Perhaps the blog entry yesterday didn’t do justice to the title, and I can’t go by without reflecting on the place of Istanbul at a great crossroads. Not just as the place where Europe meets Asia, but also where two tectonic plates meet- Istanbul is a disaster waiting to happen.
The Bosphorus (which incidentally means the same as Oxford) divides the two continents and together with the Golden Horn is one of the world’s great waterfronts. Two suspension bridges now link East and West, both saturated with traffic between the rapidly expanding suburbs of the city, as I discovered on my transfer back to the airport at Sabiha Gökçen at the end of the day. A cruise up the Bosphorus gives excellent views of the settlements on either side, with centuries of history, and the fine houses on the Asian side in particular.
I simply had to return to Galata Bridge for lunch, in one of the fish restaurants under the bridge- a shrimp casserole followed by grilled Sea Bream- splendid!
In the afternoon I decided to cross the Bosphorus again; after all, how many transcontinental ferries cost 50p each way?! Just across from the Golden Horn on the Asian side is Üsküdar, formerly Scutari, known as the place where Florence Nightingale became famous as the ‘Lady with the lamp’ during the Crimean War. The barracks at Selimeye do have a museum but only open at the weekend unfortunately. However good views of the city are to be had from here, especially Leander Tower.

One more Mackerel sandwich, then back to the hotel to collect my bags and set off for the airport. Heavy traffic for Friday evening, so the journey took nearly two hours! Check in was quick, though the airport bar was understaffed and couldn’t provide any food in time. I managed to secure the overwing legroom seat again, much to my satisfaction, and despite a slightly late pushback, the flight was uneventful, passing quickly with the assistance of ipod video, and we were on stand at Luton at 10.35pm. Getting through passport control (No IRIS at Luton unfortunately) and baggage and back to the car took 35 minutes (rather better than having a Terminal 5 experience, I think!) and I was back home at 10 minutes past midnight!


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Slept like the proverbial log!

After a late breakfast, a return visit to explore the area across the Galatay bridge and up the Tünel funicular railway. First I called into Sirkeci railway Station, original terminus of the Orient Express. It’s still got something of the romantic age left and even has a small museum with objects of most interest to Turkish train-spotters.

I intended to find the Pera Palas Hotel, which was famously used by passengers arriving on that train- you could just imagine Hercule Poirot there. However it has been closed for restoration since 2006 and looked rather sad and dowdy, with not much sign of restoration underway, at least externally. Pera Street with its nostalgic ‘tram’ is rather like a grand European thoroughfare with big shops and imposing façades, but why did I have to decide to turn around just before the Galatasseray Fish market- I may even have been right by it but surprisingly didn’t smell it. Never mind!
Quickly back to the hotel to drop off the Turkish Delight that will be returning to the UK with me, and a bite of lunch, before pick up for the East meets West afternoon tour, which was perhaps not quite as advertised.
The Beylerbeyi Palace is closed on Thursdays so the Chora church is substituted, which as an example of Byzantine art and mosaics, was perhaps more interesting for me than 19th Century Ottoman! Plenty of mosaics in St Saviour, which were of the Orthodox tradition, and many had survived the church being converted into a Mosque.
It’s quite a drive in heavy traffic across town then across the Bosphorus Bridge to a viewpoint- which had a good view of the bridge and the modern skyscrapers of the modern business area of the city but few of the old city and the harbour area, so these views had to be whilst crossing the bridge itsself. Back into the city in typical big city traffic, snail’s pace and lots of tooting horns; I rather liked the countdown on the traffic lights which gave the number of seconds before they will change- seemed rather a good idea to me.

I asked to be dropped off at Galatay bridge rather than stay any longer on the coach back to the hotel, so that I could experience the food by the bridge, grilled fish served on the waterfront from boats moored alongside- genuine offshore traders! Apparently, though I didn’t know it at the time, this is one of the 1000 things to do before you die! The fish, sea bass I gather, but it looked more like mackerel, is served in a baguette with onion- add your own salt and lemon; I have to say it is delicious, and the smells around the fish stall just add to the experience. Balik ekmek!



Next stop was the Spice Bazaar, a hustle and bustle of a covered market selling spices, Turkish Delight, Baklava etc, and from there I walked back through the alleyway of streets to the Grand Bazaar and to my nearby hotel.

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Awake at 7.30, and eventually into breakfast. Good views of the Marmoris and harbour from the 6th floor breakfast room which was very busy- so busy that when I got up to get some more, when I came back, someone else had nicked my table! Tomorrow, I will take a large coat with me, rather than just a book to keep my place!
Rather cloudy and overcast, so a walk past the University and up to the Mosque of Suleiman the Magnificent, described by Michael Palin in ‘Pole to Pole’ as the finest edifice in Istanbul. Unfortunately it’s undergoing restoration so much of the interior is closed and only a small side aisle is open (and the rest of the interior screened off with a rather fine temporary wall).

The tomb of Suleiman was open, amongst the graves of once important courtiers- their tombstones denote their height and rank.
Now Suleiman was Magnificent- but, as Palin points out, surely not this big!
A walk back towards the hotel took me to the Grand Bazaar, the traditional market alleyways of Istanbul with its carpet sellers, jewellery, leather goods, trinkets, Turkish Delights etc. A little confusing at first glance, but the DK guide has a good map to lead one through the different sections and avoid getting (too) lost. It was starting to rain and blow quite a strong wind when I left the Bazaar, so I headed back to the hotel to write up the adventures so far, prepare for lunch and the next stage of the day, a cruise on the Bosphorus.

Trouble was, it got rather wet over lunchtime, and by the time pickup at 1.40pm came it was very wet and very windy. The guide didn’t tell me that the trip was cancelled until the minibus had left, and having established that I couldn’t go on the replacement tour as I was down for that on Thursday, I rebooked for Friday morning when the weather forecast is rather better, and was then (eventually) returned to the hotel. Some replanning was needed whilst the weather abated, and by 4.30pm the storm clouds had passed, the sun was out, and I decided to head for the Galatay tower across the Golden Horn. This necessitated a tram journey- 2 minutes to the tram, buy a token hop on, pretend to be a sardine for a couple of stops, breath out for a few more stops, cross the Galatay bridge, disembark, find the Tünel, an underground funiculaire to a district slightly reminiscent of Montmartre, but with lots of music equipment shops- if I ever need to get a bigger mixing desk, I know where to go! A bit of wandering round, admiring the historic tram still running, asking the way and I found the Galatay tower. The only views to be had from the top were on an external viewing gallery, by now rather windy in this fickle weather, with a footway that sloped out and down, and a somewhat flimsy barrier. I didn’t manage too many photos before my middle ear told me enough is enough and I retired inside.
I walked downhill to the waterside, past lots more mixing desks, keyboards, speakers, guitar amps etc, found a chemist to buy a toothbrush (which I had forgotten to pack), and then across the Galatay bridge on foot, using the lower deck which is full of fish restaurants, and the lines of fishermen on the upper deck reeling in their catches! Dusk was in full flow by now, as was the evening rush hour, so back to the tram for another game of sardines- I’m glad I was by the correct side door to get off at my stop as I would have been totally stuck otherwise.

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At long last, after a false start in February, I’ve made it to Istanbul, but not without thinking again that this trip must be doomed. This time, it was thanks to my car battery deciding to go flat on the morning of Easter Day, putting paid to various plans! Despite it being on charge for the rest of the day and overnight, it refused to play ball on Monday morning, so a call out was made- the battery started from the recovery vehicle, appeared to charge fine, so I was able to set off on time for Luton airport, as the snow fell! The journey, for which I decided to avoid the M1, was surprisingly smooth and having parked in the mid-term car park, disconnected the battery- just in case! (On my first flight from Luton, in Jan 1998 to Rome, I returned to find my car battery flat- easily fixed, but such incidents stick in the mind- I also bought a Psion 5 from Duty free on that trip- which is another story!)
Check in was smooth- I was on speedy boarding, so despite having to wait 15 mins or so for the flight to open, I had no check in queue, a smooth pass through security, and then a long wait! For the wait, I was in the Aviance executive lounge, which was a little too warm, a little too gloomy (overlooking the departure shopping concourse rather than views of the apron), but nice and quiet and reasonably comfortable seats.
The flight was ‘called’ with about 40 mins to go, and the 737-700 G-EZJF had just arrived on stand (16). No seats at the gate, but a convenient windowledge on which to sit and watch the inspection and activity around the plane, in decidedly wintry conditions which did ease before boarding started. As the fifth aboard, I managed to snaffle the overwing port seat, which is an emergency exit row and so has no seat in front- double length leg room! I decided not to use the camera today, as visibility was not great and the downside of a wing seat is that the views are obscured anyway. The flight pushed back with about a 90% load, and we were soon in the air from Rwy 26, heading out east over Southend and with good views of the Kentish Flats offshore Wind farm- I wish I’d had my camera to hand after all! In fact only a couple of other photo-opportunities were missed, both of aircraft passing close by in the opposite direction (but quite safely, well separated both vertically and horizontally) as most of Europe was under cloud. I whiled away the time with my iPod, watching both the Simpsons Movie (I’ve never been into the Simpsons really, but I can see that the humour does appeal to all ages) and a documentary on Concorde (which would have made it to New York in our 3hr 20 flight time to Turkey!).
Landing at Istanbul’s second airport, Sabia Gohken, on the Asian side, was straightforward and I experienced one of the quickest arrivals ever- short walk to the terminal- no need for bus- getting early into the Visa queue, straight through passport control, my suitcase already through, and my driver waiting with a sign with my name! (I’ve always been slightly envious of those with a pre-booked chauffeur, and because transport links were quite long and not straightforward into Istanbul, and a hotel shuttle bus only hourly, I decided to pre-book a transfer- well worth it. A good conversation with the english speaking driver about the city and which ranged also into such subjects as Top Gear and the iPhone and I was at my hotel about an hour later- which could have been 2 or 2 1/2 hours later had I relied on public transport.
A quick snack, then time for bed, listening via the hotel’s free wireless internet and my Sling box at home to TMS and the early stages of the Test Match in Napier, day 4!