Istanbul. Day 4

 It feels like we've had a full holiday, and we're still on the way there.

After a long sleep we felt a bit better, more so after starting the day with a good Turkish breakfast - mainly meze type things. It's been another fine day, clear and in the high 20s. The people in the hotel were very mixed and there was at least one guest in Turkiye for medical tourism - a hair transplant, judging by the banadaged and shaved scalp.

We walked around the local area a bit. Mostly shops selling spices and turkish delight to tourists but also rug shops, street vendors selling grilled sweetcorn and chestnuts (we got some nuts yesterday, quite good). Well cared-for cats (there are occasional machines that dispense food for homeless cats) but few dogs.

We reached the grand bazaar and wandered for a while, rebuffing shop owners and not buying anything.


Eventually we walked back to Sultanahmet square, had a coffee and too the HOHO bus that wound past multiple palaces and mosques, eventually ober the Bosphorus bridge and back. We could have spent a day in any of the places it stopped.



That took us to mid-afternoon, then we got an icecream and returned to the hotel to wait our transfer back to the airport.

And so, again, I'm sitting in an airport lounge writing my blog to pass the time. This won't be too bad. It's an 8pm flight and less than four hours - though the time zone change means we arrive near to 2am. And then we'll finally be in the first Stan.


Location: Istanbul Arpt (IST), Tayakadın, Terminal Caddesi No:1, 34283 Arnavutköy/İstanbul, Türkiye

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