Holiday Inn Airport North Istanbul

... overbearing and annoying. We were warned about this in Istanbul (it happens whenever you walk by a shop or restaurant in the Old Town too) so we learned to ignore them and continue walking or firmly say, “No thank you!” (Rick Steves gave us tips on how to deal with them.)We ended up buying quite a few souvenirs in the Grand Bazaar. Even though dealing with the endless amount of shopkeepers is annoying and frustrating- to the point where we’d avoid any shop when a ...

... the first Christian Church in Istanbul. It was called the Hagia Sophia and a beautiful edifice. The building we saw had been damaged by fire and earthquakes and had been completely restored. It now serves as a museum of art and artifacts of the Christian and Muslim world.
Our next stop was the Sultanahmet, which is more commonly called "The Blue Mosque." The Muslim Mosque is used for services and prayers on a daily basis, therefore, pictures are not ...

... and collect Christina from the airport the following day! I have a funny feeling he would have given me his left arm and newborn child, had I asked.   By the way, I realise my blog entry is dragging on a bit here, but there is so much happening here! Feel free to skim read.   OK so next day, I head out to the airport to collect Christina (for the rest of the blog to be known as X.) She flew in to a different airport to me (in fact, it's technically not ...

... you spend your money!" Jeff had said before we started this trip that he wanted a leather blazer. We finally worked up our courage to go into a shop for him to try one on. We managed to get out of that shop without too much problem, but the next shop... Well we had tea (and coffee), we talked politics, etc., etc. He finally gave the price as $680 (US). Jeff and I almost dropped our tea cups! We ...

... along the banks of the Neva River. It is a wealth of Western art, Russian history, western Asian artifacts, housed in ballrooms, throne rooms and galleries of grandiloquence - 25km of art, 3,000,000 pieces. Even that distance of walls can only carry half the museum's art at one time. How many rooms of Matisse, Gauguin and Cezanne can one actually appreciate? The collection of the masters is astonishing: Rembrandt's The Prodigal Son is amazing, Van Gogh, Rubens, Michaelangelo ...

... summoned her mother and sister and they prepared a 3 course meal plus dessert from scratch. We had lentil soup, followed by a stew like dish with very tasty large peas. The usual salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, olive oil, and herbs was followed by an entree that included rice, stuffed peppers, lamb and potatoes. There was also a sesame seed cracker to accompany the bread. For dessert we were served baklava. The husband was an attorney. The ...

... the old part of Istanbul we saw that we were very close to the Spice Bazaar (also called the Egyptian Bazaar) so we took a stroll through it. Definitely wanted to buy some stuff here...but it's close enough to the hotel that we can come back. At night we decided against our better judgment to stay in Sultanahment and not make the trip up to Taksim where the better nightlife was. It was a Monday ...

... there .Never lose your cool (but you can play act doing so) Never be the first to offer a price - you are dead in the water thereafter (literally so if you get it wrong in the Barras). As we walked out of the stall bearing our ******** plate a stall holder whispered at us "well you've got the plate now you need a carpet". We shot round the corner and nearly ****** ourselves giggling! We had lunch at the cheesily named Café Fez in the bazaar - it was good value. In ...

Istanbul is big. Much bigger than I expected, spread across 3 peninsulas, a mixture of old, new, European and Asian is a little over-facing to be honest. We are here during Ramadan, which means that the place has a party feel to it after dark. One of the frustrating things about this travelling lark is that you need to give yourself a break from time to time as things can get pretty tiring. We fully expect to be non-stop in China so Istanbul ...

... otsus. Kell 5 hommikul hakkas keegi kõvasti laulma ning me ei saanud esialgu aru, kust ja MIKS see tuleb. Kuid unesegaselt meenus, et oleme ju islamiusuliste juures! Hiljem avastasime mošeede küljes olevad valjuhääldid (ja neid oli palju), kust tulev laul kõlas päris kaugele. Kuna aega oli ainult päev, jõudsime ringi uurida vaid Sultanahmeti piirkonnas, mis on tegelikult vaid pisike osake suurlinnast. Külastasime mitmeid mošeesid ning jäime ...