Istanbul

 

27 June

What a wonderful day in Istanbul, a place you couldn't possibly hope to take in in one day. A week in the centre of Istanbul wouldn't be enough – and then there's the outlying areas. It is set on a very busy harbour, ferries etc everywhere. We docked at 10.00am after a very scenic sail in. For next year's cruisers, we went in on the tram. You could actually walk if you're of average fitness. Turn left when you are out of the cruise terminal until you get to the Galata Bridge – about 5 minutes walk. Buy a tram token from the Jeton (Ticket seller) TLira 1.50 about AUD1.20. You will need some turkish money for this. I think there's an ATM in the terminal. The ship's shuttle to go to the same place was 10 Euro or about AUD15. The tram will take you all the way to the Grand Bazaar (which was closed for Sunday) so it was the not so Grand Bazaar. You can then walk back down at a leisurly pace as all the major attractions are here. We went to the Blue Mosque, only looked at St Sophia from the outside and saw a number of minor historical attractions. Had a leisurely lunch in a Turkish restaurant which was a lot of fun as well as excellent food. The extras kept on coming – olives, butter and pitta bread (freshly made) as a welcome, lots of Turkish bread with lunch, then apple tea. I HATE tea of any kind but decided I would have to drink this to be polite. It was delicious. Then both Sally and I were given a small Turkish eye brooch. We caught the tram back to the stop near the railway station and went in to look at the Orient Express waiting room and the Orient Express restaurant, as well as whatever trains were around for the railwaymen present. Very elegant, the restaurant, not the trains. Sunday in Istanbul is family day out and hordes of people walked down to the harbour where they were milling around, eating roasted corn or chesnuts, mussells still in the shell. The in thing is to fish from the bridge or go on a harbour cruise. There were hundreds of people fishing from the top of the bridge while, under the bridge, people were sitting in the reasonably elegant restaurants. We had a drink in one of the restaurants while fishing lines came whizzing from above, or buckets were lowered down to collect water. Both John and I agreed that we'd never even considered a holiday in Turkey as a possibility but now it is on top of my priority list. Would love to take the time to enjoy the atmosphere and the very friendly people.  This business of being in port every day is getting exhausting. Need a couple of lovely days at sea. ANZAC cove tomorrow then Santorini, then I think we get a day at sea.

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