Golden Park Hotel Istanbul

... friends is, as he described himself, "the postman", delivering wine and running errands along the Istanbul riviera for its houseless inhabitants. Sea front plots of land for free.

All kinds of people pass through Istanbul, the package tourist being shepherded around by silvery-tongued Turks, overladen motorbikerlists on their way to The East or Africa, Landrovers, bicycles and even space-hoppers can be seen. So many different ways of ...

... and Paul, a guy from New Zealand, who was on his way back to the islands after spending a year in Germany. The girls were thinking about going out, and they cordially invited us, so we took them up to Tunel, where we could afford one beer each over quiet conversation about the EU, our trip, their trip, and Istanbul. We got back about 1 o clock, and spent the rest of the night drinking our remaining three beers that we bought earlier with Ugur, who was supervising the rug-store downstairs.

... is a bank
that Citibank has sold or given its name to. The bank operates within
its country with the help of Citibank's (formerly good) name. But that
bank is not actually a "real" Citibank and has no connection to the
files or accounts of America's Citibank. I learned this when trying to
set up a business account with a partner in Costa Rica. He lived right
next to a Citibank, but it was a Citibank Costa Rica, with no
coordination with Citibank America ...

... Landing in Detroit I had a five hour layover for the 9:35 pm flight on Air France to Paris. I had booked the flight on my "burning" of Northwest Airlines miles due to their merger with Delta Airlines. Delta effectively devalued the miles for overseas travel after a January 15 deadline that I was able to beat with the trip to Istanbul. I once again opted to fly Business Class and was curious when the booking through Northwest had me flying on Air France ...

... bag of Ruffles potato chips and proceeded to pour them on to a plate for us. Great, it was just what we were craving! We drank our beer and ate our chips and when we went to pay the bill, the guy had charged us 7YTL for a bag of chips!!! Needless to say, that was the last time we went to Panorama. While we were in Bodrum, Karen and I went to Gumusluk and went back to the place where Helen and I had fresh tiger prawns. They were just as good this time as they were the first and second ...

... and the intimidation of being surrounded by 5,000 shops and their keepers. "Can I sell you something that you do not need?" "can I help you? Can you help me?" It was an overwhelming experience and we escaped with but a few Turkish pashminas and silk scarves-no bargaining. Finally, we ended our day at the Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Camii), which is distinguished as the only mosque in the world with six minarets. Built in ...

... bye to everyone, although hopefully the members of the group that are living in London for the next few months will be able to meet up for a reunion when we return. I'm afraid that its likely I'll be internet-less during my next 4 weeks in Namibia, but I will try to have my phone charged up so if you want to say hi the number is: +44 7743446825. However, Claire will be updating the blog with her travelling stories from Quito and then the overland trip from Peru to Bolivia. Han x

... our way out of the Bazaar, we stopped for a lunch of mixed kabobs and Turkish coffee, then let Suzel go back to the Bazaar by herself while Aili, Gisela and I walked back past the Blue Mosque and dead-ended into the old palace walls which now have strangely out-of-place new homes butting against them. We found the main gate to the palace grounds and meandered through the shady plaza to the National Archeological Museum ...

... power and the 'rule of the harem' began to take more control over affairs of state. The Valide Sultan (sultan's mother) wielded unprecedented power for a woman. The majority of the harem women lived in dangerously unhygienic conditions and many died from vermin/water borne diseases. Those that were chosen to sleep with the sultan were promoted to 'imperial odalisque', given their own slaves and better ...

... European Istanbul is. We had imagined a chaotic zoo of traffic and pushy people, a la Cairo or Damascus, but Istanbul is comparatively quiet, civilized and attractive. In a region of the world with no shortage of bazaars, souqs, khans and other markets, Istanbul's Grand Bazaar stands out. The centuries-old covered market is a labyrinth of alleys and paths, all lined with every Turkish specialty - carpets, leather jackets, more carpets, knock-off brand name ...