Didn't have an opportunity to blog yesterday – how humiliatıng! However, I dıd make the followıng post on the Lonely Planet websıte:
Plastıc bags are charged for at Abu Dhabı too - 1 dırham each.
The observant will notice that the i's in the above paragraph are short a few dots. Here they are: ... It's been several years since I last used a Turkish keyboard.
The flight out of Melbourne was half empty - I got to spread myself across two seats. Some lucky people in the middle got four seats in a row and could lie flat. From Abu Dhabi the flight was completely full.
Showers at the transit hotel at Abu Dhabi cost USD 7 and are charged separately from the USD 28 they charge for use of their lounge. Technically the showers are part of the Health Club attached to the hotel, not part of the lounge. You get a nice big fluffy towel, a cake of soap, shampoo, and ... a toothbrushing kit (two-piece toothbrush and tiny tube of paste). Abundant hot water, too - even after I turned off the hot tap completely.
At one of the coffee shops in the mezzanine they sell a monster cappucchino for AED 19. The "Massimo" comes in a cup with two handles. Just what I needed to wake me up.
One of the book shops in the mezzanine has about 30 assorted LP titles in recent editions.
Istanbul - even after a gap of nearly three years, I have slipped back into this city lıke a foot into a well worn shoe.
Supplies - the "plastik" shop opposite the Spice Market still sells plastic sheets by the metre. The price has gone up to TRY 2 per metre for the heavy 1.5m wıde stuff. As in 2005, I bought 2 metres. It actually forms a tube so ıf necessary I can slit the tube open and get a thinner sheet of plastic 3x2m.
If you arrive without a guidebook and decide you need one, 58 Dıvan Yolu (right by the Sultanahmet tram stop) still has a huge selection of Istanbul guidebooks including LP, although since 2007 they have finally run out of the Istanbul and Turkey Blue Guides.
Weather today - sunny and about 18 degrees. Tourists everywhere - this is not boding well for Anzac Day. It looks like there will be a bumper attendance, which means the place will be a mosh pit.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1902807
Today I went to Ayasofya, the 1500-year-old church-cum-mosque-cum-museum. I go there every trip in the hope that the scaffolding concealing a quarter of the ımmense dome will be gone. At last! It is nearly gone. It has been moved aside and today I finally saw the entire dome. Another dream fulfilled.
I also went back to the Basılıca Cistern, an equally old underground reservoir, one of my favourite sights in İstanbul and one I never miss.
While crouchıng to take a photo I felt something give way at my waist. My belt had snapped. This was an old braided leather thing that had been on its last legs anyway. I brought it with the intention of replacing it in Central Asia. Fortunately my trousers have an elastıcısed waistband and so they didn't humiliate me by falling down. Nevertheless I had to make an unplanned-for visit to the Kapalı Carsı to buy a new belt. I paid too much for it, but my need was great!
The weather is perfect - not too hot, not too cold, and sunny. I had breakfast on my hotel's terrace overlooking the Hippodrome and the great mosques. Pity I have an early start tomorrow and may have to skip the brekkie! Gonna go have a talk to the fez travel people after I finish here and see how late I can be. From memory the answer will be "not very"!
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