The Curious Incident of the Dwarf on a Tram

Friday 26 April (Day 3)

After a good night’s sleep we were ready to explore the delights of Istanbul a little further but had to be mindful of the fact that we could not do anything too exciting as Jane is not joining us until tonight. 

We had a good breakfast on the roof terrace of the hotel with the Blue Mosque visible above the trees and the Bospherous in the other direction.

We then set off on a reconnaissance mission to find out how the tram and metro system work and to go across to the other side of the city.  As our good friend Margaret often reminds us, ‘Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted.’ 

The tram system was very easy to negotiate once we had worked out how to purchase a token from a Jeton machine.  A token costs 3 Turkish Lira (TL) each and we stayed on until we reached the end of the line at Kabatas.  The tram was very crowded and during the journey Mark felt something ‘greasy’ rub against his elbow.  He jerked his arm away and looked down to discover that he had just elbowed a dwarf in the eye!  Mark apologised but the gentleman seemed unperturbed and we suspect he has used this method of head polishing before.

Once the tram had reached the end of the line we disembarked and got on the funicular railway to take us to the top of the hill at Taksim Square.  We decided to walk back to the old town down through Istiklal Caddesi which is the main shopping area in the new part of the city taking a slight detour in a café selling Turkisk pastries and tea.

We had our tea and coffee on the 1^st floor of the café and decided to use their ‘facilities’ before leaving.  The directions to the loos were up the stairs to the 3^rd floor but we were instructed to use the lift by the waiting staff and dutifully made our ascent.  Cris then realised that he had left his camera at the table and we returned to our table to enquire of its whereabouts.  After much confusion and hand gestures it dawned on us that we had returned to the 2^nd floor and were accusing the people at ‘our table’ of removing the camera.  Once our mistake had been pointed out to us again by the waiting staff we sheepishly withdrew and went down another floor to collect the camera from where we had left it.

We continued our walk back through the town taking another detour through the business district to see the British Consulate building, a famous hotel where Agatha Christie wrote much of the novel Murder on the Orient Express and the Galata Tower which was very impressive and we may well return with Jane as the views from the top should be amazing.

We got our first glimpse of the Topkapi Palace as we crossed back over the Galata Bridge to the old town.  A special request was made to visit the Spice Bazaar and so another detour took place to enable us to wonder through the bazaar and marvel at the colours and smells and sample some beautiful Turkish delight made with pomegranate juice and pistachio nuts.  Again we may have to return here with Jane so that she can enjoy it too but that will be no hardship at all.

We then decided to walk back to the hotel so that we would be back in time for Jane’s arrival at around 1900 hours and instead of going back through the old town we walked along the sea front around the headland.

Jane has now arrived and is feeling much the same as we did yesterday so is having a quick shower before we head out for a drink and something to eat.

Cris and Mark took us to a place they visited last night for a drink and we went up to the roof top terrace for our meal.  The view was amazing with the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia both lit up against the night sky with a full moon reflecting on the Bosphorus.  The meuzzin call rang out between the two of them one answering the other in a call to prayer, an incredible sound which is so different from anywhere we have visited before.  We had a lovely meal and wondered back through the Hippodrome to the hotel.

Cozy Terrace