish delight. It was a real shop with plenty of free trial delights! I couldn’t resist the temptation, could I. The body was fading fast, so I headed back to the hotel, which of course was all downhill this time! Getting in, found me asleep in five mins, the night having proved to much to handle without a small siesta.
