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Our adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
  
A very early start . We left home at 4.15 am, yes that's the one in the morning, to get the early flight to Istanbul. The advantage of course was, that by the time we had got to Istanbul, got to the hotel and unpacked, we still had half the day left to explore. The hotel was nice and comfy, if a little too warm in the rooms; and in an area called "Taxim", which is quite central for most things.We had picked up a street map and some brochures on Istanbul, from the Tourist Information at the airport. So before venturing out, we spent an hour trying to work out what we wanted to see and do during our
stay. One word of warning for any UK passport holder going into Turkey; you need a visa. These are available at the airport and are nothing more than a postage stamp in your passport, at a cost of £10, if you don't have sterling with you they charge 30 million TL, which is 10% over the real exchange rate, so you get ripped off before you even enter the country.We had decided on a walk around locally for our first afternoon. It was b***** cold and snowing hard and to think we came over for an early spring break. Joan smelt the local shops within the first 5 minutes, she also found an old steam engine in the middle of the shopping boulevard, don't ask what it was doing there, because I couldn't work it out. At least, when we found the local Taxim Bazaar, we were able to buy a couple of wool beanies to keep the ears warm, ahhh that's better.We had had pasta and a beer at lunch time, bought a bottle of local brandy to take back to the hotel, nice and warming, so stayed locally for an evening meal. A superb meal, with wine, coffee and brandy to follow at only £20 in total. We think we are going to enjoy our stay here.
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