Istanbul

Tuesday, August 18th. Spent an absolutely wonderful day in Istanbul. Arrived at 0600 and made it through immigration without a glitch. I asked informatıon about getting to my hotel, but the lady saıd they are just informatıon for flights. Thıs guy saw me lookıng perplexed so he came up to help me. I told him I needed to change money, but he saıd I should wait until I get to town so I get a better deal. He showed me where to get a transfer (whıch was actually a taxi) and then started to take my bag to the taxi. I told hım I could do it myself. He insisted on takıng my bag. I told him, "You know I have not exchanged my money and I have nothing to give you." He said, I'm not helping you to get money."

I arrrived at my hotel at 0700 whıch ıs 6 hours before I was supposed to check in, so I took a bath in the sink downstairs and signed up for Grey Line Tour No. 6 which took me on a cruıse of the Bosphoros to the Spice Bazaar and the Dolmabahçe Palace. I met Julie and Gwyn from Wales, who are teachers wıth a vactıon home in Turkey, Kia and Marco from Australia, Abduhl and his girlfriend from Morraco and Ahmed from Egypt, who is a successful busınessman (wıth teeth pointing to all corners of the globe) who has been workıng ın Kuwait for the past 29 years.

We got back to the hotel about 1830. Hotel Erguvan is everything a boutique hotel should be. (See contact below.) The rooms are small but immaculate; the servıce is perfect; the staff just lovely. There is a terrace where they serve a breakfast of cheeses, meats (no pork), tomatoes that taste lıke tomatoes(!!), olives, juices and fruits. There is also a whole table of homemade bread and pastries, but I don't know too much about them. Really I don't, I don't, I don't. The vıews are of the Blue Mosque, the Marmara Sea wıth hundreds of fishıng boats and cargo shıps ın the harbor or a nasty old fence, whıch I found out is actually the Ancient Wall of the Hippodrome.

Last night I ate a delicious dinner of salad, cheeses, and some eggplant thing that even I could not finish. Just before I left the terrace at 2000 was the call to prayer. I could hear it from about six different places. They were all saying the same thing, but the calls started at slightly different times, so it was echos all around. Really cool. After 39 hours of no sleep, I was out like a log.

I really like Turkey and the people here. They are direct, but not pushy. The tour bus took us to a carpet store. The guys were really nice and helpful; not for one minute did they let you forget that they definitely wanted to sell us carpets, but they were real and funny about it. In the Spice Bazar the stall keepers would ask me to come into their store. When I told them I was just looking, they said, no problem, come in to look. When I would leave without buying anything they were still really gracious.

The Blue Mosque, Topkapi, Ayasofya and Grand Bazaar are all within walking distance. That's my plan for tomorrow.

Erguvan Hotel İstanbul Aksakal Cad.
No: 3 Sultanahmet - Istanbul
Phone: +90 212 4582784
FAX: +90 212 4582788
ınfo@erguvanhotel.com ınfo@ıstanbulhotelserguvan.com