Lion Hotel Istanbul

... after 7 months of roughing it).

Exploring Istanbul the next day is another highlight of our trip. The buildings are beautiful and built on a scale fit for giants. The bazaar, bursting with stalls, is a kaleidoscope of colours and scents – and the many Döner restaurants keep you going during long shopping and sightseeing excursions. No wonder Constantinople was (and is) such a metropolis all through the ages.

... restaurants, shops, even a full-sized water park. It was almost daunting in size and the treks across the property could be long. Dining was a madhouse, as all meals were served buffet style, and if you can imagine 2000 people all wanting to get to the omelette station, you begin to get a picture of what we encountered. It was every man for himself, and the irony was that the food just wasn't all that appealing to us. Everything seemed to be either ...

... Basilica Cistern, Topkapi Palace and of course the Grand & Spice Bazaars. We also took in a trip up the Bosphorus, which was a nice relaxing ride river ending in a small trek up the mountain. We were pretty lucky with the weather in Istanbul, in fact it was so hot we took some time to adjust so had to make a few stops to sample the Apple tea, Efes beer, local red wine and of course KEBABS. mmmmmm heaven. For you folks that were with Littleman in Turkey last time, he briefly ...

... the old city of Constantinople. We then had to transfer to the underground or metro. This is off to the left side as we left the tramway, down one block on the left and then under the road and up to the metro to go down again. We got on at a station beginning with A, the starting point of the Metro, and went out 2 or 3 stations to the one with Topkapi in it's name. We left the station and headed for the other side of the street, walked way up a hill looking ...

... Tracy gave the kids a nice lesson in negotiating by visiting a few hostels and comparison shopping. She was able to go from the first offer of a small multi bed dorm room with no washroom, to the "deluxe" room with a beautiful bathroom and the "special" breakfast menu, all for a cheaper price...nice job! Istanbul is a fantastic city. Only Paris beats it (so far) on our ongoing list. It is full of amazing sights from the beautiful Blue Mosque to the Topkapi ...

... dark eyes of the youngest woman, beneath her white head-scarf, looked past her bent nose and wandered around the figures of the Swiss girls. I wondered if she also wanted to be freer in her clothing options. Nevertheless, she seemed happy. And she also played, sometimes, with the younger children.

The younger children enjoyed a game where they thought up strange ways to walk, then all six of them as a group walked like that and giggled. I came ...

... s jog-a-thon in booties, right mom? :-) Class starts tomorrow and Im pretty sure i read that my arabic class is in a shed. hmm, im sure their definition of a shed is completely different than ours. Cant wait. until then, yours truly, ashby postscript - i am not a big fan of proper punctuation or really anything of the sort so i dont plan on using apostrophes and such. :-P i honestly dont know where i picked up this affinity or lack thereof for punctuation and the related.

... The structure was later converted into a mosque by the Ottomons in the 15th century (stood for about 1000 years as a Christian haven during the crusades, etc.). The second building is known as the blue mosque. But the locals call it something in Arabic (Sultan Ahmet Camii). The blue mosque, is called such because of its famous interior which mainly utilizes blue "Iznik" tile work decorating its interior. Like most things we've found on our trip, the description of colors ...

... First impressions were not good - the consulate we had travelled so far to visit was inexplicably closed. The limited language exchange with the guard suggested try tomorrow, maybe, perhaps. We could not tell if this was a public holiday or if the consular staff had just decided the day was too nice to spend inside. Now, as the proud holders of the visa, İ am quietly confident its the latter explanation. The Iran Consulate in ...

... With Nescafe.

A brief shower was the order of the day before we collapsed into bed and slept recklessly. I was awoken suddenly soon after. There was a loud rumbling noise which grew louder until the walls of the room were almost shaking. Panic shot through my fatigue-addled brain and I was momentarily convinced, although I had no idea of where I was, that an earthquake was underway. At the height of this commotion it became obvious that a train was passing at speed right next to ...