Istanbul - October 28th

Today begins with a 03:30 call from Bulgarian border guards as we cross the border.  But in fact it had been a good evening until that.  Our travel companions in our compartment are David, an American working in Bulgaria, and Yura, a Slovenian travelling across Asia by land.  They are both interesting and we have quite a good chat before going to bed at midnight.  I am surprised by how well I sleep, not because of the train but because I have developed a cold.  Still I am asleep when the alarm call comes.

After that we are in Turkey.  But the train travels a short while before hitting Edirne station, where we all have to get off to pay a visa fee and get stamped.  It’s pretty cold but by 04:30 we are back on our way.  Again we get another 3½ hour sleep before the sun in the cabin wakes us, and we wait for Istanbul.  Despite leaving Sofia 1½ hours late we arrived at the border almost on time, but it seems we are going to be late into Istanbul.  Our conductor tells us it will be an hour, it is more like 2½.

Still it means that when we hit Istanbul it is fairly easy to get to our hostel and check in.  After checking in we lie down for a minute to recover from the long journey, and wake up 2 hours later.  It seems like the good night’s sleep we thought we had, wasn’t quite as good.

We then go out to begin our sightseeing.  As we are staying in Taksim, the modern part of the European side of Istanbul, we contain ourselves to there for the afternoon.  This means a walk to Taksim Square, the centre of Istanbul, and then down Istiklal Cad, the local version of Oxford St.  Having said that it is as busy as Oxford St on the last Saturday before Christmas.  It may have something to do with the fact that tomorrow is Republic Day.  There are a few sights on the street besides theshops and kebab restaurants, but also a demonstration and some riot police.  We continue past the famous Galata Tower to the Galata bridge over the Golden Horn, where we get some shots of the Old City skyline.  Later we walk back to our hostel via a famous bean restaurant.