Last time i wrote i was in Prague. Since then I've had 2 days in Istanbul, met up with my Adventure Bound tour group, and have been with them 3days now, and am in Selcuk.
Istanbul? My 2 days here were kinda wasted, and i felt a little bit down when leaving the place cause i should have/could have used the time sooo much better. I feel as tho i hardly know Istanbul at all.
Firstly, when i arrived it was past Midnight, and due to a cock-up by me travel agent (for once a cock-up on my travels wasn't due to me) there was no airport-hotel transfer arranged, nor had my hotel (where i was meeting with the tour group) had not been booked. So i had to spend an hour or so sorting this out with the hotel reception.
Next day, when i woke i was past Midday, and the cold i had brought from Dublin with me had gotten worse so I was feeling rather ordinary. I didn'y have a guide book with me, my usual source of info on what to do and therefore no idea where anything was, what was significant and special about the city, so left the hotel and just wandered. This was cool. i ended up walking away from the main tourist area, Sultanahmet, where the hotel was, down towards the harbour and into a local market area. A couple of hours later tho, i was just shattered tired from the cold i had, and just went back to the hotel and back to bed.
That evening i walked the opposite direction and stumbled upon the Grand Bazaar, an amazing covered market place full of shops and stalls selling all manner of goods, but I only had an hour before it was closing, and so really only saw a tiny section. The following day was Sunday and so closed. Bummer.
Back towards Sultanahmet I saw the Blue Mosque (16th Century) and Aya Sophya Musuem (6th Century), two phenonmenal buildings of immense size and grandeur, all lit up with floodlights. Ahhhh, so this is where it's all at!!!! I spent the next hour or so walking about them trying to get the best night photo i possibly could, with the plan to visit the both of them the next day.
By this stage i had not met anyone else from my tour group, and had no idea where to, let alone felt like, checking out Istanbul's famed nightlife, and so was back in bed by 11pm that Saturday night.
On the Sunday, I was up and out early enough, and was all set to see the sights. I had been not more than 90 seconds out the front of Aya Sophya, when i was accosted by the bane of all tourists, the carpet selling tout, making small talk conversation about the great friendship between Turks and Aussie's, and Turkish hospitality, slowly bringing the subject, ever so skillfully around to Turkish carpets, with the 'no obligation, just take a look?' line and lure of free Turkish tea 'to help you with your cold?' Thinking i would just go in there, drink some tea and chat, then leave, i went with the guy to his shop. 30 minutes later, having had at least 20 carpets rolled out in front of me with 'this one only 350 US dollars!', i finally managed to leave. The tea was delicious tho!
Back at Aya Sophya, once again it took all of 90 seconds for another guy to approach me. My will-power unusually low due to feeling rather sick, I was again led away. Another hard-core sales pitch and another 2 cups of tea, and i escaped the clutches of the carpet man. I couldn't be bothered dealing with this again, and so planned an hour's sabbatical at an Internet cafe to download pics from my camera to disc, before heading out again. Before i knew it, i had been there nearly 4 hours, the sun was setting and the musuem and mosque were closed. We were leaving Istanbul the next morning.
I need to come back here at some stage having had conversations with guys from my group i have finally learnt about all the great stuff in Istanbul that i missed. I mean I never even made it over the the river to the main city centre. I spent all my time in the tourist quarter, and most of that was wasted.
The tour group met up the next morning. 16 of us all up - all Aussie's with the exception of 1 Kiwi, 1 Brit 1, Canadian, and 1 Indian hopped on the bus and headed out to Cannakale our first night's stop - but the first stop was Gallipoli - a place very special to the hearts of Aussie's and Kiwi's.
peace love and happy faces
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