We've made it to Istanbul

We have arrived in Istanbul after 10.5 hour trip from Sydney to Seoul, Korea on ANZAC Day with an overnight stop there. Seoul is one hour behind us. I understand Seoul is a beautiful place but all we saw was Icheon Airport, the shuttle bus to the Hyatt Regency Hotel 3 minutes away, dinner and breakfast there, another shuttle bus back and the airport again. Never mind, there really wasn’t time to take a sightseeing trip. We travelled with two others on the trip from Sydney and have lovely photos of the four of us so far. Dinner and breakfast were included as part of the package but the AUD200 I cashed in Sydney to get 154,000 Korean Won went very quickly on 4 beers, one glass of wine and a bottle of wine, ouch. Then, another 12 hour flight leaving Seoul at 1430 hrs on Sunday. We got to Istanbul at 7.30pm local time which is 7 hours behind Eastern Australia. Rather tired, I don’t sleep on planes, but John napped away very happily.

A vehicle from the hotel John and I thought we were staying in, picked up the four of us and certainly not enough room for all the luggage. Nursed a lot of it and really saw nothing of Istanbul during the drive as the car was so fogged up and we couldn’t find anything to let the windows down. Got to the hotel to be greeted by quite a few of our trip group but were told that our reservation had not been altered from our original booking so had to go to another hotel. Thankfully the Orient Express was just down a cobbled laneway on the main tram line not far from the Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar and the Blue Mosque. So now I can also lay claim to having been in the Orient Express, OK not the train!! We are not far from the Bosphorus Bay and apparently it can be seen from the rooftop restaurant but the couple of times I have been up there to have a look, the door has been locked.

By the time we got settled in at that hotel we were hanging out for a drink. Back up to the Erboy and a couple of well earned Efes, the local beer. I haven’t had one of those since 1985 when I was in Cyprus and Turkey. By the time we got to bed it was after midnight, 7am your time. Slept very well though with not a sign of jet lag.

Apparently we will be leaving Istanbul on Wednesday morning for the camping ground which is around 50km from here. Then the job of getting the vehicles ready for travel will start and we leave on the 1st for Gallipoli.

We have encountered several Aussies around here, obviously on their way back from Gallipoli. One of our group got fleeced of 1000 euro - $2000 yesterday. He didn’t know it was missing until some time later. A very sick feeling in the tummy, but a reminder to everyone to be wary. John and I were stopped but some locals on our walk back to the hotel last night and while they were very smooth about, were obviously trying to work out whether he had a money pouch around his neck by making a joke of the ‘shelf of a tummy’ and rubbing it. He didn’t twig to what they were doing but I was most insistent we move on.

John has gone off this morning to deal with getting the vehicles out of the containers and I have been for a little wander.

I went out and saw Topkapi Palace, the Blue Mosque and even survived the Grand Bazaar. What a place that is. About the size of Canberra CBD and jammed packed with all manner of shops. I made the mistake of stopping to admire a gorgeous rug in one window and couldn’t get rid of the guy. However, you should all be proud of me, I only bought one thing, a gorgeous pashmina for the equivalent of A$20.

The guys are all off this morning trying to get the vehicles cleared through Customs and we hope to leave Istanbul in the morning, bound for our first camping ground. I haven’t had time to download pictures, but hope to do that tonight before we leave urban territory.

Cheers
Fiona and John