Leaving for Istanbul

Trip Start Aug 01, 2008
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Trip End Aug 01, 2009


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Friday, September 5, 2008

Breakfast was at my house with Terri, Anita, Barb and Les with lots of Ramadan goodies to try. Many of the treats I hadn't seen last year but I also wasn't as familiar with the bakeries and such.  Maybe that was a good thing!
We left for the airport around 11am for a 1:00ish flight to Istanbul.  It was an RJ flight that got us there and it was a clear day for us to be able to see what was under us.  We arrived, got our luggage, and then found our driver to the hotel.  It took about 20 minutes to get there and lots of little streets to find our hotel but the driver made it!  
Barb had made arrangements to stay at the Empress Zoe hotel that Matt Lauer had mentioned during his segment on Turkey.  The hotel is quite quaint!  You  have to go up a circular staircase(see pics) to get to the real stairs.  Needless to say, we didn't carry up our own luggage to the third floor room we had. :-)  We also made arrangements to hire a guide for the morning to tour us around the Sultanhamet area.
Once we got settled, we went for a walk up to the Blue Mosque and the park area between that and the Hagia Sofia.  Everyone was out waiting for iftar.  We had dinner at the Dervish Cafe and enjoyed the people, food, and a performance of a whirling dervish.  For dinner, I had the Dervish crepe and for dessert we split the Dervish crepe that had a little of everything in it!
What a day!
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