Welcome Cara Hotel Istanbul

... speaks fluent English. She was writing the lease and making an English translation, but all this was delayed because she had to take part in the IMF meetings in Istanbul at the beginning of the month. We met with her to discuss the lease and she walked us through it; we were satisfied with all the conditions and it was agreed that we could move in on Friday, October 9th -- though we wouldn't have to sign the lease until Monday.

We moved in ...

... will place small designs or signatures within the art that distinguish them from anything else. 

Retiring to the showroom upstairs, we were treated to Turkish Apple tea (heated juice I later found out) and shown every carpet that we desired. Soon realizing that this had turned into a sales pitch, we thanked our gracious host John and headed back to the Archaeological museum for a tour of the antiquities that had been found throughout the greater Ottoman ...

... number one from my time in Turkey....   I arrived in Istanbul at 8am on Sa***************ed straight in to the "new city" (still hundreds of year old of course) where I'm staying. I woke the fat and grumpy owner of the hostel, who gave me the silent treatment to suggest that perhaps I should go throw myself into the Golden Horn. Nevertheless I handed over a wad of lira and he brightened up quite a bit. His name is Ahmet and all in all, he's a nice guy ...

... you know that the Hagia Sophia was originally as a church, then the Ottomans Turks made it a Mosque! Then Kamil Attaturk (father of the modern Turkish state - kinda like our George Washington) turned it in to a museum. All in all it was a good last day. P.S.S.S Scooter and Smarty had lots of fun today posing for pictures - enjoy their adventures! Morganne

... is closed on Mondays. Since Monday is my only free day here I was bummed that I wasn't going to see it. Turns out it is open until 7 PM, and it was 6. We paid our 20 yrl and ran inside. 15 minutes later we walked out. Hagia Sophia was once a working mosque but is now a museum. It's a pretty impressive structure, but of course there is scaffolding inside. Back outside it was almost 6:30, and the sun was starting to set. We didn't have time to walk over to the Blue ...

... to Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, on the spot where the military had conducted their own "Tinnamen Square" event a few decades ago. Back on the bus and on to the Asian Side of Istanbul. We walked along the Bosphorus seeing families spending their Sunday afternoon by the sea in local parks- picnics, fishing, swimming. Then we went to the top of tower hill for dinner. It is a huge hill with a very large park at the top. There were ...

... it was actually supposed to be Shepherd's Pie, NOT Fry!! but I told him not to correct it as the mistake would draw tourists in! So we decided to have dinner there one night and I opted for Shepherd's Fry. I was expecting something like you'd get down the Nags Head in Blighty. No. What I got was a bunson burner with a live flame and a big wok on top of it with lamb and vegetables and oil and spices and herbs frying away. I just had to eat it from this. It was DELICIOUS. David had ...

... cafe complete with the traditional Turkish beanbag chair....We decided on orange flavor and started puffing away. Smoking a nargile is one of the things I have wanted to do since arriving in Istanbul 3 weeks ago-- not that I am so into smoking but it's sort of exotic and goofy looking at the same time. Smoking orange flavored tobacco out of a waterpipe sort of was like smoking a toy pipe or a pipe made out of a toilet paper ...

... next year and was very excited about it. Ian jumps in and says:"you should come over to our house and we will cook up a BBQ for you!!" Urgh...yes, yes, that's a great idea says Danie. After taking a great picture, we start heading out of the crowd and the mayor grabs Danie's shoulder and says here is my business card. ?? urgh... ok. Thanks I guess. I wasn't sure what to say to him, so I said ok, we will email you about dinner. ;-) (Ian) OK, time ...

Hotelli suhtes meil en*m suuri nõudmisi polnud j* t*htsime *inult koht*, kus s**ks pe* p*dj*le p*nn* j* duši *ll käi*. Reserveerisime www.venere.com k*udu leitud kõige soods*m* hotelli j* tegelikult oli päris huvit*v ood*t*, milline 20€ "hotell" välj* näeb.

Kui eelmisest korr*st jäi meile meeldiv mulje nii linn*st kui inimestest, siis seekord pidime sõn*d t*g*si võtm*. Alust*des t*ksojuhist, kes esiteks kihut*s n*gu sõge j* teiseks kinnit*s ...