Around The World with Jaimie and Mario
Turkey Blogs
Day 161 - Istanbul PDF
Written by Jaimie   
Monday, 05 June 2006
Our first full day in Istanbul, and we are already falling in love with Turkey.  We were woken early by the 6am Call to Prayer, making us feel like we've come full circle as we are back to Muslim territory.  It was easy to get back to sleep though, and we later woke to bright blue skies and warm sunshine this morning!  We made our way downstairs for our hotel's included breakfast.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 June 2006 )
Day 162 - Istanbul PDF
Written by Mario   
Tuesday, 06 June 2006

We were incorrect on the 6am call to prayer yesterday.  It's actually around 4am (and loud!).  Oh well.  Worse than an early morning call was the smell.   In this 19th century building, converted to hotel in 1980, it smelled like all of the playful cats in the neighborhood came into our room and went to the bathroom.  It was horrible (like we were smelling 200 years of sewer rot).   The previous night was pretty bad as well - but this morning, it was unbreathable.  In all of our travels, we have never had a room smell this bad (that's bad!).   I went downstairs at 6am to talk to the desk person.  No rooms.   I wasn't happy, and told him to talk to his boss about our pricing (we were way overpaying to begin with - but now it was ridiculous).    We opened the door and window, and with the breeze, it cleared up a bit.  By 9 am, when we actually got up, it was much better.  

Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 June 2006 )
Day 163 - Istanbul and wrapping up Turkey PDF
Written by Jaimie   
Wednesday, 07 June 2006
Our stay at our new hotel ended up being much better than waking up to the awful smell next door.  We slept in a little and then went to discover what was at the breakfast.  Again just tomatoes, cucumbers, bread, cheese and coffee.  Not a wide selection, but it was OK.  We finished up doing a little bit of research on Bulgaria since we had a pretty good internet connection.  We checked out and left our bags at the hotel, heading for the train station.  Along the way we passed a pastry shop where we purchased a sesame bagel/bread and a nutty pastry - both delicious.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 08 June 2006 )


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