Klassis Resort Hotel Istanbul

... visitors left everything in Topkapi. Well, almost everything. If you try to see everything the Topkapi Palace has - it will take you three to four days. I have spent them here just enjoying everything. Especially in the House of weapons (it's fantastic), and House of porcelain.

In addition the acquaintance with the evening Istanbul was. To drink coffee looking at the Golden Horn is a very relaxing thing, trust me. And I really plan to make it again next year.

... reason I travel.

Fıve tımes a day there ıs call to prayer from the Blue Mosque. It ıs enchantıng and so mystıcal. It ıs a man sıngıng and another respondıng. Thıs remınds all the devout Muslıms to say theır prayers and worshop. The tımes are 5 am, 1pm, 4 34pm, 8 pm, and 9pm. By far, thıs ıs my favorıte and most hauntıngly stunnıng aspect of Istanbul.


Our ...

... how to get there. Instead, I wandered blindly, and it turned out that when I would stop someone and ask where on the map we were, it would turn out that I was right where i had said I wanted to be...... I saw the public park, where families and couples spend their sundays. I saw the train station that was the terminus for the orient express; saw the spice market (and the garment district thrown ...

So my last 2 days in Istanbul where amazing. I visited the Topkapi Palace, it is stunning with some of the most amazing views in Istanbul. In the afternoon I visited Taksim Square, the new area of Istanbul that looked like it could be a street in London. I also visited the movie theatre there and saw the new Star Trek movie - I had to beat my brother to it even if it meant watching it with Turkish subtitles. My final day in Istanbul I visited the Spice ...

Right. If I wasn't sure I hated international buses before, this was the clencher. Buses to Istanbul don't stop anywhere near Istanbul city centre. They stop at the Octagon. This is a truly monstrous place about ten kilometres away from the city centre (where the train would have deposited me). The Octagon is practically a city in it's own right- an evil oppressive city, it's like they saw the Death Star from Star Wars and decided to model a ...

Well we had a bit of an adventure getting to Istanbul. We boarded our Alitalia plane headed for Rome. The plane taxied out to the runway, then just sat there. Eventually the pilot announced that the plane had lost all hydrolic preasure, and they were waiting for assistance to get back to the terminal. We got towed close to the airport, unloaded onto a bus, and got dropped off at the baggage claim area. All of the announcements were in Italian, by the way, so we were having ...

... of something far in-between. While I can say that this trip thus far has been exciting, interesting and very different, it really also highlights the things I appreciate, a sense that you can't explain in the comforts of things that make up who you are. As we concluded our last day in Istanbul with a trip on a ferry stopping port to port up the Bosphorous, stopping in Asia, then Europe, then Asia, then back again, I had time to think of two things: 1 ...

Today was just fantastic. Patty has already shared her thoughts, and I can only concur - a great day. After yet another great breakfast, we set across Bezayit square (really across the road from the hotel, but only just discovered), and onto the Sulemanya mosque complex. This was incredibly impressive, not the less because it has the tomb of Suleyman the Great, and the evil courtesan, Roxalena. Amazingly, we bumped into the only American we ...

The main task for today was to get from Canakkale to Istanbul. I had been dreading this leg a bit because driving in Istanbul is a bit legendary for being hard. We decided to play it safe and ask our hotel to book accommodation in Istanbul ahead for us, worried that we might not be able to get something close to the airport. They were very obliging and arranged it all for us, and even helped me with paying that dreaded parking fine. If you are looking for a fantastic ...

I'm settling in and adjusting to the time change. Yesterday was a pretty low-key day for me as I was fighting jet-lag. I got up at around 8:30 and joined my cousins for my favorite Turkish breakfast of Simit (sesame covered rolls shaped like really big, skinny bagels), home-made sour cherry jam, feta and other cheese, olives, and coffee - although tea is more traditional. Then they were off to the airport to head south to a resort for a few ...