We landed around 0445, half hour earlier than scheduled. It was a long half-hour taxi to our remote gate. Immigration didn’t take too long and I was out within 30 minutes around 0545. My prebooked shuttle had their runner waiting outside arrivals. I waited about 30 minutes for other guests before we set off around 0615. At this time, the drive was quick and I was in my hotel at 0645.
It was too early to check in so I sat at reception and relaxed until around 0830 when I set off for a walk. I didn’t really have a plan for the walk but had a rough idea of what I wanted to re-visit on my fifth time in Istanbul.
The road took me to the Egyptian Market. I then walked uphill to Sultanahmet’s Blue Mosque and the Ayasofya. I didn’t go in as I had been in recent years. Then came a quick wander around the Grand Bazaar.
I have pictures from 25 years ago of the the Golden Horn and Taksim on the otherside, with a foreground of domes. I had been looking for the site during the last couple of visits to digitally recapture the same shot. I thought it would be near the Sulemaniye mosque but somehow I didn’t quite find it until today. That felt like quite an achievement. I also took a look inside the mosque before heading back, stopping along the way for a borek and limonata.
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- Egyptian Bazaar on my morning walk before check in to hotel.
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- Egyptian Bazaar on my morning walk before check in to hotel.
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- Egyptian Bazaar on my morning walk before check in to hotel.
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- Egyptian Bazaar on my morning walk before check in to hotel.
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- Tea caddy; he swings it as he walks.
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- Cake shop on my morning walk before check in to hotel.
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- Blue Mosque on my morning walk before check in to hotel.
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- Ayasofya on my morning walk before check in to hotel.
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- Grand Bazaar on my morning walk before check in to hotel.
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- Lamp shop in the Grand Bazaar.
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- Sulemaniye Mosque on my morning walk before check in to hotel.
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- Sulemaniye Mosque on my morning walk before check in to hotel.
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- Sulemaniye Mosque on my morning walk before check in to hotel.
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- On previous visits, I’ve unsuccessfully looked for this site where we had taken photos from 25 years ago.
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- On previous visits, I’ve unsuccessfully looked for this site where we had taken photos from 25 years ago.
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- On previous visits, I’ve unsuccessfully looked for this site where we had taken photos from 25 years ago.
I was back at the hotel around 1130 with a room available for me. The room was OK, but the aircon turned out to be very ineffective and the plastic shower cubicle’s drainpipe leaked all around the bathroom floor. But the bed was comfortable and the room was cheap at EUR21. That price previously got me a simpler room with a shared bathroom.
I rested till the late afternoon before heading out again. I ended on the other side of the Golden Horn and walked back on the pedestrian bridge that housed the metro line.
I retired at 2100. I think I did awesomely well waking up at 0100 Istanbul time on the flight, landed at 0445, walked 3 hours in the morning, explored some more and stayed up till 2100. Jet lag? What’s that? But I do find it a breeze flying westbound … completely different story flying eastbound!
Lying in bed I thought about a couple of observations about Turkey this trip. Wikipedia has been banned. So has Booking.com (due to its Dutch ownership has fallen out of favour with Erdogan). This country, once a shining beacon of freedom in the region, is going downhill.