I am sitting in our hotel room in Istanbul, Turkey barely keeping my eyes open. After our long drive and fly trip to get here, we have had two incredibly busy, intense but positive experience days in the city.
Daughter #2 was to have joined up with us on Thursday night but because of a work crisis had to stay over at home that night and could meet us until Friday afternoon. This was unfortunate because we had arranged a food tour with our favorite service, Culinary Backstreets. We even had the same guide as last time (2015). We had every bit as good as an experience. The tour is a huge bang for your money. Not only do you get a ton of food but you get a full tour experience outside of food as well. This particular tour took us all through the bazaar district with the guide showing us old walk ways, views and explaining the history of the whole area.
Because #2 was now arriving in the afternoon of the tour day, we actually left the tour early at 4 PM so we could meet up with her. We went out and had a drink and a long, long talk.
The next day, today, Saturday, we had an impressive agenda. We went to see the Hagia Sophia, the famous former church from Byzantine days, went back to the bazaar area and walked it again on behalf of #2. Then we caught a boat tour that took us up and down the Bosporus, the strait the separates Europe from Asia and ended up at Taksim Square which is considered to be the center of the city. We used trams, metros, boats and funiculars. Our timing was impeccable and we did all this in 8 hours. Having alone time with #2 was very sweet too.
Our hotel internet is very, very slow and tomorrow we are off again for Kiev in the Ukraine. We will be staying with #2 and family and hopefully the internet will be much faster and we can get pictures uploaded.
1 comment:
enjoy a bit of rest in Kiev these coming days!
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