The BA flight from T5 LHR was only three quarters full and pleasingly uneventful. BA had got over its recent IT cock-up and was operating without a hitch. We arrived on time at Istanbul and got a taxi to the old quarter called Sultanahmet, the heart of ancient Constantinople.
The taxi driver was a master of multi-tasking with one hand. He kept his left hand planted on the roof of the car, and his right hand was used for steering, changing gear and operating his mobile phone for directions. He was a really cool guy, but I was a nervous passenger.
We are staying at the Sarnic, a cheap hotel in spitting distance of the Blue Mosque. It is clean and simple, but you won’t find it in any travel magazines.
Right now I’m sat on the roof terrace drinking an Efes beer. Looking one way I’m looking at the Sea of Marmara, the other way is the Blue Mosque. Between my terrace and the Blue Mosque is a partly demolished building, which takes the edge off the view, c’est la vie. The Sea of Marmara is connected to the Black Sea in the north by the Bosphorus and to the Mediterranian to the south by the Dardanelles. From the terrace, we could see at least fifty ships anchored and waiting to either enter the port or take the passage to the Black Sea.
We ate dinner at the New Season restaurant round the corner from the Sarnic. It was a mistake. I have had much better Turkish food at my local takeaway, and more of it! I was still hungry after and bought a corn on the cob from a stall.
After our disappointing first meal, we walked up the street and went past all the restaurants we should have gone to, Doh! But that’s what happens on your first night in a big city. This happens every time we visit a new city. For the first two days, you are disoriented and can’t find want you want and generally get annoyed. Then you figure out what the place is about, and start to relax and enjoy the place. After three or four days you really feel comfortable and can get around with ease and the local waiters wave at you like old friends.
We walked past the Blue Mosque at about 8.40 pm just as the muezzin announced that the Ramadan (Ramazan in Turkish) fast was over, very very loudly from a loudspeaker system. Everyone in the shops immediately ate their dinner, they had been fasting all day.
In the gardens between the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia, families ate picnics on the lawns by a fountain which was lit by lights of changing colour’s.
We found a busy street with the tram line in it and a friendly waiter persuaded us to go to his rooftop bar in Pierre Loti Hotel. It had an amazing view of the great mosques and the Galatea Bridge over the Golden Horn. It was so good up there that I almost forgot about the lousy meal we ate earlier!
timharnesstravels 