Allstar Zurich Hotel Istanbul

... huge celebration for the 2750th birthday. These events were only about 3 years apart. A friend of Marat’s (our guide) had been there for the 2500th birthday celebration, was gone and returned to suddenly find the city celebrating 2750 years. He remarked that he knew he hadn’t been gone that long. Now the city claims there is proof positive that Samarkand is 3000 years old. But city officials won&#8217 ...

... and even my back is starting to shape up. Give it a few weeks, and Jon will not be able to call me weak... <br>Anyway, the crowd looked cool on the rooftop, and once we sorted out our shiazniks, we went and improved on our backgammon skills for the rest of the day, and generally chilled out. Things started falling into place, like the tumbles in a lock and we moved further towards our goal to become travellers. Chicken kebab for lunch, one more for dinner ...

...

... engage me in a lengthy conversation. It became apparent soon that he was not after my friendship, but my wallet. He gave me directions to the next sight I was heading to and the directions just happened to take me by his carpet shop and he invited me to check out his wares. At that point I pretty much blew him off and headed to the Grand Bazaar, my next sight, but taking a different route than he suggested. The Grand Bazaar is the worlds first shopping mall and ...

... do was have a nice walk, find a sheesha bar, or even just a normal bar for a few drinks. But when I asked the locals what to do, they kept saying "Nothing"! So I left Asia after just half an hour - possibly the shortest visit any tourist has made to a continent. Tomorrow morning I'm going to visit Sisli Synagogue, which got bombed a few years ago by Al Qaeda, the Grand Bazaar, and start my Magic Carpet Tour.

September 4, 2008 Istanbul, Turkey When Helen and I were in Selcuk, Aydin took us to look at a piece of property, and I fell in love with it. I had never given a single thought to buying property in Selcuk, but the more I was there, the more I fell in love with it. When I expressed interest, Aydin said he had to check with the owner of the property to see if he was willing to sell. When we were in Bulent's shop in Istanbul on Helen's last day, I got a call from Aydin with good news ...

So much to take ýn anyway when youstep off a plane but on the fýrst day of a long journey the ýmmensýty of the occassýon hýt home (as well as the hýgh altýtude drýnks). It,s next day now and I feel much more wýth ýt and ready to embrace the cýty ýn all ýts glory. I love ýt! The mýx of East and West ýs so great and ýt would be cool to see thýs emerge further towards the West too. We have got lots ...

... was that we had a really good bunch of people on the tour with us, and when you've got good people around, you can make your own fun regardless of circumstance. Which we did. Believe it! ;) On the way to Gallipoli, we stopped once or twice for food at predetermined places which gave us our first real indication of the scale of the ANZAC day event. There were easily 20 or 30 coaches at both of the stops, and a more or less continuous stream of them going past most of the ...

... were limited in time so Turkey was a bit "sacrificed"...Everything is expensive and it's an expensive country to visit. Borders are OK but it can be time consuming so it's important to have a bit of patience! Road : nothing to say about the quality of the roads. The road along the Mediterranean coast is nice to do. Highway is not free for motorbikes but you can take the risk to squeeze trough the gates and act stupid if you get ...

... mellow and easy to navigate. After the Bazar we went to the Basilica Cistern, this huge underground water well that the romans built. Over 300 columns, under the city center with the water piped in from over 17 meters away. Very cool, those romans are always impressive. HE SAID: I think her stomache issue was the chicken she ate the night before. PICTURES Copy and Paste into address bar: http://www.flickr.com/gp/9114022@N06/2j P5Cb