WEDNESDAY 8th JULY 2009 (ARRIVING in ISTANBUL)

WEDNESDAY 8th JULY 2009

We had an early start to the day as we wanted to see all the sights along the Bosphorus River (or the Strait of Istanbul). We were on deck at 6.15am and spent the next two hours rubber-necking, taking in some fabulous sights. Trees, hills, buildings (ancient and new), Mosques (by the hundreds) and of course the ever busy waterway. Have never seen so many ships, boats, ferry's and other water-craft in all my life, criss-crossing in every direction every minute of the day. We shared this experience with Chris, Peter, Marc and Stanislav of course.

It was 9.00am before Paul was instructed to take The HORS off the ship but it was another hour before the passengers were allowed off. Our ferry was surrounded by a HUMUNGOUS ocean cruiser at one end and a MONSTER of a sailing ship at the other.

We had our photo taken at the 'Welcome to Istanbul' sign then wondered what we might be in for at Passport Control. Paul had worried himself into a state after being permanently scarred from the Ukraine experience and was nervous about how the bike will be received...!!! But we needn't have worried. We no sooner were in the Customs building and the name 'DICKSON' was called out. We went forward and were handed our passports complete with entry visa stamps, our luggage was scanned, we were shown to the vehicle section, they checked the number-plate, engine and frame numbers against the documents and we were out of there. WHAT A JOY - how civilized - this is how it SHOULD be done. We were already in love with Turkey.

As we rode off the Port our Green Card was checked and we were on our way to face a city of 19 million people. With map in hand we were off and realised we weren't too far from where we wanted to stay - an area called SULTANAHMET. We had traveled no more that 50 metres and realised everyone that drove past slowed, waved madly and gave us huge smiles before they were on their way. Hey, this is okay. Then one fellow on a scooter asked where we were going, then said "Follow me, I will take you there". Hey, does it get any better than this. We followed the coast road for a bit then turned inland and wound our way up through the very narrow, cobble-stoned streets of Sultanahmet. We stopped in a small carpark - there's no way we would have found it and no way we would've found anywhere to park The HORS within cooee of this area. We were sincerely grateful to this man. His name is ADIL, he is a motorcyclist and has traveled extensively throughout many countries and we arranged to meet at the same spot at 8.00pm.

We then went off in search of somewhere to stay. We walked about 3 steps before Fikret KILIC stopped to chat - he just happened to be the tout for a near-by carpet shop! He invited us in for tea, which we accepted . We met the owner of the carpet shop, Nurullah KASIMOGLU, who was an extremely funny man and we laughed much. They told us of a few places we could stay and where they could get us a better deal. In fact the price was halved. We expected this as Istanbul is famous for its 'carpet men'. It did make life easier for us. We checked out the options and chose one across the road from Nurullah's carpet shop. I told Nurullah I can keep an eye on him and make sure he's working. He rolled his eyes and said I was just like his mother - a true compliment. More laughter. Hotel SPINA was smack-bang in the middle of SULTANAHMET where we could almost touch the 'Blue Mosque' on one side and the 'Haghia Sofya' on the other. PERFECT.

'Haghia' by the way means

'Divine' and 'Sofya' means 'Wisdom'.

We spent the afternoon wandering around - not too far mind you as each sight is so beautiful you could just sit and look all day. Everywhere we went we were offered a small glass of tea or water. The Turkish people are so incredibly friendly and lovely - we were almost levitating in delirium after the experiences of the past couple of weeks.

As arranged we were back at the carpet shop by 5.00pm. We were seated and offered 'tea' (water for me) and then got to watch as swanky customers entered the shop and were shown 1,500 year old carpets! Where did these carpets come from? Old palaces, but apparently royalty have cottoned on to their value and they are few and far between now. When the customers left the lights were turned down and I was presented with a BIRTHDAY CAKE and SINGING. Double WOW. This is great. I had already decided that I would celebrate my 50th in Istanbul rather than on the Ukrainian ferry...!!! The cake was duly cut into pieces and was DELICIOUS. How incredibly nice of them.

In the evening we found a small cafe around the corner called 'The Meat House' and it had the most delicious food. It's so good to eat things with 'flavour', smell the spices and see colour in the food.

We met up with Adil and his wife Tatiana at the agreed time and retraced our steps this time soaking up the evening atmosphere. Words cannot describe how beautiful the Mosques are in the evening light. When Adil and Tatiana left we continued to experience the 'Life of Istanbul'.