Driving through the city from the airport in the minibus was amazing. Istanbul is a unique blend of old and new. It’s very cosmopolitan and it was wonderful to see the Turkish Flags blowing in the breeze – they added so much colour to the experience. We later found out it was Victory Day and that was why everyone had flags out, we just thought everyone was patriotic. When we pulled into the Sultanahment historical district where we are staying our minds were blown by the ancient ruins everywhere. Everywhere you look there was an ancient rampart or a significant mosque.
The Sapphire Hotel didn’t disappoint and greeted us with drinks and our first Turkish Delights. The room is cute and decorated in Turkish kitsch, which is what you want when visiting Turkey. The staff is friendly and obliging and helped us book our first tour.
We were eager to step out and explore the neighbourhood. Staying in Sultanahmet is great as everything is in walking distance. As soon as you walk out of the hotel you’re greeted by the restaurateurs calling you their “friend” and doing their best hard sell to get you to eat in their restaurant. Once we ran the gauntlet we came to a main road and started seeing our first spice shops, Turkish delight and baklava vendors. The smell of Istanbul is wonderful! It is a heady mix of spices, sugar, rose and honey. I’d love to bottle that scent, it is so delicious.
Our first piece of Turkish baklava was a revelation – crisp buttery pastry filled with nuts and soaked in honey syrup. Absolutely delicious. If I don’t get my running gear soon I will be sooo fat.
Shopping proved to be a bit hard in Sultanahmet. We needed to get John some undies and trying to explain that to someone in a foreign country is a bit comical. In hindsight I should have just gotten google translate out but neither of us were thinking straight after 40 hours of travel. Sizing also runs small in Turkey which is interesting.
We settled into a place near the hotel for dinner and had some amazing homous, traditional shish kebaps and the ubiquitous apple tea and baklava for dessert. We dined under colourful lamps outside in the bustling street.
As we settled into bed the final call to prayer was sounding and I said a secret prayer that our luggage would arrive….inshallah.
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