Istanbul

Hello everyone

The blog today comes from our beach stop at Nea Peramos in Greece – a place where we’ll chill after a busy week!

Our exit from Bulgaria involved further scrutiny of our passports and the van’s V5 before we encountered Turkey’s bureaucracy – buy visa, police authorise it, have the V5 and green card insurance scrutinised , Peter’s passport stamped as the ‘driver’ and the customs police authorise that. Fortunately, the road surfaces are a vast improvement and we made our way towards Istanbul; however, the driving standard is the worst we’ve encountered – everyone in a mad hurry to get somewhere quickly, ignoring all the rules of the road and adding chaos to the grid-lock.

The city car park used by motorhomes was ideally placed on the Fisherman’s Quay a short stroll from the centre. Istanbul is an assault on your senses – there are sooooo many people, the noise of the calls to prayer blast from the minarets 5 times daily (start at 5am) and with hot and sunny weather. We hired a local guide for an hour and then hit the sights on our own.

 

 

The Blue Mosque (building started in 1609) is the most beautiful building with the interior covered in more than 20,000 blue mosaic tiles. The Grand Bazaar is an extraordinary vaulted market place of over 4000 shops in a labyrinth of streets selling everything and anything you can imagine and more besides. The Aya Sophia was commissioned in the 6^th century, became a mosque in 1453 before it was declared a museum in 1934 – although beautiful it couldn’t beat the Blue Mosque!

 

 

 

We took a ferry across to Asian Istanbul, where we visited a Crimean War cemetery, passing the barracks building where Florence Nightingale cared for the wounded.

After 48 hours we were exhausted and headed west back to the border towards Greece. All vehicles had to drive through a trough of deep water before the rigmarole of checking passports, visas, V5 and being stopped at barriers to have the registration plate checked and videoed.

Here at Nea Peramos, it’s a cool 29°C and slightly hazy at the moment. After a beer with lunch we’ll plan our time here. There is so much to see we’ll likely be in Greece for the next few weeks.

Will post again next week - love to all