Author archive
4 July 2018
I woke around 0300 in Quito (around 1000 Madrid) and dozed till 0530 when I thought I could use my time productively. I did a few things on my to-do list that had been postponed for a few times before breakfast at 0800. We headed out at 0930 for a little wander before joining the […]
3 July 2018
We walked to Plaza de Espana to save on one metro interchange to get to the airport. Our nearest metro would require two changes instead of one. It was much easier than our arrival trip except that at peak hour, it was very busy. We hadn’t used our Tourist Pass (for the metro and other […]
2 July 2018
We had breakfast at McDonald’s. The traditional local breakfast is minced tomatoes on toast; the McDonald’s version failed on both parts: the minced tomato didn’t have much colour or flavour while the toast wasn’t nice. Our other choice, the potato tortilla in a bun which much better. There wasn’t much we specifically wanted to see […]
1 July 2018
Free Walking Tour I had booked a free walking tour departing from Plaza Mayor at 1000. Kim took an instant dislike to the guide based on his body language when interacting with the guide’s colleagues. He kept suggesting that we switch to another walking tour. Ignoring him, we continued with our booked tour and the […]
30 June 2018
We woke to our alarm at 0500 and readied ourselves. Hopping out of the lift at the ground floor, we clambered over the breakfast items laid out on the floor, waiting to be carted to the rooftop restaurant. The receptionist insisted that we had some coffee/tea and ordered the waiter, busy with transporting breakfast, to […]
29 June 2018
I thought I’d take Kim to Princes’ Islands today as it is a good and cheap way of seeing Istanbul from the water. We got on the public ferry around 0930 for a 1000 departure. It was vert busy on board with many Middle-Eastern tourists, some domestic tourists and a few foreigners. We called into […]
28 June 2018
Breakfast at the hotel was served on the rooftop overlooking the Golden Horn and the minaret of the mosque next door. Lovely! The plan for today to repeat for Kim, the sights we saw 26 years ago. I had repeated them in recent years and can easily show him the way there. And they’re all […]
27 June 2018
It is amazing how we made the morning disappear with doing very little before our long bus ride to Istanbul at 1200. We walked to Serdika Bus Station (next to the Train and Central Bus stations) where the bus was already there. Surprisingly, Metro Turizm, a Turkish company has Bulgarian-registered buses with Bulgarian livery. Onboard […]
26 June 2018
I had only booked the tour to Rila Monastery yesterday afternoon so it was lucky that there was availability at the last minute. It is not easily accessible by public transport. The bus left at 0900 from behind the St Alexander Cathedral (cathedral for the Bulgarain patriachate). We had the intention of visiting the Cathedral […]
25 June 2018
We had booked the 1030 bus from Veliko Tarnovo’s station to Sofia. We walked downhill to the station. The 3h bus ride was all smooth except Kim needed the toilet as a result of the diuretic effect of his blood pressure medication. The driver obliged with a stop since the onboard toilet was locked off. […]