Sorry i didn’t post last night but to be honest was feeling a bit down at the end of a long day yesterday. Went out to forage for food and when I got it I couldn’t eat a bite, felt sick for some reason and a bit blue. No reason for this, just tired and getting back to Istanbul kind of let me just collapse for a brief moment. i also felt overwhelmed by the thought of reorganising myself to move on, catching up on all the things i needed to do, including making decisions about where to go next, sorting out a ticket etc etc….no blowouts for the last 3 weeks so basically I decided to have one!!
But…having said that yesterday wasn’t a bad day at all and i was really excited to get back to Istanbul, god I love this city!! One of the things I’ve done since getting back is to get my brand new macair out and it so much easier to type etc. I’m very glad I’ve got it though I haven’t fully worked things out yet!
9 hrs on the bus yesterday but surrounded by people looking after me all the way. The surprise of that trip is that I had no idea that the bus took the ferry across the Bay of Marmaris. That was a surprise and a treat that i loved.
The bus company have a servis bus that is supposed to take you into town. However this ’servos’ bus man wasn’t so customer focussed and dropped me and another guy way away and said get on the ‘bus’! The other guy was a gorgeous young man from Lebanon…a banker!!!!….so together we muddled through. Fortunately I knew about the tram and had my ‘Istanbulkart’ so I was able to work us out, get us on the tram and walk to my hotel (after I ditched the poor lovely young man from Lebanon).
I arrived back at Levni which was so nice, they are such lovely people and greater me like a long lost friend. That was so nice and Istanbul feels so comfortable.
As I said I was in a bit of a state as I had no idea what I was going to do next. But as I’ve put in things in place I’ve settled. My big dilemmas was where to next…stop in Plovdiv or go through to Sofia…had to sort ticket and accommodation so decisions needed to be made. As I lay awake last night it occurred to me that my dilemma was about a place I could leave my case etc. Bulgaria doesn’t lend itself to this so once I’d worked that out the rest fell in to place. I’m off to the furthest point first i.e. Sofia and then I’ll take all my luggage when I head off to Plovdiv etc, making my way up to Bucharest without going back to Sofia.
So…have a bus ticket…10 hours but get it over in one day I say and have now sorted accommodation. 3 nights in Sofia which will somehow have to include Rila Monastry and Boyana Church….hopefully it will become clear how I’m going to manage that when I’m there. Any insights gratefully received!!!
Having sorted all that out i was free to enjoy some more of Istanbul. Intermittent rain today so didn’t get too adventurous. I really wanted to go to Kariye Church/ Museum. The only way to get there was by taxi so a hugely expensive day but it really was amazing. You know my favourite thing in all the worls is mosaics and this was mosaic heaven…mosaic and fresco heaven actually. only about 150 photos!!! My next trick now that I’ve got the computer going is to download my photos!!
Then I went and had fun exploring the Grand Bazaar, hadn’t really given it much attention so I enjoyed that. Back hotel early to get my IT sorted as best I can. Have tried to Skype but can’t get it right time wise so have to rely on Hammy for my touch base family member being in the same hemisphere!!
The Meuzzin is in full flight as I type…I just love it, so reliable!!
This missive more than makes up for none last night.