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Our
adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
  
A very early start for our trip to Istanbul. Because Bill and Margaret are here we all four decided on a visit to this wonderful city. A very early start as our original flight was switched to 7.30 a.m. but it gave us an extra day there, so it was marmalade butties and coffee at 4.30 before setting off .
We booked in to our hotel in Taksim square before in fact the rooms were ready. Once we had unpacked we set off to walk all the way down to the older part of Istanbul crossing Galletta bridge to the waterfront area. When you do this you get some stunning views of the real Istanbul and crossing the bridge you see hundreds of fishermen on both sides catching a free lunch for the family. As we crossed we thought for a moment that we had landed in the wrong city, is this really Venice?. Speaking of lunch we realised that we were all hungry by now, so the only thing to do was to enjoy the traditional mackrel and salad in bread, fish doner, which is served at many of the ticket stands by the ferry boat area. They were absolutely delicious.
After a stop for a drink, to wash down the doner kebabs, we headed for Topkapi Palace. Joan and I had been here about 3 years ago and found the whole thing quite stunning and showed what an opulent lifestyle the emperors had. This time apart from the Treasury with its stunning diplay of jewels, where incidently you are not allowed to take photos, some of the grand rooms with mosaics everywhere, we visited the harem. We were told that there could be up to 1,000 ladies available for the emperor, now thats just greed! The views from the grounds right up the Bosphorous were quite stunning and it is quite amazing how very busy this waterway is, not only with ferry boats, cruise liners and small container ships, but also huge tankers going up to the Black sea area and presumably the Russian ports.
At the end of a first enjoyable day, we took a bus back to Taksim square, a reasonably early dinner and bed by 9 p.m.
Second day of exporing. We took the bus down to the ferry terminal and from there walked up the hill to first visit the Hagia Spohia. This mosque is probably the oldest in Istanbul and is famed for its mosaics which line most of the interior. The building is quite magnificant with many columns and intricate column heads which have been carefully restored in many cases. There is an incredible amount of very expensive restoration work going on and Joan and I remember that when we came here three years ago they had scaffolding everywhere then.
From the Hagia Sophia you can walk across the park to the the Blue Mosque. This is a mosque which is in daily use for prayer and when we first arrived we could not go in because of this and had to walk around the bazaar which is situated in the old stable areas. Joan and I found and bought a very nice bed throw to go in our new bedroom, when it eventually gets finished. The interior of the Blue Mosque lives up to its name with acres of blue carpet, acres of blue mosaics all over the walls and domes and some stunning windows.
We lunched in this area and then went further uphill to the grand bazaar. A must for every tourist really but buying is with extreme caution as most things are overpriced and tourist attractive. We were all invited in to a carpet shop, or should I say dragged in, where we were given apple tea, very nice, and treated to the full sales speech about carpets. They start off with the wool carpets, progress to the wool silk mix and finally to the all silk hand made carpets. We were shown a 1 x 2 meter silk carpet for the bargain price of £4,750.00 shipped to your home. Must have been a joke, but how many fall for these jokes.
The plates of meat were beginning to feel the results of all the walking, so a ferry trip was planned for day three.
You can get on a ferry boat from the Eminonu area of Istanbul, just over the Galetta bridge. In fact, if like us you are staying in places like Taxim, you can get on a bus for 1.30TL which takes you right down to this area. The ferry boat we got on takes you all the way up the Bosphorus, stopping at many of the riverside villages and towns on the way. The trip lasts almost two hours and stops at the most northerly village before the Black Sea. Cost for a return is 7.50TL and the boat stops until 3 p.m. allowing plenty of time for a good lunch.
On the way you pass under the bridge over the Bosporus which has a tremendous span across the river. There are in fact now two of these bridges taking traffic to the Asian side. There are many lovely villages along the river and one of the famous sights is the Fortress of Europe which was built at the narrowest point of the river in a time of only 4 months. Think I'm going to tell our builder about this timescale.
Because we all enjoyed the ferry trip so much yesterday we all four decided that another ferry trip was the order of the day. This time we got a boat that went south of Istanbul down to the Marmara Sea and the Princes Islands. This time the journey was about one and a half hours with five different stops on the way, this was just one of the Princes Islands, all of them looked very beautiful probably a wonderful place to live in summertime but remote from the mainland, only accessible by ferry.
We got off at Buyukada, the last and the largest of the islands. Here there is no motorised transport so we explored with a carriage ride. The island is very Colonial and clearly, at what is now the end of the summer season, many of the owners had gone back to their Istanbul winter homes.
After the carriage ride we went to a waterfront restaurant for a Seafood lunch. This was absolutely delicious but very expensive. I suppose that this is just a tourist place really and you pay for the privilage of eating the best fresh fish in super surroundings.
Back to Istanbul with the 3.30 p.m. ferry and in the evening we walked across to Taxsim square to take a wander around the Ramadam Fair. This was village craft fair set up for the fasting period and they were all selling their goods and showing their skills, including this potter.
We then went up to the rooftop bar of the Ceylon Intercontinental Hotel for a G & T and the view from the top. Sorry about the photo quality, but it was very thick double glazing so I could not use flash and was trying to hold my breath whilst the shutter operated, but you get the idea. By the way, at £28.00 for four G & T's you really only want to go for the view and one drink.
Oh yes almost forgot to show you this pic of Joan with my little pony!. She really just loves all animals and takes every opportunity show it.
Thursday, our last day here and we are on a 9.30 p.m. flight back to the island. Pack and check out leaving our bags in the hotel and then we had all decided that we should experience the Turkish Bath. If you think that you are going to get pictures of us in there, then think again..... A wonderful experience and we all came out feeling well battered but very fresh. The baths we went to where divided in to two separate sections for male and female and the girls confessed to having really enjoy the pampering they got.
We then took a bus down to old Istanbul again and this time visited The Spice Bazaar. This in fact is just a whole maze of streets, where not just spices are for sale but just about anything you could want, such as anything in wood. It was absolutely incredible to see and we spent a couple of hours wandering, with a coffee break in the middle, just being amazed at what was available.
Back to the Taxsim area, where we had an early evening meal in a local restaurant and got ripped off for £30.00 for a bottle of local wine. Our fault really, because the restaurant did not have a licence, so they just went downstairs to the little market shop and bought in, so no prices on the menu. A sort of own goal really.
Having got to bed around 1 a.m. after the Istanbul trip Joan nad I decided that a look at what work had been done on the new en-suite area during our absence.
Horror of horrors, the tiling in the new bathroom was what one could only term atrocious. A call to our builder was the first step and then a large discussion about the standard. It appears that his regular tiling man, who had done all the downstairs work was not available so he had asked his foreman to get a replacement, this one was his second cousin three times removed or something, but one thing he didn't know about was tiling.
Today and tommorow they are removing all the tiles, cleaning up the walls and starting again with the original tiling man. Give the builder his due, this is all at his cost and these were expensive Italian tiles we had picked. Of course all this means another delay in completion but we will just have to live with that.
Back to the local news this week. Cyprus Today is reporting the fact that the Greek Cypriot who sued the Orams has lodged an appeal aginst the recent London High Court decision. Not really a big surprise because how else where they going to keep up the anti-TRNC publicity going.
A new government coalition has been formed as the old was in serious trouble. This new government is saying that it is going to clean up its act and make foreigners life easier. Now call me a cynic if you like, but I would love to see this actually happen by cutting red tape, speeding up paperwork etc and equality of charges for mainland permits and those for "third counry" nationals. The proof will eventually come out I suppose, but more professional employment techniques in local government and less jobs for the boys would be a good start.
Kib-Tek, the local electricity company, has admitted to being short of trained staff to help in sorting out the power problems in TRNC. They are suggesting that lack of government investment has made it impossible to recruit and train. They are warning of more frequent and prolonged power cuts this winter. Must get another jerry can to keep a supply of diesel.
A Mr Bora, who owns a local building company and is a previous mayor of Nicosia, said at a Homebuyer Pressure Group meeting this week that he was shocked at the problems facing some expat homeowners. What makes me think that this guy and probably many of the local politicians have buried their heads in the sand or do they just not listen to what goes on around them?
Last evening we introduced Bill and Margaret to the pleasures of The Saffron restaurant and this morning I spent some time on the computer with Bill, showing him how to download all his photo files, set up separate folders and then copy them on to CD's so that he can take them all back home and show the kids on their own DVD players.
Whilst doing this I discovered that Margaret had taken a sneaky of Joan and I in completely relaxed mode. Maybe I should replace the picture on the introduction page with this one, during weeks when we find it dufficult to keep pace with the website updates.
We all had a nice relaxing day around the pool as the weather is still holding good and there were no builders around today. The new bathroom has actually been fully stripped now ready for the re-tiling to commence tomorrow.
Yesterday afternoon we bought four nice big Sea Bream, especially for today, so Bill and I fired up the charcoal and whilst the girls made the things to go with them Bill did a superb job of the cooking and I kept him well supplied with some nice wine to make sure he was amply rewarded for his efforts.
I have had a couple of days of running around and playing catch up in the kitchen/air conditioning department but today, apart from a short trip in to town, we devoted to Bill and Margaret.
They are leaving us this evening after a very lovely three weeks together and we hope that they will be back again next year as we all four rub along quite well together. We will also try to find some time next summer to go and visit them in their new home in Harrogate.
We spent the lunch time sitting in the sun at Sunset Beach having had a swim in the sea, which incidently is much warmer than our pool now, follwed by the very excellent bacon butties that they serve up at lunch time. To hell with the diet......
Late afternoon we swopped cars with George, to give us more luggage space, and then went over to Nicosia where we parked up in the old town, near the mosque and then went to the Spanish/Italian restaurant which is in the grounds. After an excellent pasta meal we drove them over to Larnaca airport. We were stopped on the Greek Cypriot side of the border and their cases where very thoroughly searched, looking of course for any papers related to property in the North. Just another warning, don't carry any paperwork around with you if you travel this way, there is just no point in playing into their hands. One couple were standing there looking very forlorn, with their cases open on the customs table.
We left them at the airport around 11 p.m.to check in, but their flight was not until 2.30 a.m. They just insisted that we headed off home as it was already late enough they said.
Today we went with eight others to a garden party organised in aid of the Army Benevolent Fund. Ann Lloyd, before she came over to TRNC was very heavily involved with this organisation and is continuing her interest whilst here. She booked a table for ten people in the garden of the British High Commission in Nicosia. We all paid for the privilage, took our own food and drink and listened to a super performance by the REME Military Band.
On the same day it just happened to be Roger & Gill's 43rd wedding anniversary, so the gang did a sneaky and got a big chocolate cake for them, to help the celebration.
A great afternnon out despite the fact that we had some rain and the band had to take shelter for the sake of their instruments and we had to cover everything up to prevent the situation becoming rather soggy. The rain only lasted about 15 minutes so did not really dampen the proceedings too much.
Today Joan and I went over to the south side to get a few bits and pieces that you just can't get here. Prior to that we had a quick meeting with our builder and we all inspected the bathroom tiling. You would not believe the difference a professional tiler could make to the whole job.
Since Bill and Margaret went back we have had some really heavy downpours, one of these was the afternoon whilst we were coming down the hill in to Kyrenia, the road was awash, but it still doesn't seem to slow down some of the locals, amazing! When we got back to Lapta they seem to have had very little of this rain but clearly the storm caused problems as around 6.15 p.m. the power went off and in fact stayed off until early morning. Joan and I got out the candles and the emergency lights, lit the gas with matches and did a very nice pasta meal with some prawns, mushrooms, tomatoes and fresh cream.
We then spent most of the evening watching a really impressive Electric Storm. It was quite staggering to see as obviously the storm was over on the mainland, behind the clouds covering us, so there was absolutely no noise from the accompanying thunder and no rain here. I took about 40 pictures, trying to time the shutter exposure with the lightening flashes, interesting stuff and about 4 or 5 of them worked quite well.
A few days of no internet at all is not very funny. At first we thought that it was as a result of the electric storms but it turned out to be some vindictive act against our internet supplier. It would seem that this person had succeeded in getting access to the satellite service supplier and then changing the Internet Club website pages to say that the Internet Club was closing down and that they had access to all customer mail and banking passwords etc and were misusing this information. They had no choice but to cut everybody off and then try to recreate the entire system with new passwords on the system. It would seem that four of them spent 48 hours working non stop to get everybody live again. All credit to them for that and now we can all get mail and internet access again.
As we had no internet access until late afternoon, I was able to catch up on some of the outstanding jobs around the house, such as hanging new inside and outside lights and then eventually catching a quick glimpse of the local news.
The highways department says that the first 5 km of the new Girne bypass should be open by April next. If that comes off it should relieve the congestion in town quite considerably.
The paper reports on the new upheaval in the High Street in the middle of Girne. It is not long since the local authority finished re-laying all the new road and pavements and now it is all dug up again, this time they say for new street lighting, a project they did not have the money for first time round. I must say. having driven down there last week, it is an absolute mess amd must be a real nightmare for both pedestrians and the shopkeepers.
Anybody coming over next weekend should remember that it is the Bayram at the end of Ramadan beginning next Monday 23rd October and everything will be closed for three days minimum. It is likely that some businesses will remin closed for the whole week. Make sure you have enough money etc as the machines will empty very quickly over the weekend.
Inflation was predicted to be 5 to 6% for the whole of 2006 but figures show that it has already rocketed to 18%. This is a serious problem for the new government but difficult to control as the TRNC uses the Turkish Lira as currency and has no influence on its exchange against foreign currencies. Add to this the fact that inflation in Turkey is also much higher than predicted and the problem grows. The construction industry says that there is no sign of the predicted building boom as a result of the positive result in the Orams case, but then inflation rises like we currently have makes retirement here and holidays in the TRNC less attractive than in previous periods.
Things are moving along at a good pace now and the bathroom looks as if it might be finished in a couple of days.
We had planned to go out with George and Susan to LD's when we got a small call for help. It seems that one of the builders trucks had flattened a pole in the road outside their villa, giving them a small electric problem and making it almost impossible to get the car out. The electric was still live and the builders were last seen, with a JCB, trying to lift the pole and pop it into a newly dug hole as a temporary measure. what about all that health and safety stuff!!!!
The bathroom is now almost there, complete with new tiles! and a nice big shower cubicle. This room is 75% of the old dining room so is really large and we are having some big cupboards made to house towels etc and one long cupboard/draw base with his and hers washbasins, these are yet to arrive as the cabinet maker has been devoid of electric for most of the last two weeks. Difficult to shout and scream when that happens.
The same cabinet maker has turned our old kitchen in to the dressing room and even the boss seems to have some cupboard space over, so far. This picture only shows one run of drawers and one corner of wardrobes but I seem to have still only been allocated a small corner.
Yesterday afternoon they came and cut out the old window in our old bedroom, right down to ground level, to make way for new patio doors which will be access to the old kitchen terrace. True to Cypriot form, they suddenly decided that the glass man would not be ready to install this evening. Under normal circumstances, not a problem, but now there is another storm brewing up and Joan and I are due to have dinner with Atay and his wife. So what do we get, you guessed it, a sheet of flapping plastic to partially cover the hole. Good job we moved out of that bedroom at the beginning of the week.
At least there are no stairs up to that terrace any more, so off we went to dinner. It made me think that in UK, with the house wide open, we would have hired in a security guard with a shotgun and three very nasty alsatians.
Dinner was superb at the fairly new Patina restaurant over in Catalkoy. Atay and Alicia had been there before and invited us to join them, together with two of the Iceland gang who are still over here. This restaurant needs adding to the list of, very good, special occasion restaurants.
Joan and I went off to Arapkoy this morning, for a customer furniture delivery, just as the window men arrived. When we got home, they had fitted the last three double glazed windows and the new patio door but left a real mess behind them. It appears that they were all anxious to get a plane over to Istanbul for the Bayram holiday forgetting to clean up the customers premises after them. A few irate phone calls later and an agreement was made to get our cleaning lady in at their expense and our dressing table from that room can go to the cabinet makers to be sanded and re-varnished. Seems they were using it to stand on to reach the window. Will they never learn over here that all of this eats in to their profits.
At least our new bedroom is now ready and our new bed has arrived. So with half a bathroom, a new huge bedroom and a complete dressing room we are almost ready for the next visitor to arrive on Monday evening.
Cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning, that is the order of the day, but we have all day today and a little more than half of tomorrow before we have to head off to Larnaca to collect Arie, who arrives from Amsterdam at 8 p.m. At least now with just the snagging list and a few extra bits we are almost there.
Headline news this week is the fact that "the house for a fiver" winner has still not seen any signs of his new property in fact the pictures of the development show that only the basic shell has so far been put up. There is now a ministry investigation into the whole affair. Reg Heybetli, the owner of Victoria Homes who offered the villa says the villa should be completed within the next six months. I wouldn't hold my breath if I was the winner, I know another owner of a Reg Heybetli house who has been waiting 2 1/2 years for his villa and now has employed the guy who did our work, to complete for him, as he could see no end to the problems and he also tells me there are a number of court cases pending against Mr Reg.
It's a soggy October and thats official. Rainfall levels are up almost 40% on previous records. Lets hope that November seems a little better as we have visitors in that period.
The new minister heading up the Environment and Natural Resources Ministry has pledged action on the environment. He is initially attacking the quarries to inspect and control their activities. I would also think that an active environmental education program is of the utmost importance if this island is to reconfirm its position as a tourist place to be proud of.
Monday was a busy day. First we had to complete all the cleaning before setting off to collect Arie from Larnaca. We took advantage of the fact that his plane was not due to arrive until 8.10 p.m. and set off early to do some shopping.
There is now an M&S Home Store in the south, so we were able to go and buy something that it is impossible to get here, fitted sheets for a king size mattress and also a new alarm clock for my side of the bed. Why this has to be my side of the bed is a good question! We also went to the Superhome DIY store for some odd bits then to the hypermarket to stock up ready for Arie's visit.
We got to the airport at 8.15 only to find that the flight had landed 20 minutes early, so there he was walking through customs almost as soon as we arrived. Nice one, the first 20 minutes parking is free.
Traditional with Arie's annual visit, on his own, is a stop off at Ezic Chicken House in Kyrenia on the way home. Cheap, cheerful and good quality food at a very good price.
Because this is still the Bayram holiday, nobody is doing any work except for the odd jobs around the house and now that I have a helper it makes things a little easier and more fun. We managed today to adjust the old roller blinds for width and fit them in the dressing room, where the cabinet maker has put a special pelmet.
Thıs evenıng we got the gas BBQ workıng to do some rump steak we had bought ın the south and added thıs to mushrooms frıed potatoes and salad delıcıous washed down wıth some Chılean wıne we had bought ın M&S.
As it was the first working day after the big holiday I was able to take one of my Icelander customers down to the curtain shop and to one of our furniture suppliers so that she could select things for her apartment and then meet the kitchen boys who installed her white goods, a happy lady who can move in later this week and enjoy her own place.
Being Thursday we took Arie to our favourite mid week eatery, LD's . We were joined by other happy eaters, George & Susan and Pat & Brian. He had been there before with the kids, during his summer visit and new that it was good food and a good laugh during the evening.
Friday, Ugh. One of us has to be in the village by 8 a.m. to collect our cleaning lady, guess who drew the short straw. Today I had also arranged to have my car serviced and this is done by me exchanging cars with one of the guys from Tasas, at Astro supermarket, a good arrangement which saves me having to hang around in Nicosia whilst they do the service.
This afternoon I took Arie down town as he needed to do some little bits of shopping which fell in nicely with me meeting Bob and my car again at 5.30 p.m.
Stay at home evening with a spaghetti dinner.
Further to my comment on a newspaper article last week re the "House for a Fiver" story it appears that Mr Heybetli is considering taking legal action against the newspaper as he says that the builder is at fault, he has apparantly paid all the money to the builder, so we must wait and see if what is being said is journalism fiction.
Still remains very black and stormy. Very unseasonal weather and lets just hope it clears up soon as the garden needs some special attention and it's just too wet out there, also of course it means the painter is not going to get back to finish his work. Unfortunately today's newspaper shows a forecaast of black with black and more black clouds. At least it has the decency to rain and storm at night leaving us with dry and moderately warm days, strange stuff which I guess the experts would call global warming.
Guess it's a black day for Gary Robb too. The newspaper is saying that time is running out for him, he must either finish his half built development or the company will be liquidated and the work completed by government contractors, with a legal invetigation against him starting. Now I thought that this was all on going for some time, what a tangled web they weave.
The Esentepe golf course fees have been announced and am I glad not to be golf fanatice. The suggestion is, for unlimited use, a joining fee of £4,500 with an annual fee on top of £1,600 with similar high prices for other types of membership and for green fees. Guess this is outside many peoples price range, not being a golfer I would not know if this is normal, seems a lot of money to me.
The new Natural Resources ministry is begining to take note of some illegal dumping in ravines etc. All sorts of ministerial promises are being made. Could this mean some action against those responsible and the local authorities who allow it to happen. Now that would be really nice and could be followed up by a big educational campaign that explains why it is spoiling this once beautiful island.
It seems that the EU is now suggesting that it's citizens report border harassment when crossing in to the South. The suggestion is that this harassment contravenes the the principle of free movement.
There is very good advice in the paper about taking out travel insurance when coming to TRNC. There have been a number of cases this summer where people have been ill and not able to meet the medical bills. In one unfortunate case, a man died and his body is still here in the morgue and will not be released until fees of £5,000 have been met. Take heed and take care.
Many have been pulling their hair out at the long delay in getting title deeds here, sometimes it takes three years, well there is an article in the paper saying that it can take five years or more in the South and this is hurting their economy. Makes interesting reading........
On the basis that many hands make light work and the fact that Arie is still here, so can earn his keep, I recruited him to help with some of the jobs that are easier to do with some help. It's amazing you get the builders in and then discover that there is much more things for you to do yourself when they have almost finished. Still it is Sunday and we did not exactly work too hard as we had to let the "full English breakfast" settle first.
In amongst our surprises for today was the sudden appearance of the cabinet makers with our units for the new bathroom. I had mentioned that they had been having power cut off problems and were trying to catch up, well totally unannounced and not at all like TRNC workers, they turn up at 3.30 Sunday afternoon and say OK if we fit these. Startled we were, but grateful also, so now the plumber can come and fit the sinks tomorrow.
Joan and I had discovered, not too well hidden I hasten to add, a full leg of lamb in the freezer. This we had taken out yesterday to defrost and then popped it in the oven this evening, with all the trimmings. Far too much for three, so George and Susan had to come and help us with the eating.....yummy.
I had arranged to collect one of the visiting Icelanders to show her around the furniture places and Arie wanted to brush up on his motorcycle theory, ready for the test he is taking next week. Yep, he has bought himself a flash Suzuki 600 but now has to do all the tests before he can play around at being all flash himself. So it was a bit of a busy day with us just settling down for a quiet meal together as tomorrow is his last day before reality sets in and he is back at work.
Well the plumber has been and fitted the sinks etc. and they look really great. We had this unit made to take up the space as the bathroom is really quite large and the two sinks were the only solution that seemed to make sense. We also had a towel cupboard made to go behind the door and take up more space, the whole looks now really great.
Had to go down town, so to speak today so took Arie to do his last minute shopping bits. Thought about having the car cleaned, but after fifteen minutes on a building site, decided that this would be a complete waste of money and time.
This evening we went to Haci Ali's restaurant before having to get up at 4 a.m. tomorrow to take Arie back to the airport. We were joined by George & Susan, Brian & Pat and a huge great rain storm. The meal was as usual good value and whilst we were in there we heard the rain beating down. When we came to go out we found that the police where across the road, closing off the road because of a power cable down and that the driving wind and rain had flooded the entrance way. It was fun to watch the staff trying to keep it at bay and possibly not knock down the ceiling in the process. Only one thing to do sit and relax with a free coffee whilst waiting. Once the police had given the all clear the poor security guy was given our car keys and had to leg it across the main road for the cars, he was just a trifle damp after this exercise.
When we three got home, we found a big surprise. Hissing Sid.. Now this is one of the poisonous variety, but in this case not very big. Either the cats had brought him or he had decided that this was the best place to shelter and had found the cat flap slightly ajar. Anyway it was big gloves on and a long throw from the touchline into the field behind. Have had second thoughts about the cats bringing him in as they were keeping their distance whilst remaining curious.
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