Allstar Airport Florya Park Hotel Istanbul

... through the fish market (there are some really weird and gross looking fish in Istanbul), going into Turkish goods stores and just enjoying seeing the action all around us. There’s also a really old and small “Nostalgic Tram” that runs up and down the street. It was also funny watching the tram go by with little boys running alongside and jumping on the back pegs and hanging on to the railing for a free (illegal) ride. Oh, and another thing: Andre had the nerve to ...

... in Istanbul and was ready to fulfill our loose and unlikely plans to meet up in Turkey. Seeing is believing I guess...and 30 minutes later, I was converted. Choosing a handful of bean bag seats in one of the local cafes that lined the lower level of the Galata, we caught up with Charles and Lady Natalie, learning about their prior adventures and sharing thoughts on their next few months. As the sun completed it's daily journey from Asia to Europe and sank below the hillside ...

... restaurant we headed for a bar. It sold beers but didn't have any beers on site. They would walk next door to the corner shop buy the beers and sell them for double the price. After the first beer we realised that the beers were cheaper and bigger next door. The blond stranger had just ordered his second. Realising that we wanted to move he sculled his beer. As Shona was thinking, "wow he drunk that second beer quickly," he seemed to cough. OH NO that wasn't a cough as he ...

... The Turkish Tiles museum is a beautiful monument to the art of tile work. Here we see designs that beg the question of who is the creator of the world's tile art. In Mexico and in many parts of the states we use "Mexican Tile" for decoration. If you go to Spain, you see those same tiles and calculate, correctly, that the Mexican Tiles are really Spanish Tiles. But then, in the Muslim world you see those same designs and come to the ...

... buy one for me. We had "great success" and found an awesome 18th century French map of the Ottoman Empire. The guy who owned the store was super interesting...he used to be a captain in the Turkish Navy, had been to 75 countries and talked to us forever about numerous American TV shows (favs are House and Grey's Anatomy). I am quite happy with my 28th birthday present! We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets in and around Beyoglu (mostly on a mad search for ...

30.9.2008: Istanbul The last day in Georgia I buy as many bakery products as possible and at 11am I am flying away towards a different culture [btw, any Sarpi-bound marshrutka can stop at the airport]. After a looong time THY is no lowcost airline I am quite surprised of the onboard dinner;). The Atatürk airport is a bit on a hill and one can see the panorama of residential suburbs dotted with minarets already from the taxying airplane. There is a convenient train/tram connection to ...

... will recognize it as one of the locations in From Russia with Love. It was nice and cool down there. A brief walk took us to the Hippodrome, which was the location of the chariot races. Today it is a square. The track was U-shaped. At the track were 4 bronze horses. During the 4th Crusade, these horses were taken, their heads detached and shipped to Venice, where they were reassembled. A bridle now covers ...

... hotel in Selcuk was nearly empty. What role do you feel you played in this? Heard us coming, I guess. Hmm, but if it wasn't for us I suppose they would have been completely empty. So I guess it was "nearly empty" completely because of us. <very satisfied with that answer> 5) If a rural Turkish man were to marry his donkey do you think the donkey should be required by law to take his last name ...

... traffic here is pretty bad (will post a photo soon...how exciting) especially on Saturdays....The ferry to Bekistas takes about 30 minutes and I met Nuray, a girl who studied at the American Language Institute last year. She drove us down to Ortakoy where there is a wonderful market every Saturday...but the wind picked up (notice the hat in one of the photos) and we headed for a very ...

... its heritage as the centre of the Ottoman empire, as the well earned grandeur and magnificence can't be erased by the odd 20th century stumble. All its best elements combine superbly at the Aya Sofya. The Aya Sofya is a looming, dusty red monolith dominating its part of a park opposite the more modern Blue Mosque. Originally a church, it was astoundingly built by Emperor Justinian in AD537. This is not a structure that was originally a little shack and ...