Days 19 to 20: Kardzali to Istanbul

Arriving from Bulgaria

Waking with scorching hangovers in Bulgaria, driving 400km or so to Istanbul wasn't top of the agenda for either of us. Whilst Gerle nursed what must have been the mother of all hangovers, I packed up the camp. As the time dragged on and the temperature rose, standing in the open completing mundane tasks like washing dishes whilst someone slept in the car thrilled me more and more. 

By about 10am we were ready to go. Thankfully the way wasn't too difficult, and the road improved steadily toward Turkey. The Turkey border crossing was fairly straight forward, with the only difficulty experienced ensuring that I would get my tax refund on the car. It was worth sticking around until 'the computer system is working now'. Hopefully Eric will now see that I get my tax money back before being bailed up for it again in Mongolia.

After crossing the border, it was a pleasure to experience Turkish engineering and road construction technique. The road from the border to Istanbul was simply a breeze, and this was to be experienced in most other places in Turkey including those which I had though may have been a lot more underdeveloped. This was the first clue in the introduction to Turkey, a super power in the making. 

For those who have been, the parallels between Turkey and China may be easier to understand. It is a country of relatively cheap labour cost, but with high education and technology. This place is, to borrow the phase of a former Victorian premier 'On the Move'. They're good a 'getting shit done'. 

Turkey and China seem similar, however I would suggest that the average living condition is better in Turkey is a little better, and the pace of development a little slower. This may seem no surprise, but I have not been anywhere yet so similar to China in terms a culture so imbedded with growth and development. The government here is certainly stimulating growth that will provide an excellent platform for engagement with Europe, the Caucuses and Middle East that will propel Turkey forward.

Arriving into Istanbul late in the afternoon, we followed the Sat Nav as close as we could the hotel, before temporarily parking to set out on foot to find the place. Within about 50m on the main drag in the area, Australian accented Turks were helping us left and right. Normally one is suspicious in such a situation, and I was too here. It as unnecessary, however, as all voluntary assistance was genuine and we were soon at our hotel. 

The Burckin Hotel was a small mid-range hotel located within the Sultanahmet (Old Town) of Istanbul, and proved to be most comfortable and conveniently located within walking distance of most things that we wanted to visit. Kudos to the staff who were great, welcoming us enthusiastically and helping to park the car which was very out of place amongst the smaller cars more suited to the narrow streets.

It was an exciting feeling driving into Turkey and Istanbul. Things were now different. With so many mosques appearing, the people changing and upon leaving the car in Istanbul the assault of heat and humidity mixed with a unique and pleasant group of new smells, we were excited to look around. 

Wasting no time after checking in to the hotel, we dressed to go to dinner and explore the streets once it had cooled off some more. Foolishly, we sat at the first place we came too, hungry as we were - a few more metres and the increased competition provided reduced prices and higher quality. Lesson learned for the following day. 

Dinner complete, we continued to walk down the hill toward the Hagia Sophia and Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque. There were lots of street vendors, artists and tourists mingling, which we joined, before stopping to relax by the fountains in front of the Blue Mosque. It had cooled off by now, and a pleasant breeze had piped up. Continuing to walk again, we completed a loop back to the hotel a different way to that which we had come. 

Our path home took us off the main streets and into the smaller side alleys, where there were seemingly endless cafes and restaurants plying for trade, but also 'normal' inner Istanbul life in progress. It wasn't too late, but we were keen for a big day on the foot falcon tomorrow, so we headed to bed.

Site seeing amongst the traffic on the way into town

Ready to go

A little water spray cooled the air down further

Ready for bed

Grand Turistico

With our plan to be in Ankara early morning in two days time, we had decided to forego a third night in Istanbul such that we could be closer to Ankara and ensure that our Turkmenistan Embassy appointment wasn't jeopardised. Istanbul is far too large and interesting to cover in only two nights and days, but we were going to try and see at least some of the major attractions on our only full day in town. Even only after half a day and one night, I could feel that I wanted to come back to here for a longer sticky beak... hopefully the recently commenced direct Ulaanbaatar - Istanbul flights are a success and continue in 2013.

Our day started with a sensational breakfast on the roof-top terrace of the hotel overlooking the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. A smorgasbord of cheeses, breads, meats and condiments all with a Turkish flavour. The sun was already pretty high up by 7.30am, and without shade it was hot, so we didn't linger for too long after having our fill. Leaving the hotel, we figured it would be good to check out the Grand Bazaar before the crowds descended, which proved a good move. Initially the place, whilst thrumming with activity, was still pleasant to stroll about; by the time we left it was almost shoulder to shoulder and some jostling was needed to get where one wanted. 

One of many entrances to the Grand Bazaar... not to sure what the issue with the guy in the bottom right is.

Inside the Grand Bazaar... not so busy yet.

Another shot inside one of the main halls of the Grand Bazaar

The market itself is a pretty amazing complex. The covered streets and alleys all interconnect in a maze of market shopping stalls, and it stays remarkably cool despite the heaving mass of humanity contained within. It is I guess now quite different in terms of trade to what it once was; this market is far more like the Silk Market in Beijing than say the Yashow or Xizhimen markets (i.e. it's principle trade is with tourists paying inflated prices). There were also design shops established on the main thoroughfares of the bazaar, detracting from any thought of traditional sales.

Shortly after arrival, needing to figure out exactly what we wanted and were going to do here, we stopped for a drink at a tea house. Seriously overpriced, we opted for one cool drink each before pushing on. The kid out front plying for business was good at what he did, interchanging professionalism with innocent childlike appeal. Strangely, he reminded me of the fat kid from the 'Hey Dad' television series.

Relaxing over a cool drink. The kid in right of the photo was an excellent spruiker. 

Retracing our steps to some of the stalls that we had already seen, we both bought some cotton and linen clothing (after some attempted haggling) in an effort to be prepared for the hot weather and need to dress more conservatively in some places on our itinerary. 

After walking around again, and getting lost a few more times (checking out belly dancer outfits, being entertained by children hawking toys and examining jewellery, shisha's, tea and fruit products), we figured it was time to leave the market and head toward some of the other sites.  We wanted to stop for a cold drink again, and after initially refusing refusing anything to eat at the cafe we stopped at, we relented for a snack. Throughout the meal we were requested by the adjacent shop owner to visit his shop and look at carpets, he would have asked about 30 times within 30 minutes! No chance of that after being seriously scalped by the cafe for what was supposed to be a snack. More and more food arrived, with 'condiments' being meals in themselves. Sneaky buggers. 

The initial plan was to head inside the Hagia Sophia which now serves as a museum, but we were distracted on the way by the City Bus Tours. I hadn't done this anywhere before, but it seemed like a good opportunity for us both to experience something new, and see a lot of the city briefly in the short time that we had available. One ticket was good for 24 hours of hop-on / hop-off activity, and as there was also a night tour we figured that we could complete two of the three available routes today, and the third the following morning before departure. 

That was the plan... had City Windows Travel company not been such a crappy operator, this may have been possible. We had a bad experience with them, and I would strongly discourage people from going with them (but there was a rival operator that did seem to honour their promotional material). 

In the end we only completed one of the routes, the day-time route that followed the Bosphorus coast and crossed the First Bosphorus Bridge to the Asian continent. The tour was good, though 'it's 5 minutes to departure' became over an hour as we waited for the bus to fill completely prior to leaving. The taped commentary was also ordinary, with poor sound quality.

We had wanted to get off the bus at one point and wait for the Night Tour to pick us up en route (some of the tour routes were overlapping), but the bus did not stop at any of its scheduled stop locations, and we returned almost to where we began after about two hours. With about an hour before the last Night Tour scheduled departure, we walked across one of the bridges crossing between he Sultanahmet and Galata regions of Istanbul over an inlet of the Sea of Maramara, and waited (and waited, and waited, and waited) at the bus stop for the Night Tour bus... which never came. Not impressed.

Anyway, we walked back over the bridge from whence we had came, both walks pleasant in the cool of the evening, watching hundreds of people fishing from both upper and lower decks on both sides of the bridge. Not sure what they're using the fish they're catching for, but they wouldn't class as anything except bait in Australia. After crossing back to the Sultanahmet side, we headed for the hotel to freshen up for dinner. We had seen an advertisement for a roof-top terrace restaurant that day, and wanted to check it out.

The touristinator in action aboard the (Sh)City Windows Travel bus.

A proud nation; there are Turkish flags visible in literally all directions. 

The 'Asian Side' across the Sea of Marmara

Another Turkish flag... I do like their flag, and their national pride.

The First Bosphorus Bridge... and important engineering achievement connection Europe with Asia.

Trade in the Sea of Marmara below.

Crossing the First Bosphorus Bridge (for the first time; we returned and then crossed again by car the following day)

Busy waterway, looking toward the Caspian Sea

The New Mosque (I think)

Big fishing rods... catching minnows.

On our way back to the hotel.

After a quick shower and change we were back on the streets and headed for dinner. The roof-top terrance didn't turn out to be too spectacular (similar to our hotel's breakfast terrace setup) but it was still pleasant sitting above the streets from which wafted the sounds and smells, whilst we ate in front of a panoramic view of the Istanbul skyline. We could see over the Golden Horn, Sultanahmet and Bosphorus regions which all had their various mosques and historical monuments lit up. Somewhat like Paris, it is great that the modern high rise buildings have been limited to regions outside the central and historical regions of the city. It does make a difference in aesthetic appeal.

We had similar meals, both Turkish casseroles, with lots of fresh bread and a couple of beers each. Full, and tired from a day where we must have covered at least 25 km on foot, we returned to the hotel for a sleep-in. Not wanting to partake in any more activity with City Windows Travel, we had decided that we would take the opportunity the following morning to simply relax and recharge in the nice surroundings, before leaving to travel toward Ankara.

The view over dinner