Courtyard By Marriott Istanbul International Airport

Na kulaťáku s scházíme sice se skoro hodinovým zpožděním, ale nakonec jsme se zdárně nalodili do letadla. Místa na nohy moc není, ale naštěstí vedle Doldy zůstalo volno. ČSA má zvláštní smysl pro humor když nám po cestě do istanbulu servírovala sendvič Turkey club (krůta mi ležela v žaludku až do večera). Leěli jsme slunečným počasím kde mezi mraky prokukovaly pol ...

... After this a group of us went out to go clubbing. Once we got out, most places were empty again. We had one round which was 65 and enjoyed some free nuts and chips placed on our table, or so we thought. When we went to pay we were then hit up for a further 60 for the 'free' snacks... Thankfully we did not pay for them after much arguing with the manager. There is so much dodgy stuff like that that goes on in Istanbul. Don't get me wrong, Istanbul is awesome and we loved it and want ...

... we went over to the european side to meet first with an advertising company who redid all of the campaign ads sent from the UK (marks and sparks is English, ofcourse) to fit the Turkish market. that was actually quite interesting and i was really appreciative that i was brought along.... i never thought that i would have such experiences this summer and i am so grateful. after the advertising meeting we went over to ...

... trainstation, they gave us no information on what we were to do, it was a free for all, we had to find our own trains to our intended destinations. This Deutsch Bahn, which is supposedly supposed to be so precise, has only been ****. Luckily, I boarded a train that would take me to Cologne. "Naechster halt, Cologne grugrglle groggle" The sound in the train went bad, but I knew I heard that the next stop was Cologne, so I get my luggage together and exit ...

... a half in the country but with all the embassies being based in Ankara I could leave my passport with the relevant embassies and travel Turkey in the mean time. With the beach resorts of the Aegean in the south, the historic sites of Gallipoli and Kars, and cave dwellings of Cappadocia in the west, I feel there are plenty of interesting sites to keep me entertained. I would require a letter of invite for Uzbekistan but I already had a contact within a travel agency in the country who ...

... his own camera. Not a big deal... someone even requested a picture of us at the Tokapi Palace! Maybe the Egyptian Bazaar was cheaper than the Grand Bazaar, but it was nowhere as big and impressive. Frankly, it was down right disappointing. I got some little stuff and that was about it. I met up with Laura at Coffee World, a pretty nice and spacious coffee shop. I don't drink coffee ...

... go to the Hamam to have a wash. This is a Turkish bath, basically there are men and women's sections where in a hot room, not unlike a sauna you get your gear off with a bunch of other people and lay about on the marble surface having a sweat and then washing yourself at the sinks around the edges. You can also get massages or let the attendants wash you. Well we weren't going to pass up the opportunity to get washed, and after about 40mins of lying on the marble ...

... by a carpet weaving exhibition and this was really my first taste at watching true Turkish salesmen in action and I must say it was impressive. We were taken into a room given turkish tea, a loom demonstration and then out of no where salesmen pop out ready to pounce on anyone who looked like they may be able to be coerced into parting with their cash. Unfortunately with most people on our tour being young backpackers we werent exactly the target market for 600 dollar rugs. Never ...

... had a short time but some of the highlights included the kitchens with their HUGE pots and the exhibit of the riches of the treasury. One display that sticks in my mind was a rock crystal box filled with emeralds. They looked like marbles, big marbles. Some of the gemstones were unreal looking, they were so huge. Lunch was at the Green House which is in an old restored ottoman style house. We had ...

... so that wasn't an issue. I'm sure you will not be surprised to read that there will be no pictures with this particular portion of the entry. This morning we went to Dolmabache Palace. It was very opulent, but I can't say that we enjoyed it very much. If you want to go in you have to take a tour. The whole thing was very rushed, very stuffy and kind of expensive. If I had to drop something off my schedule, that would probably be it. We did, however, see the ...