Day 21 Trip Ends in Istanbul

Friday March 11th

The train arrived in Istanbul by 7:30. We disembarked and walked across the street to the ferry port. We caught a ferry that took us from the Asian side of Istanbul to the European. Interesting that back in 1979 when Deb and I came here, this was our small step into Asia. This time it's my small step into Europe. This is the only city on my whole trip that I've ever visited before.

The weather again was very cold, but it was great to see the skyline of Istanbul with all of it's mosques and minarets, as we sailed across. When we got there we carried our luggage for about a kilometre through the winding streets to our hotel, the Constantine.

We had breakfast there and then said our goodbyes to Jess. Jesica Lee was a great guide. She is a world traveller who did a 'runner' from her home town in southern New Zealand when she was a teenager. She has been an Intrepid guide in the Middle East for a number of years. She is a published author of three travel books for Footprints, one on Syria, Lebanon and now Jordan. I will always remember her for her lines: 'yala yala' (let's go), 'whoop whoop', 'o is for awesome', and 'coolie cool'. Without her help I probably would not have made it into Syria.

This is the end of the trip. A few of us are registered at this hotel, but we are now on our own. Stamati went off to see the Archeological Museum, as he is catching an overnight bus to Greece tonight. Jackie was going to meet a Tunisian man she'd met on the internet.

Me? I found out the address and hours of the Indian consulate here in Istanbul and took the tram and a cab there. Despite my trepidation about not having the information and documentation they asked for on their website (bank statements, itinerary, hotel bookings, etc.), I found all they wanted was my application, two photos, my passport to put the visa in and $50US. So I get it on Thursday. I knew I'd have to spend some time somewhere in order to get the visa, so I thought Istanbul would be a good place to hangout and wait.

After that I walked back to the tram and took that to the hotel, where I met up with Graham, Tess, Kiran, Krys and went on a walking tour of the city. We walked around the area, just to get our bearings and see where things were. We went to the Hippodrome, the Ayasofya and Blue Mosques, the Grand Bazaar, the spice market (where we sampled some amazing Turkish delight and apple tea) and we found a great little outdoor cafe where we sat and had a bowl of beans and a custard dessert. We wandered around all afternoon.

Istanbul has changed a lot in thirty years. It seems much cleaner, less grungy, less intimidating, and more modern and western. They are also trying to become part of the European Union. The Grand Bazaar seems more like a modern covered shopping mall, than the exotic, chaotic place I remember. I'll explore it more later.

Then we went back to the hotel and met up with the rest and we all headed out for dinner in a local restaurant that was recommended to us. It was interesting to met Jackie's date. Megan came with us too. Unfortunately, although we had a good time, we all agreed that it was the worst service and worst food we'd had on our 21 day trip. We told the manager that too.

Goodbye to Stamati and then back to the hotel to sleep.