Istanbul, Turkey - Aug 4

Canada bound!  Thankfully our flight is late enough in the day that we are able to sleep until about 9:00.  It’s a whole day of travelling ahead of us.  Hopefully there will be some sleep on one of the 3 planes we will be on.

We have only done the drive from the airport in the dark and the light confirms for us what a beautiful city Istanbul is.  The old city is cramped and congested, but that is the charm of it.  Once we are out of the old city the drive is calm and quick.  Ii is also incredibly green.  Both sides of the road are grass or parks and the boulevard is full of flowers. 

We agree that Turkey is a comfortable place.  People we encounter are mostly service industry people, but that is who we typically encounter wherever we go.  Here we get none of the European lack of interest.  People aren’t pushy, but are always around if you need them.  The shops are a bit different.  People always want to give you their ‘best price’, but aren’t at all in your face – nothing like Egypt or India.  In fact, yesterday we bought some Turkish delight and didn’t talk to a soul except for a sample and to pay.  Most of the service people shake your hand and some even introduced themselves by name.

To answer a few questions from comments…

-          Turkish cider was OK…quite sweet and served over ice.  Don’t think I’ll have one again.

-          Olive oil…not sure what combination we liked best.  There was a oil infused with chillies which was quite hot and tasty, one infused with rosemary that was a bit too bitter.

-          Gambling… 3 of a kind pays 30 to 1, straight flush pays 40 to 1.  Chris typically plays $10, I play $5.  In the end we were ahead by $400.

-          Chris staying humble…as humble as he ever is!