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Our
adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
   
-  RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, RAINThat's about the sum total of all we have had this month so far. It's not too much of a consolation when everyone tells us it is not normal for the time of the year, but having said that, we have noticed that the temperature has gone up a little, this early part of March, so maybe Spring & Summer are approaching. Because of the weather and an extremely heavy head cold, I seemed to develop on Saturday, not much has happened to write about . One thing that did not happen however, was that I did not get down to the Pine Bay Club to watch Liverpool beat Man United in the Worthington Cup, very very sad.So lets see what did happen in this early part of the month.On Saturday 1st we met Hakan & Sonay in The Rocks Cafe for a pizza. Its been a long time since we last had pizza, but for those who want to know, these come highly recommended, we will definitely be going back. Sunday & Monday, 2nd & 3rd were spent in bed feeling very sorry for myself. It's good that I felt sorry for myself, because even the cleaner swept round me on Monday.Thursday 6th. Felt a little more with it, so we took car into Nicosia for its agreed free service and whilst that was happening we went into town. We called in to the Polatkan travel agents and, as it's Joan's birthday next week, we decided to book a trip to Istanbul. We arranged a 6 day, 5 nights, package in a 4 star hotel, bed and breakfast, flights and transfers into Istanbul for a total cost of £330. We travel out early morning on 21st March and return late evening on the 26th. Now that should give something to include on the website which will be of interest.We have also had a contact from Izzy, who designs and develops the website for Best Cyprus Hotels. She has included our website on her links page and in return we are including the Hotel/ Tourism site on our links.Often people ask us about Hotels etc. so this should be a good alternative and enable you to book on-line. Look at www.best-cyprus-hotels.com" target="_blank">www.best-cyprus-hotels.com">www.best-cyprus-hotels.com
When Joan & I lived in Holland some years ago, we had bought, what is known there as a gourmet set. Its an electric, middle of the table cooker, with 8 small frying pans, A bit like a fondue experience without the smell of cooking oil. Basically you have a selection of meats and fish with vegetables and anything that will either fry or grill. Each of you has a couple of mini frying pans and then you cook up their own meal to taste, great fun, served up with a choice of salads, dip sauces and lots of wine. Because Hakan & Sonay are going off to USA shortly, for a one month business trip, we invited them to enjoy this gourmet experience. We had a really enjoyable evening with good food and in good company.
Joan's birthday, so she had a really relaxing day. We met Bob & Sue Rigg, another web contact, for lunch at Lardy Da's. They had just arrived over here to watch their house build and had lots of questions.
In the evening we met Margaret and Norman Reynolds who are also having a house built out here. They are going back to UK at the weekend to close off a few business matters and then returning finally at the end of April, so it was nice to have dinner and a chat. We went to Cousins Brasserie, one of the few restaurants that Joan & I have not tried yet. Very enjoyable, a little more expensive than the local restaurants, but nice for that special occasion.
Today Cyprus Pools turned up, to clean out the dirty water that had accumulated in our swimming pool over the winter and to clean all the tiles in preparation for a water delivery. Perhaps this is one more sign that summer is fast approaching.
The first tanker with water for the pool turned up at 9 o'clock this morning. I don't know how many tankers we need, must be at least 4 or 5, because the first tanker full only filled the deep end. An interesting job for the pool and tanker crew, watching water flow out of the tanker and into the pool.
Well there it is, full of water at last. All we need now is a few weeks of sunny weather and then we should be able to take that longed for first swim in our own pool. The more we look around the more we realize, how lucky we are, to be able to have these things which we could never have dreamed of in UK. The years of paying off that mortgage and the rising property prices in UK, have enabled this dream to come true. Some of our friends doubted our sanity, when we cut our ties with UK, but we have always said, if needs must, we can always reverse the process. In the meantime we will enjoy a lifestyle which we believe suits us admirably.
Yesterday evening was a complete change for us. We were invited to an anniversary party for the SDP, currently a political party in opposition. So there we were, suitably suited and booted for the first time since we arrived on the island, enjoying a glass or two of wine and with the opportunity to meet many local Cypriot people. We had a very enjoyable evening, even managing a brief conversation with the leader of the SDP but not one with the Prime Minister who was also in attendance. We keep saying it and it remains a true fact, the local people go out of their way to make you welcome at these sort of occasions and immediately they are interested to know how much you enjoy living on their island. We did last night solve one little mystery, why do people immediately recognize us as English, it appears that Joan's white hair and bright blue eyes are such an impossible combination over here, that we rather stand out in a crowd.After the event, we remained in Nicosia and went for a meal at a restaurant recommended by Ertugral's daughter. We had a really succulent mixed meat kebab with salad, humus. yogurt, rice, chips and loads of warm pitta bread, washed down with a bottle of red and coffee to follow for £6 per person. See what I mean about lifestyle!On Friday we are heading off to Istanbul for 5 days, so expect a diary update on our return and there should be loads of pictures of Mosques, Bazaars and boats on the Bosphorous.
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.
A few flurries of snow when we first woke up, but by the time we had had breakfast, it had stopped, so we decided that the best way to see things was on foot. I think also Joan wanted to test out the new walking boots she had bought yesterday.From the Taxim area it is all down hill to the Golden Horn. This took a little while because we had to walk through a complete shopping street to get down to the river, guess who found that. As you cross the bridge you get a superb view of the Hagia Sophia Mosque. This is no longer a working mosque but is being restored as a museum, which is a little unfortunate, because they still charge the full price for entry and most of what you see is workmen and scaffolding. The domes inside are very much in need of this restoration and we imagine that it will be a superb visit when completed. The central dome spans 30 meters and rises 55 meters from the ground, considering it was built in the 6th century, that's quite an impressive feat.Not far from the mosque is the Topkapi Palace and this is really worth the effort. The palace spreads over acres of land and is numerous buildings mostly very well maintained. This palace was the focal point of the Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 19th centuries and the various exhibitions include the famous jewels of the treasury, a priceless collection of miniatures and of course, the Harem. The treasury jewels need to be seen to be believed, the size and quantity of the emeralds alone is quite staggering, also, in what used to be the palace kitchens, is a display of Chinese Ming pottery and crystal, I wouldn't like to hazard a guess as to its value. The palace was built on a finger of land looking out over the Bosphorous and luckily the weather was now clearing enough to make the views impressive.On our way back to the hotel we investigated the ferry services which start from Eminonou on the Golden Horn and offer a very frequent and cheap means of transport all over the waterways of Istanbul.
Today was Sunday and whilst still cold it was dry, so we decided that another venture down to the Sultanahamet area would enable us to visit the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar. The Blue Mosque is still a working mosque, so this time it was shoes off, and carry them round in the plastic bags provided. When you get inside you can see why, apart from the religious reason, the carpeting is beautiful and covers such a vast area in one single colour scheme. Again the domes were quite huge, but now you can also see why this is known as the blue mosque. The domes were covered in magnificent panels of blue and white mosaic tiles.From the mosque we walked up to the Grand Bazaar, stopping at a patisserie which we had used the day before, for a light lunch. Apart from the Turkish equivalent of sausage rolls they served the most succulent blueberry muffins. Now what nobody told us and what the guide books forget to mention, is that the Grand Bazaar closes on a Sunday. So we will have to revisit on another day. What we did find in the streets around the bazaar was an open market. This made for an interesting way to spend a couple of hours, there was everything you could imagine for sale, jeans, sweatshirts, shoes, leather goods etc. etc. all with the famous brand name labels. Anyone want to buy a Rolex!At the end of the afternoon we walked back down to the ferry and bus terminal and hopped a bus back to our hotel area. The services are very cheap, you buy a ticket at the terminal, for 1 million TL (40p) and can travel as far as you like on a single ride.In the evening we went down to the fish market area and had ourselves another feast for a very reasonable sum of money. You order the fish you fancy, the restaurant sends the boy over to the fish stalls, they bring the fresh fish back, show it to you and ask how you would like it prepared. It then is served up with a nice fresh salad and seasonable veg. We like it here!
When we first arrived at the hotel we had picked up a couple of brochures on tourist things to do. One offer was a full day trip up the Bosphorous and included lunch for 80 dollars each. Now we had taken a good look at the ferry services from Eminonou and discovered that you could get a return ferry ticket to the Black Sea area for 6 million TL each (£2.40). The trip lasted 6 hours in total, but included a stop of 1 1/2 hours at the last village before the Black Sea. The ferry works its way up the Bosphorous, crossing from village to village, Europe to Asia, and passing under the suspension bridge which also links Europe to Asia. A nice lazy way to see some of the other areas around Istanbul and some of the lovely properties on the edge of the Bosphorous, it was also amazing how very busy this waterway is, there were some very large ships passing through and these must compete with the flow of ferries, small fishing boats and yachts etc. in the summer months.The 1 1/2 hour stop was nicely timed for lunch, so we decided, as it was a little cold close to the water, to use the time usefully in one of the village seafood restaurants. They served us up a Blue fish, a local fresh Bosphorous fish, which looked and tasted very much like a sea bream, proceeded by deep fried mussels and calamari, together with the bottle of wine, £20 the lot, with the coffee and liquor on the house. Ummmmm 80 dollars each, I think not.
Today we revisited the Grand Bazaar. This covered bazaar is a veritable feast of shops, they say there are 4,000 in total and the whole is divided into areas for jewellery, leather goods, carpets, brassware, ceramics and lots of fake textiles. It is very difficult to just browse in any of the shops or stalls as you are constantly battered with changing prices in an effort to make you buy.
Joan had shown interest in a pair of very nice quality brown leather gloves, to replace an almost worn out pair. The price started at £40 and by the time we walked out, having drunk the free apple tea, without the gloves, the price was down to £18. It's almost as if they are pleading with you to buy and I could well imagine that many would be embarrassed into buying.
The place is a definite must for any tourist, particularly the antiques area, but we would suggest that there are cheaper places to buy.
Today was our last day, but as our flight was not until late evening, we were able to leave our luggage and see a bit more. We had noticed that one of the busiest ferry boats went to a place called Katilkoy, to the south of Istanbul down the Marmara Sea. Our guide book and map suggested that there was a yacht harbour down there also, so it seemed right up our street.
Standard price for these trips, just as for the buses, was 40p. A 20 minute ferry trip and we were in the middle of Katilkoy and had discovered why all the people from Istanbul came here, the town was packed with shops, designer labels, department stores, the lot and considerably less expensive than in Istanbul town.
The weather had improved considerably over the last couple of days, so we walked for about 4 miles along the well laid out promenade until we reached the marina, had lunch and then back to the town for some window shopping. we took a mid afternoon ferry back to Istanbul, had an early meal in one of our favourite restaurants and caught the 9.30 flight home.
All in all, a very enjoyable break and we would certainly recommend Istanbul as a place to visit.
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