Category Archives: city

Asia, city, Europe, history, travel

Catch-up photos from Istanbul

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A few pictures from my first two days in Istanbul that have now made it off my camera.

Beautiful domed ceilings in Topkapi Palace Museum

Cityscape from Topkapi Palace Museum

More intricate decoration

There were odd pockets of brightly coloured houses

Inside Hagia Sophia Museum

So many cables holding up all the lights

Hagia Sophia

Sultan Ahmed Mosque (the Blue Mosque)

Seaside amusements by the Sea of Marmara, there at least ten of these “shoot an air-rifle at things” stalls – you can’t see the people swimming just out of shot

Across the Golden Horn – Galata Tower in the background

New Mosque – near Galata Bridge

Leaving Istanbul on a Bosphorus ferry

At the Black Sea end of the Bosphorus – near Anadolu Kavagi

The view from the castle in the previous photo – that’s the Black Sea yonder

Many beautiful palaces & houses line the Bosphorus

The view from Galata Tower

Galata Bridge across the Golden Horn & New Mosque – from Galata Tower

Asia, city, Europe, travel

Bosphorus Cruising

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I saw a completely different side of Istanbul today as I got the very reasonably priced ferry up the Bosphorus. It does make a few stops along the way, but seems to be mostly used by tourists. For some reason I’d always thought the Bosphorus was a dirty, mucky waterway mostly used by commercial boats. That may be to do with one end being at the Black Sea and the connotations of that name. Interestingly there are two currents (countercurrent naturally) – the one on the surface is due to a height differential, while the one down below is due to a concentration differential (salinity) between the Black and the Marmara Seas.

But on another stunning warm & clear day, the Bosphorus turned out to be an exceptionally beautiful stretch of water. For most of the ninety minute trip Istanbul kept stretching towards the end of the Strait. It wasn’t more of the same housing either – there were many palatial buildings and it was easy to see why some of the highest property prices in the world are here. Istanbul surprises again. Many nice yachts and other boats too.

At the end of the route there was three hours to occupy before the ferry headed back. I, & many others, climbed fifteen minutes up to an old castle to get a glimpse of the Black Sea – which is more of the same vivid blue. Back down at the dockside town, I shared a seabass with a group of Americans I’d met on the boat. They were on a faculty trip from some liberal arts college in Allentown, PA. Once I told them I’d spent a month just down the road in Doylestown, I was very well received.

There were a few big tankers & naval ships to see on the return voyage – as well as some wonderfully turned out polished wooden launches. Back in town, I crossed the Golden Horn & climbed up to the base of Galata Tower – which was closing just as I got there yesterday. Unfortunately you are not allowed to climb up it, just take the elevator. Decent views of the city – the only picture I have to share today.

On the way down the hill I found myself in yet another market. Belwilderingly, yet interestingly, this market near a lot of tourists, seemed to be given over to small process and maintenance equipment. I was eying up things that we need in the plant back at work. Alas, the photos of that are on my camera – so the only person who is likely to care, Farmer Liz, will have to wait.

around home, city, Europe, food, friends, travel, UK

Reading to Istanbul – quite the contrast

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A dash home straight after work Friday & a mad pack for nine nights away was all to try & beat the holiday traffic (4 day Diamond Jubilee weekend). I’m not sure I did, but it only took ninety minutes until Reading’s awful road system had me going around in circles.

A delightful evening was spent with Anna & Luke and their NZ visitors – Penny, Kathryn & Megan. That is over half of one of my “second families” from my childhood in Te Puke. As always when visiting Anna & Luke, we ate well – Luke cooked up a storm, before we went out for dessert. A great evening of that easy conversation & banter you get with old friends was topped off with sublime lemon curd tart at Jamie’s (Oliver) Italian. So far away from home, a lot of talk was of travels past, present & future. I did actually remember to snap a photo of visitors from afar – it’s rather unflattering as people seem too interested in their phones. Leaving everyone after breakfast Saturday, I boarded a train to Gatwick to start my week’s holiday. Arriving in Istanbul and walking from the metro, I suddenly realised that this is the first Islamic country I’ve been too – the mosques & evening prayer call gave it away.

As usual, it’s a lot hotter here than home & I’ve spent most of the day walking all around the Old City. The public buildings, mostly mosques, are incredible, things seem cheap, it’s busy and away from the main touristy area the place is filthy – litter, feral cats & dogs everywhere. The food is varied and well good. That’s enough of a brief introduction to Turkey for now, I’m sick of typing on my phone. Here’s all the relevant photos on my phone at once – as Blogger for Android is not particularly useful.

city, family, food, friends, London, UK

On the Thames

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After two rather strange events at the end of last week – I joined a gym & bought runners (need to burn energy somehow while I’m off the bike) – I headed up to London for the weekend. Mostly it was to catch up with people I haven’t seen for some time. Since I last saw them two months ago just after my operation, Levi & Marki and Jeff have been to NYC, Czech & Turkey in different permutations. So with my Rome trip as well, there was a fair amount to discuss. Time was a bit limited as they were heading off to the O2 to see Kayne & Jay-Z (maybe I’m just boring, but I didn’t see the attraction). However, someone had decided that a good way to get to the O2 (which is well away from the centre of London) was to get a ThamesClipper (a pretty fast catamaran passenger ferry) down the river.

I jumped at the chance as while I’ve walked over, under & beside; driven over, under & beside; cycled over, under & beside; and ridden trains over, under & beside the Thames many times over the last four years I’ve previously never found reason to get on a boat on the river. It was good fun watching so many landmarks slide by from a different vantage point – I particularly liked going under Tower Bridge.

Meeting up with more concert-going friends in the O2 (I’d never been in before – it really is an incredibly large tent with all sorts of shops, restaurants, a squash competition & of course the arena), I joined them for a very late lunch before riding buses back to Sidcup. Trish picked me up & went out to watch the Bexley Village world go by as we savoured our Moroccan meal. I’m not sure acoustic Lily Allen & Lady Gaga is traditional Moroccan music, but whatever.

Sunday was spent driving north into Essex & visiting various family – the main point of the weekend away. A very pleasant cup of tea with my great-uncle (Grandad’s brother) as he regaled me with stories of his travels in WWII as a wireless operator. Still can’t picture Blackpool as a place to go & learn Morse code or why exactly Alan was shipped to Brazil, Durban, Bombay, Iraq, Cairo & Libya. But then war doesn’t make a lot of sense on much higher levels than that, so I’m really not too fussed. Always a delight to spend time with a very switched older generation (with a surprisingly good grasp on current news) – there’s some small hope that I won’t completely lose my marbles in fifty-odd years. Plus Alan was interested in my USA roadtrip (particularly Yellowstone) photos, so I got to show some of those.

A little bit back towards London, I spent the afternoon with Carly & her family. One of only two second-cousins on my maternal grandmother’s side (compared to the plenty on grandad’s side), it’s been sometime since I’ve seen them – the kids & house are now much bigger. As Carly & David honeymooned in Banff, there’s always plenty of Canada talk which is good fun; family also is a hot topic, as Carly’s brother, father & grandfather are all quite funny (/crazy) there is generally much amusement.