Author archive
2 September 2013
Above: Eilean Donan castle on our drive approaching Skye. Leaving Istanbul It is my birthday today and I’m flying to Edinburgh to meet Kim. The airport shuttle collected me at 0600; I had to check it was going to Ataturk Airport rather than Sabiha Gokcen just to be safe! I like Ataturk because is much closer, […]
1 September 2013
Today I wanted to explore the more European urban area of Istanbul. The main area of Taksim was somewhere I hadn’t seen much of previously. I took the tram to Kabatas and transferred to the underground funicular to Taksim Square. From there it was a pleasant walk downhill on Istiklal pedestrian mall down to sea […]
31 August 2013
Today I wanted to repeat some of the sights of Istanbul that I had done on my previous visits. First was the Blue Mosque, known by that knickname becase of the blue tiles in the interior. It involved some queueing and was free. While it is beautiful, my heart goes to the Ayasofya which I […]
30 August 2013
My prebooked taxi didn’t arrive. After 10 minutes I decided to hail one. The driver agreed to the correct price unlike the one coming in from the airport. He turned out to be a wonderfully friendly chap who had an interest in football and his club is sponsored by some rich Malaysian businessman. Despite the […]
29 August 2013
I took the 0900 bus back to Sarajevo which got me in at 1130. I had a brief rest before starting my tour from the Tourist Information Centre to the Tunnel of Life. As Sarajevo was largely surrounded by the Serb forces, then tunnel under the airport runway allowed food and supplies to be brought […]
28 August 2013
I had planned to make an excursion today to a nice town called Blagaj or the waterfalls at Kravice. I couldn’t decide and neither could the others that I had invited. It started raining around 0900; it came down in big globules like in the tropics. There were several breaks which were nearly sufficient for […]
27 August 2013
I went to Mostar 11 years ago when the old stone bridge destroyed during the war hadn’t been rebuilt yet. There was a wooden one in its place. I wanted to seem how things have progressed and whether the rift between the Muslim and Croat side had healed. The bus left Sarajevo at 1130 and […]
26 August 2013
Today I do begin a side-trip to Bosnia & Herzegovina. I had went to Herzegovina in 2002 and other parts of the Balkans during several other trips. It is a rather expensive place to get to from Europe by flight due to limited options. But from Istanbul, I managed to prebook great fares on Pegasus […]
25 August 2013
Above: Since my first visit over twenty years ago, Turkish bus services have been at the leading edge of modernity and comfort. It was an uneventful day with just a bus ride back to Istanbul. It was an even nicer bus today but the signature lemon-scented cologne given out periodically was missing! It only took […]
24 August 2013
Around the Old Town Safranbolu is a well preserved Ottoman town and is also famous for saffron which is grown in the nearby area. I spent the day walking around town and finally going up to the viewpoint. It is quite touristy amongst domestic tourists and also Koreans, Taiwanese and Chinese. I suppose there are […]