I arrived at the Hotel Ipek Palas (I can’t help thinking ipecac) 4 hours before check in, but they graciously cleaned a room early for me and I was in by about 9 am after a delicious breakfast in their restaurant. My room is tiny but perfect. Clean, comfortable bed, plenty of hot water in the shower with great pressure. I can’t ask for more. I can sit on my bed and unpack my suitcase. As soon as I got into my room I hit the bed and slept for about 6 hours.
I subscribe to a sleep accounting system when I travel. I know folks have systems for staying awake until ‘normal’ bed time for the time zone and suffer through first days in a haze of jet lag. Me, I go to sleep when I feel like it, the sleep account needs to be paid if it is in deficit. Simon even made me use his system last time I was in Paris and it just doesn’t work for me, mainly because I just hate unnecessary personal suffering.
I subscribe to a sleep accounting system when I travel. I know folks have systems for staying awake until ‘normal’ bed time for the time zone and suffer through first days in a haze of jet lag. Me, I go to sleep when I feel like it, the sleep account needs to be paid if it is in deficit. Simon even made me use his system last time I was in Paris and it just doesn’t work for me, mainly because I just hate unnecessary personal suffering.
Refreshed after my sleep I decided it was time to brave the Istanbul streets. Armed with a map with the hotel marked on it, I sallied forth. I am in the Sultanhamet district in the old city, just down the road form the central train/tram station. The blue mosque is just up the street, as is Topkapi palace etc. I have a horror of getting lost in a strange city, so I cautiously wandered the alleyways and streets roughly going around the block about five times. Even the hawkers outside the restaurants stopped inviting me in and started saying hello to me instead.
Chyloe, sweetheart that she is, gave me a list of places I should visit in my short stay, all in walking distance, or a short tram tide. I think I get the trams now, but still felt a bit out of it, so I decided to limit my wandering. IN 2007 I stopped over in Dubai and it was a disaster. I wandered the streets (again terrified I would get lost) and finally took refuge in the Hyatt hotel. I could have done that in Melbourne without the terror. So, after my fourth circuit around the hotel I made a huge decision. Tomorrow I will take a tour.
I like to think of myself as an intrepid traveller (or gadabout as Michael H says), but I also like to think I know my limits. Today it dawned on me that the reason I hated Dubai so much was that I was too cheap to pay for someone else to show me around. Hence my decision to take a tour. Now I’m excited.
Tonight I again sallied forth to find food for dinner. After seeing the fish markets and many fishing trawlers in the drive in this morning I decided to sample the local fish in a café down from the hotel called the Fish Restaurant. Good decision, I had great fish stew in tomatoes and sweet chillies, lots of local bread (oh yes the Turkish bread is delicious) and delicious salad.
I love the call to prayer from the minarets, they are recorded and played every few hours - four? - haven't figured it out yet. You can hear the different singing echoing arouond the city, it all sounds so arcane and msyterious and beautiful. Istanbul is so alive. Cafes seem to expand at niht, new tables blossom in the alleyways and lots of wonderful lookng things are cooked by street vendors as you walk by.
All in all, it has been a really good day.
I like to think of myself as an intrepid traveller (or gadabout as Michael H says), but I also like to think I know my limits. Today it dawned on me that the reason I hated Dubai so much was that I was too cheap to pay for someone else to show me around. Hence my decision to take a tour. Now I’m excited.
Tonight I again sallied forth to find food for dinner. After seeing the fish markets and many fishing trawlers in the drive in this morning I decided to sample the local fish in a café down from the hotel called the Fish Restaurant. Good decision, I had great fish stew in tomatoes and sweet chillies, lots of local bread (oh yes the Turkish bread is delicious) and delicious salad.
I love the call to prayer from the minarets, they are recorded and played every few hours - four? - haven't figured it out yet. You can hear the different singing echoing arouond the city, it all sounds so arcane and msyterious and beautiful. Istanbul is so alive. Cafes seem to expand at niht, new tables blossom in the alleyways and lots of wonderful lookng things are cooked by street vendors as you walk by.
All in all, it has been a really good day.
Ah Matron,
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you have arrived safely. And all seems to be good.
Turkish immigration/customs = Hungarian railways? Or even British customs?
I am sitting here feeling jealous. I want to go too. Well am off to a Turkish/Anglo wedding this afternoon so it will have be.
Hope the tour was fun - well as fun as tours can be. And getting lost in strange cities can be good - it is how you find the things that dont make it into the tourist guides.
Cant wait for the next installment.
Sister
Well ye, Budapest tran station was commparable, but add in jet lag to the mix. That made it super toxic. But now, all is forgiven, I love this pace so much.
ReplyDeleteYou do forgive well. I still hate Dresden.
ReplyDeleteI have only very vague memories of the airport in Istanbul - nothing much except being grumpy that I had to may more than Symon for my visa because I didn't have an EU passport!
ReplyDeleteWe did love Istanbul, I would go back, but yes the hard sell can be a bit annoying in the bazaar. We found the best thing to do was simply to ignore them - though we did end up buying a lovely turkish tea set and glass candle holders - I don't know how in hell they'd have expected us to get a carpet back though!!
We had some interesting issues with our plumbing in our hotel room which was haphazard at best, but it was something we laughed about and it became a good story. Nothing too terrible though - unlike our hotel stay in Saumur in the Loire valley where every time you flushed the toilet, the contents of the toilet ended up in the sink...
xxx
Sue