Sheraton Istanbul Atakoy

... van to drive up across Sumatra to a surf camp I have an interest in. Simeulue island, ground zero of THE tsunami. Gofer does all the dogwork, all the papers. All up and funky. I set off with my mate Gazza Jones. He decides to quit a 25-year smoking habit en-route. In the passenger seat! And to quit alcohol.<br><br>Two days of growing psychosis is enough. I shovel a quart of beer into his hand and say smoking kills, but beer saves or something like that. The dark grimace peels back into a ...

... guidebook and many tourists told her the last island was the best, so Brittany waited to get off at the last island. The other islands all had spotless beaches, but the last island Brittany went to is now referred to as "Turkotrash Island." The beach was a pile of rocks in people's front lawns and everyone was swimming in their underwear or Muslim swimsuit. After a few hours on a hot black rock and getting yelled at in Turkish by some strange angry man, she left the island. <br><br><br><br>

... we were in for quite the experience. since we were they we decided to stick around and watch the game (it was free so why not?!)... it was insane - people were everywhere sporting their jerseys, cheering, lighting flares, etc. we bought a couple of black and white headbands so we would fit in and we squeezed in with the rest of the crowd. the crowd went wild after the two goals that be&#351;ikta&#351; scored. my nose became victim to an ember of a flare but fear not i am alright. we got ...

... conversation and company to while the time away. She was a student and had just started her third level schooling and was returning home for the weekend to see her family. It was nice for me to get an insight to what life was like growing up in Bulgaria. She hopes to be an actress one day. She was also into Soccer and I was delighted to hear that her mother is friends with the wife of Hristo Stoichkov whom used to play for Barcelona. As i'm a big Barcelona fan the always moody Mr ...

... the Turkish flag. The waiter brought out a Japanese flag instead of the Korean one!!! Whatever, I just had to pretend like I was Japanese for the rest of the night. It was alright until the entertainer started singing pop songs from different countries. There were people from Romania, Mexico, France, U.S.A., South Africa, England, Yemen, Ukraine, Turkey.... He knew ALL of the ...

... It took a good while to take it all in; so far Istanbul is nothing like what we had seen in Europe. One of the stranger things we had heard were the prayer calls. As we had arrived on a Friday (this being like the Christian Sunday) they seemed to be happening every 3 hrs or so (including one at 3 am!). It is something you have to witness for yourself. You will be walking around the city, and next thing this loud speaker will start blearing out a man singing ...

... helplessly. "I need to... I need tell you something before the girls come back." "Yeah, what is it?" "Your shop is open." I looked at him blankly. Everyone's face was as still as stone. "What?" I asked, confused. "Your shop is open," he said more forcefully, clearly at a loss for anything else to say. I didn't understand. I looked at the other students for help. One, a guy I had known for a long time, smirked and pointed at my waist. I looked down ...

... piles of spices and chilies, great cases of fresh and aged cheese and meat markets with some stuff I wouldn't eat (head of goat??). We sampled some pastries and bought some baklava in a nice bakery. The bakers were making bread in a wood-fired oven. You could see all the way to the back of the oven and it must have been 15-20 feet deep. Next up was the Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent. This mosque is different than the Blue Mosque ...

... what I thought was a statue of a soldier. Julie says "don't touch, he's breathing."She's right. Then in the inner courtyard to the beautiful swan fountain, where we have to take photos. Around the fountain and to the front steps of the palace. Our English guide instructs us to put plastic protectors over our shoes, then go inside to the Main Entrance hall. WOW! The first thing that grabs your attention is the chandeliers. Multiple hanging and standing French Baccarat ...

Ein Tag in Istanbul sinnvoll genutzt...oder: Vivi und Paul finden neue Freunde! Im Ernst: Wir hatten einen Tag Zeit uns Istanbul anzuschauen. Also gings direkt in das historische Viertel (auch Touri-Viertel genannt) names Sultanahmet. Dort haben wir literweise tuerkischen Apfeltee getrunken, eine Moschee angeschaut sind ueber einen Bazaar geschlendert und ...