Antique Hostel Istanbul

... and his stories are teaching lessons and morals in a joking way. We got two stories from our guide.

Story #1)

Hadja was having a large party and didn’t have a big enough pot for his soup. He went to his neighbor who was rather a greedy man and asked if he could borrow a big pot. His neighbor reluctantly loaned him a big pot and admonished Hadja to take care of it and return it tomorrow. Hadja ...

... town of Kilyos and waited for Dave to turn-up whilst enjoying the view.

Dave arrived and we went off to a local restaurant and also met Kelvin, his neighbor and another ex-pat working here. We all got on really well and Kelvin announced he had to fly back to the UK tomorrow so he offered us his house whilst he was away - what a great guy! Back to Kelvin's ...

... br>

About forty five minutes later and several wrong turns, we did find
the Citibank that had been "10 minutes away." Thankfully the ATM let
me check my balance and it was all there! Woohoo! Of course it
wouldn't let me take my money out...Ugg!


I am sure that Citibank is not the only bank in the world that does
this, but if you are in a foreign country and you see a citibank...you
may not actually be seeing a Citibank. What you are ...

... post office here which is cheaper than the rate for parcels. The limit though is 5Kg, and when we weighed our book pack, it was 9.8Kg. We fiddled with it for fifteen minutes taking things out re-weighing it until we had reached a nice weight of 4.9Kg, can't get any closer than that. I took the box back to the book counter and handed it to the man. He took the box in his hands, lifted it up and down a few times as one does when trying to ...

... of all the problems I've had, they have agreed to extend my warranty until the end of December, instead of the end of September, so that I can have it properly fixed once I get home. I only wish that all this had happened a couple of weeks in to my stay in Turkey rather than at the end, as most of my stay in Turkey was consumed by my problems with my Mac/Apple. After a few days in Selcuk, it was time to fly to Istanbul to meet up with Karen. I flew from Izmir to Istanbul in the morning ...

... the administrative wing and the harem, which is where the sultan's wives and concubines along with their children stayed. when ataturk came to power he turned it in to a palace "for all the world to enjoy" (quote courtesy of the tourguide who was especially wonderful due to his distinct accent). we even got to see the room that ata died in. the bed is covered in this silk duvet cover that is embroidered with a huge crescent and star, just like the flag of turkey. he was such a ...

... were nice and hungover for the following long drive day towards Cappadocia! Claire did sleep through the border crossing into Turkey, almost entirely; unfortunately I wasn't really in a much better state after 3 hours sleep! It was pretty uneventful - the best part was the duty free shop across the border where more than a few of us bought a bottle of vodka/whisky/gin... When we finally reached Goreme it soon became clear why everybody who had previously visited had ...

... on a nearby alley. Doner and lamb shish kabobs - excellent! Next, we went underground to the Basilica Cistern - a vaulted water reservoir build in 532 A.D. After we got tired of being dripped on, we headed above ground to a café for some mint tea, Turkish coffee and a puff on a nargile - a water pipe stuffed with strawberry flavored tobacco. Next we ducked into the Grand Bazaar for a peak just before closing and trammed ...

... time is something the whole city always hears about, because they broadcast it out of a PA system hooked onto the minaret. They always sing the Koran, it sounds sort of spooky. Fourth, Topkapı palace. As we were walking through the front gate, we went past some of the local Jamdarmes (army soldiers). They were just hangin round with submachine guns slung on their shoulders. I later found out there´s an eighty-sıx carat diamond on display in the ...

... is all cobblestoned streets, carpet shops, sidewalk cafes and restaurants and their associated touts standing outside to lure you in. If it weren't for the carpet shops you would think you were in Europe. We check into our hostel, 'The Big Apple'. Istanbul is busy, it is August after all, and everywhere is full. This means that our sixteen-bed dorm is at full capacity. Somehow we have managed to avoid dorms almost entirely since Australia, over eight months ...