Into the harem

So, after a good day we decided to go on a tour of the Bosphorus. We thought it might help us to see more and to feel more orientated to the city. It is the most amazing waterway, with ferries, small boats, fishing boats, Black Sea ferries and huge tankers trafficking through it.

The Istanbul shoreline seems to be lined with palaces, some old and some older! Many are now hotels or government departments, but they still retain a feeling of grandeur. We spent the entire trip spotting palaces, Turkish flags and mosques. There is no shortage of any of the above. After the trip we decided to go for lunch and at last! We were able to indulge our passion for ... lamb!!! Living in Poland has meant a lack of lamb and we had determined to feast ourselves silly on this delicacy!

And after that, what better way to spend dome of the day than in Topkapi Palace. If you are into Islamic Art and Design - this is a must! The mosaics are truly stunning - too stunning to show well in photographs. Some of the best were in the Harem (entrance below). Each Sultan had designed his own private quarters within the harem and so there are a series of rooms, each more beautiful than the last.

Since the Queen Mother was an incredibly powerful woman (!), her quarters were also stunning. The Harem was guarded by Eunuchs (ouch!) who were able to see everyone coming and going through clever use of mirrors in the reception hallway! There was no way a person could sneak out for a quick kebab and chips, or a person sneak in after a night on the tiles!

I was rather taken with the Sultan's bath - a most impressive piece of marble - one which I quite fancied in my little apartment!! Of course it wouldn't fit into my suitcase. so that was that!

And what does one do after such an exciting day? Isn't it obvious? We repaired to a rather nice hostelry for a Efes beer or two. Turkish beer is quite acceptable in Turkey. Its only bad side is that it seems to be made the American way - with rice, so can leave you with a teensy strange head. If you like American beers you'll like this. We liked it simply because it was local and cheap and fun to try something new.

Next day was a trip to the cistern - underground water system from Byzantine times. Cool and carefully lit, it provides a glimpse of the ancient city's water supply. There is a route which you walk round, gazing into the water where carp swim and the path culminates in two column, each with a Medusa's head at the base. However, one is on its side, and the other is upside down - and no one knows why. No doubt the reason has disappeared into the annals of Istanbul's history. The atmosphere is somehow peaceful and for once this is an escape from the noise and bustle of the old city. A welcome relief indeed.

Another day - another place to see. This time we went to the Asian side of the Bosphorus and enjoyed the more modern sights there. In fact we walked a fair way from Taksim Square (with the usual statue of Ataturk) all the way back down to the Galata Bridge, across it and then back towards the hotel. We did succumb to ice cream - Turkish ice cream is really........ lovely. My favourite is cherry! Soooooooo nice...... Ooooh take me back!

This rather brought our time in Istanbul to a close but we have decided that it is a city well worth visiting. What will we remember? Well, the friendliness and helpfulness of the people; the wonderful Turkish tea and apple tea - given free in every restaurant we went into; the ancient sights; the vibrant colours of Islamic art; the aroma in the Spice Market - preferring it to the Grand Bazaar! And yes! even the hotel because they were so helpful to is and obliging - even if the Internet crashed completely on our second last day and we had to resort to Internet cafes!

So - the next stage of our journey was about to begin - with a hired car and the road to Gelibolu!

Poison for your mother-in law?

So here’s the next instalment of ‘What I did on my holidays’! I guess I have to say that when you are in a city as big as Istanbul, the last thing you can do efficiently is see it. We decided to do a city tour – only a half day, but at least it would give us an idea of what we then wanted to go and see in slow time.

The company is situated right next to Hagia Sophia and they use double Decker buses. Being pushy ‘Poles’ we managed to snaffle the seats right at the front on the top deck. We were given head sets and all we had to do was adjust the speaker to English so that we had a guided tour in our own language. I have to say it was worth it. The bus stopped several times and places of interest were pointed out, with detail such as which day places were shut. Now that was worth knowing and we were able to plan around all that.

We were driven round the Golden Horn, across to Asia (!), up to Taksim Square, round the old city walls and finally back to Hagia Sophia. In all this took about 3 hours, and we were definitely ready for some lunch!!

After braving the inevitable carpet salesmen, we managed to get really good omelets. They were not boring at all – in fact they were extremely tasty. Food is very cheap if you eat locally and try to avoid the touristy places. There’s soooooo much lamb – and after months of living in a lamb-free zone, we were ready for it! YUM!

We decided to go into Hagia Sophia. It’s a real eye opener. It is a combination of Christian, Byzantine and Islamic decoration and is quite incredible. There is a lot of renovation going on but we were able to walk everywhere (it isn’t in formal use any more). When you go to the

Upper level you can look down – and there is even some Byzantine graffiti – the equivalent of Papadopoulos woz ‘ere! The architecture is impressive but what amazed us was that once you were on the upper level the floors there were marble – the effort that must have gone into the construction is mind-boggling.

After that it was back out not the fray….. beating off more carpet sellers…. Well…. Almost!!! Yes, we did succumb. We wanted to buy a small rug or a kilim for our Krakow apartment and he was such a nice man and we were given endless cups of apple tea and then …….. yes we saw the most beautiful carpets and rugs and kilims. Well, after all that we bought a rug and two kilims! BUT! We are only keeping the rug. One kilim has gone to son in Australia and one will go to son in South Korea! Anyway, not content with selling us those things the guys in this shop asked us to look at some silk rugs -and some of those were about one foot square – and, wait for it… are you sitting down? They were worth US$3,000!!!!!!! We nearly choked on our tea. To make us feel truly welcome we were then brought real Turkish tea and baklava and ice-cream! I tell you, carpet buying in Istanbul is a serious affair.

We escaped from the clutches and decided to go for a struggle through the Spice market. It’s the rival to the Grand Bazaar and in my opinion it’s much nicer. The smells and colours are just to inhaled and enjoyed. The crowds wander their way through and we were offered all sorts of things. Carpets – great to be able to say “Got some!”, spices, tea, leather, t-shirts, hats, and lots of Gold. But the highlight came when one lad, not to be put off by our smiling “No thanks”, leant towards David and said in a not-so sotto voce “Poison for you mother-in-law?” Now that had us in stitches. Good on him – that showed quick wit and class! Poor fella – no luck there either as we told him “Nah – she’s already dead!” He took it gracefully – i.e. he laughed with us!

Well, that’s it for today. Next session soon - promise!!!!!

Up, up and away!

11th July - great day for a holiday, folks. A quick trip up to Warsaw courtesy of LOT and then off on Turkish airlines for the 1 hour 35 minute flight to Istanbul! Turkish Airlines were just great - new aircraft, still pretty squeaky clean, and the staff were courteous and helpful. Plus, as this was our first non-budget flight for oooh..... ages.... we enjoyed the lunch ..and the wine!

Arrival in Istanbul was 'interesting'. The first hurdle was the queue for visas. You don't generally need to pre-purchase - just get it on arrival. On European passports we paid 10GBP. (We could have paid 10Euros!!)

It's pretty obvious that Turkey really wants to be in the EC - everything is priced in Euros and Turkish Lira. We worked with Lira as it was fun t deal with yet another currency. We succumbed to a tout for a 'minibus' to our hotel. Reason? Ataturk Airport is well west of the city and we were staying in the centre of the old city! Much too far to be bothered trying to find our own way. After all, it's a city of about 16,000,000!

It took the driver nearly an hour to find the hotel!!!!!!!!!! Boutique Hotel Dedem. Erm, where should I start? OK - with the positives. Number one and NOT to be sniffed at - it really is only a matter of meters from the main attractions. Excellent. We could walk everywhere till we dropped. Second, the staff were very friendly and obliging. They booked a Bosphorus tour for us, they changed our room instantly (more in a mo), they advised on where to hire a car - oh yes we did!

BUT... the room. Number one room. Well, it wasn't so much what didn't work, more what did! NOTHING! I honestly mean NOTHING! No bedside lamps, the shower leaked all over the floor and the door wanted to fall off every time we slid it shut, the toilet ceased to flush, the aircon wasn't really quite as we'd hoped (!) There was no sheet till day 2 - by which time we'd arranged to move rooms. We couldn't get any English TV channels. Now before you get all uppity - it really is nice to come back after a hard day's touristing and just relax a bit - at the very least we thought we'd get BBC World to find out what was happening!

Number 2 room - the shower still leaked but we'd given up on that one and at least it was efficient. We could get BBC Prime, and the bed had a sheet or two. Turks, by the way, don't supply sheets that cover two people. We had one bedside light that worked - hurrah! Once we got a bulb, the second one worked too. Oh joy!

And now you're asking in frustration - why on earth did we not move hotels? Ea - sy. It was cheap and literally we were only 5 minutes from the Blue Mosque, the Cistern, the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and oooh... 10-15 from the Bosphorus and Sea of Marmara! Now would you have wasted your holiday looking for another room? No - I didn't think so. PLUS... I have to say that the breakfast room had a glorious view across the bay. Well, worth it.

Our first evening ended with a meal of real Turkish lentil soup and kebap. Turkish food is wonderful and we ate really well. We were also deeply impressed by the friendliness of the Turks we met on that first evening. They took our refusal to buy carpets very well! More of that later!

Anyway, so ended our arrival in Istanbul and the following days were shaping up to be just terrific. Next installment soon. If any of you are reading this, please do feel free to comment and ask questions!