Richmond Istanbul Hotel

... at 10. The ferry I took was 1040, and by the tıme I got there, ıt was past 1240. I dıd not expect ıt to be so far, but ıt was worth a vısıt. I rented a bıke-- so glad to see bıkes! I mıss my bıke, whıch takes me to work everyday. So I enjoyed bıkıng on the hılly ısland, albeıt a lıttle tırıng. The weather was nıce, all the ...

... accent.) Later on that afternoon, we went to Chora Church, which was lovely. There is a series of murals in this church that tells the story of Mary from when she was a little girl until her death. It was interesting to see her portrayed in art this way. Clearly, Istanbul, and I'm sure other regions of Turkey, is where all the religions merge, maybe even crash into each other. Paganism/Greek, Islam, Christianity and Judaism all meet in this city, and ...

... Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque, explored the Topkapi Palace and gawped a bit more at the 84-carat diamond that the Ottoman Sultans used to wear on their turbans. We hung out with the 'locals' in the form of fellow Brasenostril Paddy who has lived in the city for a couple of years and who commandeered us a prime table outside at his busy local in Taksim, where we proceeded to get through a fair few Efes. We took a river tour up the ...

... hundred feet away). At night the place became downright primal and I swear I have never heard so many animal/critter/bug/monster noises in my life. I felt like I was in the heart of the jungle. When the critters would finally settle down for the night (or we became used to the noises) all we could hear was the sound of the waves crashing on the beach mere feet away, the sound amplified I believe due to the fact that we were in a narrow valley. At night I would brush my teeth with ...

... Turkish delight with pistachio (so good) and amber jewellery. All the salesmen there seemed to know that we were Australian - when I asked one how he knew; he said he could tell because 'all Australians have freckles'. We did a hop on/hop off tour of Istanbul the next day, and drove around checking out the sights - the Blue Mosque, Sofya and the Underground Cistern. The cistern was cool and creepy, with statues of Medusa inside. The water was filled with pale fish, of various ...

... and after the meal. Politics, religion, entertainment were all discussed. The love and mutual respect within this family is so evident in their relations with each other. The meal was a banquet and as we squeezed into their kitchen-dining room we ate lamb, bread, tomatoes, 2 kinds of beans, a wonderful tomato soup, melon, watermelon, potatoes and a delicious dessert. I then had a ...

... It was packed with people and expensive stores but made for a pleasant stroll. At Taksim Square I caught the old trolley back to where I started and then took the funicular down the hill to the tram back to the beginning of all this. There are obviously a lot of different ways to get around but the one you want to avoid is a car! Traffic is horrendous and the tour busses are pretty slow too even though they often have special lanes. Needless to say I was ...

... the city. It took us a while to get out of the hotel. The rather old, very deaf, and likely crazy doorman (who took a liking to my dad because he tipped him well for helping us with the luggage) couldn't figure out why we were leaving, and insisted on a conversation with each of us. Throughout our stay, he would randomly appear inside our apartment to announce something or offer us sliced apples and things like that...he was a delightful guy, but it was ...

Well, we did Istanbul today (actually yesterday). We went to the Blue Mosque, St Sophia and Topkapi Palace (Palace of the Sultans). The Mosque was interesting as was St Sophia but the Palace was the best. We did not get to see the costumes (they were on loan to somewhere) but we did get to see all the jewels, porcelain, swords, armour, etc... The grounds (gardens) were very nice, mostly just trees and grass but much more ...