Radisson Sas Bosphorus Hotel Istanbul

As usual, I woke up very early, around 5. After bath, I sat at the computer to type in my travelpod. Again I was the first one having breakfast. I took my seat, the one closest to the window. Elisa joined me later, and another Argentina man who slept underneath her joined shortly after. He ran in the marathon on Sunday, and his sister and mom stayed in a hotel while he purposefully chose to stay at a hostel to get to know more people. I saw him last night ...

Day 2 and maybe 3



Oy. Well, as I've probably made clear, internet access has been inconsistent and up to this point, I've been either too tired or too busy to write. So today is technically, Day 4.



On actual Day 2, the first thing we did was go to the Underground Cistern. This is like a large underground cavern/room filled with water. It was created as an emergency water supply in case the city of Byzantium (Istanbul) was ...

... and were glad we made the long drive here. Our last night was spent near the hotel at a restaurant with a lovely friendly man touting every night and Wayne felt committed to eat there as we put him off each time we passed. The food was lovely and well worth it. Istanbul has a massive cat population of mostly strays and so we saw lots of cats running around and chasing each other to make kittens I think. The streets are very tidy though and the area well cared for so the cats must do ok.

... It was founded in 190 BC and became a cure center (the natural spring waters were said to possess many healing powers) and was an important city to the Romans and later the Byzantines. There are many, many graves, a Roman theater that held 12,000 spectators, a church, an antique pool (remodeled today of course for tourists to swim in). Negligent tourism practices have rendered the travertines nearly dry and it is now prohibited to swim in the natural waters though there are parts ...

... though and it seemed as though it was a Turkish retreat. What really made the trip though was our friend, Hasaan. We passed him on the street and out of desperation to find where we were going, asked for directions to the internet cafe. Yalova is not the biggest of places yet this guy managed to keep us walking in vein for quite some time, whilst he got chances to take pics of us...well mainly Bea. When we got back he managed to find us again! This time he got our names and, whilst ...

Today was basically a sea day as we didn't pull into Istanbul, Turkey until 5 PM. I worked the evening shift and had no personal interest in bar hopping in the wee hours of the morn so I stayed on the ship and did a walk around the deck to take in the lights of Istanbul at night. The city isn't very impressive from the dock, but I've heard that the blue mosque is a site to behold as well as other sites such as the palaces ...

... a cost of $20. Then I went to see if my luggage made it. I was elated to see that my new REI bag arrived! I then took the subway into Istanbul, transferred to a tram and walked the last short bit to my hostel. My hostel room was quite small but had a great location. I was exhausted even though I had not done anything all day so I just walked around the area and went to bed. 5/22 The first call to prayer was about 4:30 am and the loudspeakers from all of the nearby ...

... kehal kuumeneda lastakse ning siis alustab ihuhooldaja oma rituaali - algatuseks hõõrub sind kooriva kindaga - see on ühtaegu naljakas ja tsipa piinlik hetk - ükskõik kui puhtaks sa end ka ei pea - musti rullikesi muudkui koorub. Siis loputatakse, pestakse, masseeritakse, jälle pestakse. Kui annad mõista, et oled teenusega rahul, hõiskab pesija omal lärmakal moel ja tunneb end meelitatult. Küsib su nime ja mäletab seda ka natukese aja pärast, jätab mulje, et oled talle t ...

Up bright and early and off to the Topkapi Palace for the gate open at 9am. In fact we were there 15 mins early, just in time for the tour bus rush! It was pretty much bedlam and there was only one guy selling tickets and a whole heap of very angry yelling tour guides pretty unhappy that us non-guided plebs were getting the tickets not their clients (cos it was our window open not theirs). Got in ahead of the main rush which was nice, then spent a few hours wandering around and looking ...