Articles from this Category
17 November 2021
Above: The queue at arrival passport control at Istanbul looked shocking but it moved pretty quickly. Leaving Paris Having gone to sleep at 2100 last night, I woke up at 0400 after 7 respectable hours. I had set the alarm for a 0545 wake up and a walk to the Roissybus at 0610 and departure […]
31 October 2019
Cruising the Bosphorus Today I have to kill the entire day before my flight to Kuala Lumpur at 0135 tomorrow morning. I stayed indoors after breakfast to attend to admin before checking out at 1130. My rough plan was to hop on one of the ferries. At one station, they were going to Hydarpasar which […]
30 October 2019
Dolmabahce Palace After breakfast, I took the tram to Dolmabahce Palace. This palace had been on my radar since my first visit 27 years ago. But having seen a few opulent palaces through the years, in fell down my priority list. But now, I have done and repeated many things in Istanbul, so it’s popped […]
29 October 2019
Leaving Sharm I got to Sharm el Sheikh airport just after midnight. With my departure at 0340 I expected check-in to open at 0040. A queue had built up and airport security started checking documents to enter the check-in area. I then realised it was for the Pegasus flight to Istanbul. I had a short […]
15 October 2019
Preparing for Iraqi Kurdistan My flight to a new adventure starting in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan departs at 1835 this evening. I thought I could do a bit of sightseeing this morning. But this is a familiar city and I’d just be largely repeating myself. And I have two late night departures coming in the next […]
14 October 2019
Exploring Asia In my various stays in Istanbul, I’ve never explored the Asian shores, except for getting to Sabiha Gokcen Airport (SAW). I’ve been close to the various parts on the ferries, but that’s it. Today, I thought I’d remedy that. I walked to the ferry terminal at Eminonu and found the pier for Kadikoy. […]
13 October 2019
Locating places Sightseeing wasn’t a priority today as I had been to Istanbul many times. I thought I’d locate a few places to smoothen the way for later: First up, I found the Eminonu bus stop for getting to the airport. While I expected it be directly across the multi-lane road from where I had […]
12 October 2019
Flying out of Suvarnabhumi My flight to Istanbul was scheduled for 0925. Istanbul is the gateway to my next adventure in Iraqi Kurdistan and then Sharm el Sheikh. I woke at 0545 and left the hotel at 0630 for Suvarnabhumi Airport. I had pessimistically allowed an hour’s ride on Grab to get to the airport, […]
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 […]