Allstar Aziyade Hotel Istanbul

... capital of two of the world’s most powerful empires – Byzantine and Ottoman –and every stone is steeped in history. We were last here in June 2006 and the city seemed exactly as we left it: chaotic, mysterious and welcoming all at once. We had planned to complete our effort to see the top 10 sites. Last time we saw the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace,Grand Bazaar, Church of St Saviour in Chora and the Bosphorus. This time we ...

... sleeping position. Slumber eventually came, but was soon disturbed by multiple onslaughts of Arabic shouting. Puzzled by the mayhem, and the language, I stalked to the curtain and placed an optical inquiry toward the Marmara. As the sun rose over the neighborhood, I quickly noticed that we were surrounded by no less than three mosques, all of whom had begun their surnrise prayers, which were being broadcast via loudspeakers from their highest minarets. Rooster be damned...I was ...

... 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 ...

... number one from my time in Turkey....   I arrived in Istanbul at 8am on Sa***************ed straight in to the "new city" (still hundreds of year old of course) where I'm staying. I woke the fat and grumpy owner of the hostel, who gave me the silent treatment to suggest that perhaps I should go throw myself into the Golden Horn. Nevertheless I handed over a wad of lira and he brightened up quite a bit. His name is Ahmet and all in all, he's a nice guy ...

... I don't think I got the best deals in the building - but we didn't break the bank on our little trinkets. A couple of hours was all we could take in the Grand Bazaar. We headed out to take the long way to the Spice Bazaar. In route I bought a cheap, pay as you go phone with 100 minutes. I just feel better with a cell phone in my pocket. Now if Jeff and I do ever become separated we can at least ...

... and a mezze plate for lunch. I was really only interested in the water and taking a boat load of pictures. I spent almost an hour up there enjoying the view and resting my poor little feet. Turns out the hotel was just five minutes away from the Blue Mosque. So, I checked out the line situation to discover that there wasn't one! If you find yourself in Istanbul, and you only have one day, do yourself a favor and make sure you take the time to go inside. Words cannot describe, and photos ...

At the moment I'm fully involved with the Ecotopia Biketour as you might know. And since we mostly cycle and camp in quite deserted areas and small villages in Bulgaria and Turkey there's not much chance to find Internet and keep u informed. But.... there is always a way... You can check the Ecotopia Biketour weblog for daily sms-es from the road. When possible we will write a bit more and send pictures and short movies! Take a look at: http://blog ...

... Following this, we were immediately off walking around and soon arrived at the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar is a huge labyrinth of shops, each with touts standing out the front trying to attract the shoppers. The touts' usual tactic was to guess the nationalities of passers-by; "hello my friend, are you American, Canadian, Australian .... how can I help you spend your money?" There were sections within the bazaar ...

... morning as you wander down the cobbled streets of Sultanahmet. We so look forward to visiting more highlights such as inside the Aya Sofya, Topkapi Palace, and the Blue Mosque...and of course we'd like to take a trip on the Bosphorous, and maybe even visit a hamam! For all our foodie friends, we are planning an entry devoted exclusively to meze, kebaps and baklava! Stay tuned.

(Ian) There is simply so much to see in Istanbul that we haven't manged to leave yet. On Thursday we set out for the labrinthe, chaotic, chintzy, and simply eye popping Grand Bazar which is the heart of Istanbul and has been for centuries. The Grand Bazar is a covered market consisting of over 4000 shops and several kilometers of lanes lined with everything you could want to buy. The Bazar is organized into sections such as leather goods, copperware, belly dancing ...