Vezir Istanbul

... 3.5 TLs. After gettıng off the bus at Kadıkoy, my adventure resumed. I pulled my luggage up the hıll, and AFDed ın a local shop. They dont speak Eng, but poınted the way. Most Turks are ınterested ın fındıng out where I am from, even though they dont speak Eng. I got lucky when a couple took me to the hostel. It was raınıng, so I had to hold my umbrella and pull my luggage all the way to the hostel.

... and beautiful. At the end of our tour we were forced to sit through a Turkish carpet making demonstration, which was a pain, but also interesting. It was more of a sales pitch, but we were able to escape at the end of the presentation and we did score some delicious apple tea. After we finished with the tour and everything else, we headed back to the port and left for Mykanos, Greece.

... quietly hoped that he wouldn't be sending a couple of Russian drunks in with us. There was a knock at the door and an Australian couple appeared. We should have guessed. These Aussies really are everywhere. The strange thing was the guy, Michael, had met Ritchie earlier in the day randomly and struck up conversation whilst buying some water. Weird.


In a very unusual practise, rather than check passports as we boarded, at ...

... you can take your shoes off and walk through the pools. Many people say Pamukkale is not what it used to be and it seems that the Turks are making a big effort to restore it. Having said that, Bonnie and I thought the place was magnificent and we spent the entire day with our fingers pressed on our shutter buttons or lying in the flower fields or wading through the calcium rich waters (or drinking beer by the pool) while our gracious hosts sat back from a distance and just let ...

... that we chatted a bit with. When he sees us wander by he calls out hello and calls Michael the Turkish name for engineer (during our convo- he asked what Michael did.....). Anyway. I think I like the guy....although every time he sees us; he offers to introduce Michael to Turkish girls...........And everytime, I remind him that Michael is married to me and will not be meeting Turkish girls. the next time we walk ...

... is incredible and the smells coming from all the spices, the bright colors of all the wares on display, all go to make the experience of walking around a feast for the senses. There are even stalls selling any type of pet you can think of, and some you wouldn't think of. It took me 4hrs to find my way out and when I eventually did I was no where near the spot I entered. I had to get a guy in a tourist office to show me how to get back to Sultanahmet. With a clear mind I was able to ...

... one 18 and 1 kindergarten age. The young girl was precious. The 18 year old will find out her test results tomorrow on college entrance. She wants to study medicine. She wears a head covering and will not be able to attend a state university or be on staff at a public hospitals because of it. This family was so very gracious. We had a very stimulating conversation before ...

... 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 ...

... the bazaar shop keepers. Some more wandering in the approximate right direction for a while and we were back at the hotel, which was just as well as our legs were aching - we'd walked about 10 kms and the place is a lot hillier in real life than it looks on the maps!!! Definitely time for a beer (or 2 - Efes beer is pretty good!) before a shower and off to dinner at a nice little (tiny actually) local restaurant (not easy to find here in tourist central), for mezes and grilled fish.