First Day in Istanbul

Finally…we actually got here!!! It was a bit of a nightmare but we made it!! The airport, and indeed the flight, were jam packed, seething you would say, with Italians all heading off for their August holiday. You could hardly move going through passport control etc.

Anyway, long and short of it is that we made it, we were picked up at the airport, although this was not without hassle when they weren’t there to meet us,,,but they turned up and brought us to our hotel. So, we are here and it is truly fabulous. The hotel is on the Asian side, in Karakoy. Its a fine hotel for a very fine price. And this area is just fabulous…not at all what you might expect in that is it very ‘hipster’(apologies for the 1970’s reference).

To stay in sequence: we unpacked, settled into our nice, large hotel room with a lovely shower!! Then we set out into the town. We are staying just near the wharf area where the ferries ply across the Bosphorus at the point it meets the Marmaras Sea. The view across the water is splendid, there is nothing like large and imposing mosques to look amazing as the sun sets. The waterfront was abuzz with people…mussel sellers (delicious), buskers, lovers sitting by the water, fishermen. Just amazing and beautiful. There was a band playing in the square and a lovely elderly man got up and started dancing to the gathered crowds. The atmosphere was fantastic.

From the waterfront we got on a tram that does a loop around this area, just to get a bit of a feel for it all. The steep streets across from the waterfront were packed with people in cafes and bars. When we got off the tram we walked through these streets that are so trendy. The East Brunswick of Istanbul I would say!! Full of young people enjoying their Friday evening….cafes (with all the right coffees for a Melbourne girl), overflowing bars, ice-cream shops with long queues and, yes, bottle shops too!!

We walked to a restaurant Chris’ meticulous research had identified as the place to be on Friday night in the very cool suburb of Moda. And of course on the waterfront (on the opposite side to where we were.) They found us a table in a very full restaurant and we looked over the sea, across to an exclusive yacht club full of large yachts. We ate mussels, fish, salads etc…that wonderful mediterranean food, with….yes!!!!…a bottle of white wine.

After dinner we walked home. We haven’t got the measure of this city yet so we walked a rather long, circuitous route home, but it was so bustling and alive and full of interest. Stopping for a gelato and of course I went into a bottle shop to ensure we had wine in our hotel room. That was rather tragic as I stumbled on the steps on the way out of the shop and clunked the bag against the step breaking one of the precious bottles of wine…bugger. White wine spewing everywhere…my poor little carry bag Rosa!! It didn’t know what had hit it.

Back home…finally! It was a BIG day yesterday from Rome to Istanbul and we were both tired and a bit tetchy by this time so tumbled into bed and slept like babies!!

I think that’s the long and short of yesterday. More soon

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *