turkey; istanbul I

Seeing as this was the trip that has inspired me to start a blog, I will start by sharing my notes about my trip to Turkey.  Please note that the dates I was actually there was in the fall.  I hope you enjoy & if you are planning a trip to Turkey yourself I hope that it helps you to choose what you'd like to see.  

{ Thursday October 24th }

On our airplane seat.

Well we are getting things started in style on this journey.. We were greeted aboard our Turkish Air flight by a hostess and our on board chef. Waiting at our seats, we found a pillow, blanket, slippers, earphones, and a small case containing an eye mask, toothpaste, toothbrush, lip balm and socks.  We settled in and departed on schedule at 10:50pm.  

It is now half past midnight and we've just been served dinner. This time change is quite odd already. I had salmon, zucchini and cheesy rice as my main dish, accompanied by hummus with chicken, salad, a dinner roll, cheese, and orange cranberry cake. Now I am stuffed and tired.. It was delicious though! 

I managed to sleep for a few hours, it is now shortly after 5am and we are roughly over Paris! It's nice and sunny outside, although cloudy so I can't see to much out the window.  I am having trouble sleeping so I will pass some time by watching 'the internship'!  

Breakfast was served promptly at 6:15 this morning, including an omelet with salsa and spinach, hash browns, fruit salad, Swiss and feta cheese with tomato and cucumber, and a dinner roll. Also delicious!.. Then concluded the flight by watching '42'. 

Descent into Istanbul.

Anddd all of a sudden it's afternoon. We've arrived in Istanbul and it's 3:15pm.  It's sunny, 19 C and very nice.  Once we disembarked, we made our way to purchase a visa, then went through customs. After collecting our bags, we exited to a long busy row of men holding signs with names everywhere. When we finally found our names we were led to a taxi and went for a drive, in complete trust as none of us knew our destination.  One other man in our tour was with us; he has spent the past week in Greece.  We went through part of the old city and squeezed and wound our way through the streets for about 45 minutes until we came to a stop in front of an old glamorous hotel. Our accommodations this evening will be at the Palazzo Donizetti Hotel. After checking in, we were escorted to our room. After discovering that the door key is used to activate the lights, we had a look around and are quite impressed with the room. It is quite spacious, high crown moulding ceilings, large glass shower with a shower head from the ceiling, and wifi!! 

Palazzo Donizetti Hotel

Mom & I decided to freshen up and then go explore.. We will probably be having our dinner at some point shortly as well as it is almost 6, however we have not yet met our tour guide. 

We went for a walk around the block and discovered one of the main streets in this part of Istanbul. All of the streets seem to be very narrow and winding, so going around the block is harder than one might think. After a bit of a walk, we headed back to the hotel. Once there, we finally met our tour guide Dr. T.. He is quite a fellow with his frazzled hair and round spectacles, plaid shirt with suspenders, and faded red fanny pack, but he seems quite nice.  Shortly afterwards, two couples joining us arrived and we had a welcome cocktail together. It was then decided that dinner would be at 8pm, and so went for another short walk. 

At 8pm we met for dinner at the North Pub, which is attached to the hotel. It's a English pub style place and I ordered the Turkish combo. It ended up being fries, hot dog and undercooked meatballs so it left quite a lot to be desired. Hopefully some other Turkish food will be more exciting. 

Around 9:30pm I was exhausted and decided I was ready for bed. The Turkish bath and pool will need to wait until tomorrow as today has been quite long. 

J.
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