After our first experience on Easy Jet we made it to Istanbul. We now know that being at the front of the line is best - being polite Kiwis we thought we would join the end of the line boarding not realising that they don't alloocate seats...its first in first served, but we managed to get seats either side of the aisle together which was good - guess you can't expect too much for the price you pay. They are quite similar to the old nuts and coke flights, and it is only 3 1/2 hours to Turkey so we managed to sleep for a fair bit of it seeing as it was such an early start.
On arriving at the airport we just booked a trip with the first shuttle company we saw - after the 1 1/2 hour journey to the city we were glad we hadn't jumped in a taxi! After only a few hours sleep the shuttle ride was interesting to say the least, we were treated to blaring dance music (uncensored) and wow the Turks are MAD drivers!! We found it best not to look out the front window, they change lanse every few seconds, and tooting must be used in addition to inidcating!
The motorways closer to the city were nose to tail not moving and there were street sellers in between lanes in the middle of the 4 lane motoway trying to sell bread and water to the cars passing! As we got closer tpo Galata where we were staying the streets narrowed to one lane and the landscape is quite hilly. The roads are similar to Wellington only narrower, and hand cobbled. Our area was lovely - the buildings don't look like much fromthe outside but inside they are stunning. Our residence for the night was a full apartment, that was one whole floor of the building AMAZING! It included a full foyer, cloakroom, kitchen, lounge/dining, huge bedroom, massive bathroom with double shower and sunken bath, guest room/office, and a seperate guest bathroom......pure decadence!
We got taken out in the evening to the Galata Tower for dinner which was built as a lighthouse in about 576AD. We were about 55m up and it is on top of a hill so the panoramic view of Istanbul is fantastic. We enjoyed a 4 course traditional Turkish meal with silver service again, and a show comprising of really top belly dancers, male Turkish dancers, and band. It was a really good night out.
The area we had to walk through to get home (just around the corner) is where all the young ones like to drink, and there were partygoers out in the square everywhere partying. The place feels very safe and is very pretty as they have done all of the streets up with lights. So far we are really enjoying Turkey!
This morning we went out for coffee and Sara decided to try a real Turkish coffee....not bad. It is very thick and almosts tastes like treakle but it is still drinkable.
We had now boarded the cruise ship and are just adjusting to a different way of travelling for a while. We have oriented ourselves with the ship, it just has everything you could ever want! The lunch buffet is brilliant and we are just sussing out what is free, what is paid and how it all works.
We are planning to see a bit more of Istanbul tomorrow before we sail tomorrow night and spend a day at sea relaxing. From what we have seen so far we are fairly sure we will survive the next few weeks (Dad I feel your pain!) but our blogging will be limited as the internet costs 75c per minute!
Güle Güle for now:)
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