Had such an amazing time last September in Greece sailing ,,thought we must do it again...this time the Dodecanese coast. since we saw Athens last time why not fly to Turkey? Boarded our air Canada flight from Moncton New Brunswick to Istanbul via Toronto on September 2nd for adventure and excitement. after a sleeping pill assisted night flipping , flopping, twisting and turning trying to sleep we arrived at 09:30....OMG my body thinks it's 03:30 ....Just started to settle and all the damn lights come on and they serve breakfast....are you kidding....OK time to acclimatize .

Arrive in Istanbul and quickly realize we are in one of the most magical cities in the world. ...off to our Boutique hotel in the center of town to stow our gear
This bagel toting local made us smile



Out to explore we go....Ward and I choose a Bosphorus boat tour...This cool city is separated by this amazing body of Water. Black Sea to the North and the Sea of Marmara to the South. It was truly remarkable...What other city can you be in Europe one minute then cross the bridge and be in Asia the next....very cool . they have two bridges separating the city and the traffic is horrific so a new suspension bridge is in the works. ..



.The tour boat stopped for a swim....darn no bathing suits...what to do ...a jump in the Black Sea fully clothed is in order....when are we gonna be here again...some funny looks from other passengers , but hey who knows us? That refreshing beer tasted delicious.




The scenery was wow!





Ok So check into our room now , wash off the city and the Black Sea and out we go to explore Istanbul by night....Oh my....amazing rooftop restaurant and exceptional place to witness the magical call to meca ....feel so humbled to be witness to this amazing ritual .


Off to beddy after a very full day...morning brings excited tourists and Turkish coffee...opps I mean mud....oh dear not good....but when in turkey eh?




off then to the Grand Bizarre.....not only was it grand but also bizarre.....glad I only had a short time here. My credit card would have taken a beating. ..snagged a few souvenirs then high tailed it out of there before I got seriously lost.



An amazing place indeed




next up the incredible cisterns....OMG how cool is this....







then the famous blue mosque.

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then just wandering around this equally modern and ancient city ,...not sure there is any other quite like it....Ok off to have a Turkish bath....Oh dear. How cool is this. if I had any dead skin before I went in it was gone upon leaving. So relaxing.

Next up a 3 hour drive in hellish traffic to the airport on the Asian side ( avoid this if you can) the traffic is just awful . We made the amazing race run through the airport and managed to catch our flight to Bodrum just in time .

Ok drinks at sunset while we relax on this hour long , very comfy puddle jump to the seaside town of Bodrum...

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.......stay tuned <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />