Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul was an unexpected adventure.  Roger told me he had meetings there and I quickly informed him that I was going as well.  Happily, he knew better than to argue the point with me.  We added a day on the front and two at the back of his two days of meetings and I dove right into learning about the city and arranging our daily "on our own" tours.

 Istanbul is a beautiful old city full of charm and friendly people.  Taxis are readily available and reasonable so while we walked a lot we also didn't hesitate to use them, especially for getting back to our hotel after a long day of sightseeing.  Ihsan, my favorite taxi driver, who I had flagged from the Dolmabahce Palace, even gifted me with a DVD of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" TV show in which Ihsan had been one of the "costars".

 From our hotel room, we had an amazing view of the Asian side of the city across the Bosphorus River and as we walked back across the Galata Bridge, which spanned the Golden Horn, we took photos towards the European side and the Galata Tower as well as back to the majestic mosques of the Old City.

 The best part of the holiday was, of course, scenes of everyday life.  While both the old and new parts of Istanbul (separated by the Golden Horn) have heavy traffic and many wide streets to accommodate it, the majority of streets are narrow and winding with few sidewalks forcing pedestrians and vehicles to share the cobbled streets.  People going about their varied routines are always the best way to remember a city and Istanbul proved not different.

Above, the gentleman is selling food for the pigeons as he is sitting in a booth with a bit of protection from his source of income. Below, a typical vendor selling fish in a
neighborhood.

 Waiting for prayers.

 Fishing from the Galata Bridge.

 A women using a basket to buy from vendors below.

 We made our way around rather successfully, thanks in big part to Rogers navigational skills.

Next blog entry will include the major sites one actually goes to Istanbul to see.  And a comment about the weather - April is the very best!!!! Temps were in the high 60's for most of the days - perfect for walking and enjoying the city.