Articles from this Category
23 July 2017
Captain had warned us that he would be starting up at 0500 for a long day on the move. In fact we would actually cover very little distance on the first and third days and most of it would be done today. I woke briefly when the engines came to life but fell back asleep […]
22 July 2017
My pickup for the Blue Cruise by Alaturka was around 1000. The term Blue Cruise refers to a recreational voyage on the Turkish Riviera, in the south-west of the country on the Aegean/Mediterranean sea. I had had my breakfast on the roof terrace of the pension at 0800 and was ready before 0930. The ride […]
21 July 2017
Getting to Fethiye With a 1040 departure out of Sabiha Gokcen, I woke around 0600 for a light breakfast at 0700. My pickup timed for 0730 arrived shortly after. The one hour drive came to a standstill in parts but the journey took only 1h+. I still had just under 2h before departure when I […]
20 July 2017
I woke at 0300 but managed to sleep again till 0700 before having breakfast at the hotel. It was to be a lazy day as I had done much of Istanbul in recent years and I have the feeling that I will be back soon. Today was more a spare day in case things didn’t […]
19 July 2017
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 […]
11 August 2014
With such a full day yesterday, I seem to have come down a little under the weather with a sore throat. I slept in but after breakfast regained my motivation. I headed out with several ideas in my head but my feet took me to Kabatas where I boarded the 1130 ferry to Prince’s Island. […]
10 August 2014
Chora Church and Cruises I got my motivation back today and felt the urge to go do things that I hadn’t done in Istanbul. It was tempting to just repeat the old best-loved sights of Istanbul. I wanted to combined the Chora Church with one-way journey between there and the Bosphorus. Due to fog, I […]
9 August 2014
I went up to the top floor for breakfast and saw that the sky was black. Soon enough it started raining. As this was my fourth time in Istanbul, there was no pressure to go do anything so I didn’t really go out till the sun was out in the early afternoon. It is quite […]
1 September 2013
Today I wanted to explore the more European urban area of Istanbul. The main area of Taksim was somewhere I hadn’t seen much of previously. I took the tram to Kabatas and transferred to the underground funicular to Taksim Square. From there it was a pleasant walk downhill on Istiklal pedestrian mall down to sea […]
31 August 2013
Today I wanted to repeat some of the sights of Istanbul that I had done on my previous visits. First was the Blue Mosque, known by that knickname becase of the blue tiles in the interior. It involved some queueing and was free. While it is beautiful, my heart goes to the Ayasofya which I […]