Istanbul; settling in, adjusting to time zones etc

A very relaxing day just walking around Istanbul. Started slowly after about 12-13 hours sleep to offset time-zone change and a busy term at work.

Cannot access the blog from Istanbul. A serious looking message in bold red print tells us it is blocked by some court order – according to translations. It appears several sites have been blocked for some time. Fortunately email works so Jane is updating the blog from Wodonga.

The minaret of the mosque outside the window ensures we are ‘called to prayer’ at 5am in the morning.

The old city of Istanbul is very accessible by walking. The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia are nearby and are huge buildings. More on them later.

The wharf area is busy with tours of the Bosphorus and car ferries on a non-stop shuttle across to the Asian side of Istanbul.

The bridge leads across the ‘Golden Horn’ to the main shopping area of Istanbul – still on the European side though.

It is amazing how many hazards there are walking along. Small steps or ridges on the pavement or more serious steps down to lower levels, which just happen to start in the middle of the footpath, are common here.

We saw many people stumble or twist ankles from looking up as they walked along and they appeared to be ‘western tourists’ like us. Perhaps we have sanitized our environment to the extent that we are at risk in many O/S countries?

Kate arrives soon from UK. Looking forward to seeing her after so long.