Istanbul

I haven’t posted for a few days as I’ve been so incredibly busy! The flight to Istanbul was pretty uneventful, apart from me being told off by Customs people in Dublin Airport because I took a picture of the Customs dog. Whoops.

Turkish Air business class is nice – they have an unidentified “champagne” which does all the right things, and they give a bowl of hazelnuts and dried fruit with their drinks. The meal was great too – some lovely appetisers and then a lamb and eggplant dish, just right to get in the Turkish mood!

On arrival at Istanbul airport, I used my “fast track” pass to go through passport control, but the “fast track” line ended up being slower than all the other lines. Should have held on to it for next time. At the arrivals hall I heard A yelling my name across the crowd of people and ran over to where she was waiting. Most of the others were already at the Starbucks having a coffee while they waited, but J and E were still to arrive. They soon did, and we found our driver and headed into Sultahmet. Such a gorgeous part of town!

The view from the Cozy Pub

We ended up being too late for our planned first night activity of watching the dervishes at Arasta Bazaar, so headed across to the Cozy Pub for a late dinner. The third floor terrace has great views across Istanbul to the Bosphorus, so we feasted our eyes on the Blue Mosque and Haggia Sophia while we feasted our tummies on more eggplant and lamb.

The cats in the square outside the hotel.

Our first full day was a busy one. We first took the tram, furnicular, and train to Sisli to visit Bella Costumes. Last time I was there the showroom was filled with cats, but this time she only had two dogs in the back rooms.

Cats

I fell in love with a bronzy-coppery-goldy costume that was about three sizes too small for me, and unfortunately she had run out of the gorgeous print fabric that it was made from. Happily, after much discussion and trooping through the back rooms to look at the (surprisingly small for such a well-known name) stashes of fabrics, the magic of Bella was that they could remake the skirt and make a new top. Hurrah! I also found a costume that did fit perfectly, but it was in gold, which I already have a few costumes in… but I ordered some coloured skirts to go with it, so at least I got something in the colours I was originally looking for.

Istanbul skyline

Next up was a quick dash to Taxim, where we had a dance class with Ahmet Ogren, the fantastic Turkish dancer we had a class with last time I was here. It was amazing – great new Roman steps that built on the stuff we already knew. I definitely recommend having a class with him if you possibly can.

After Ahmet’s class

Exhausted, we headed back to the hotel to clean up before our delayed Dervishes dinner. The tram was incredibly packed, and hot and smelly, and just before we reached our stop, a young man started losing his lunch. Pretty yuck. Unfortunately, E was standing next to him and collected some collateral damage, and the tram became even more crowded and hot as everyone tried to move out of the way, with nowhere to go. Poor guy. At least we were near to our stop, and E could quickly go and shower.

Dinner in the Arasta Bazaar

We repaired to the deserted roof terrace to watch the sights and have a drink before heading out for the evening. The whirling dervish at Arasta Bazaar was great. It’s always a fun night, with lots of food, the sweet-smelling shisha, drinks and live music. J caught the eye of one waiter who was trying his hardest to flirt with her, but she wouldn’t have any of it, which made it even funnier to watch! Possibly because of his soft spot for her, we all got an extra tea after the meal, too!

Whirling Dervish

We had a very early start the next morning, as we were on a 6.50am flight to Kayserie to get to Goreme, so a (relatively) early night was had.

Walking back to the hotel