One way to the UK?

Quite a while ago, after attending services for years in Alice Springs, I decided I really wanted to attend the ANZAC Day memorial this year, in Gallipoli (Galibolu), Turkey. After searching through TNT Magazine Mara and I decided on OnTheGo tours and their 5 day ‘Digger’ Silver package. It was a holiday to look forward to, but not just in a ‘happy holiday’ type but rather as something respectful towards the soldiers who have given their lives over the years, and those still fighting what seem to be ‘other people’s battles’ today.

So, on Sunday 21 April Mara and I caught the latest tube from our East End (Bromley-by-Bow) to Heathrow, arriving just after midnight and settled in for a few hours sleep, at the airport (very uncomfortable), with a heap of other people also waiting for check in to open about 0400 hours. Once it opened and we checked in, we then had to wait around inside the security area for our flight to board. And, being Swiss Airlines it all left on time, like clockwork! The flight was lovely – so much better than the cheapies RyanAir and EasyJet that we usually use. I mean we even got fed on the Swiss flight without having to pay extra haha (such little luxuries). We changed over in Zurich and arrived in Istanbul about 1330 where we were met by the OnTheGo staff and put onto their bus into Istanbul city. Well, after telling people THREE TIMES where we were booked into (pre-booked by OnTheGo remember) after being in the bus for about 2.5 hours and arriving at the Fez Travel head quarters (turns out FezTravel, OnTheGo and The Fanatics are all sorta one company for ANZAC Day), that they had forgotten to drop us off, and our damn hotel was THE SECOND ONE FROM THE AIRPORT! So yes, we could have been there two hours ago… Grrr not happy! So we got put into a ‘luxury’ smaller minivan thing and fiinnaally dropped at our hotel. We checked in and a worker carried our bags to the room, which oops, we read later we were supposed to tip him for! Shame we didn’t even have any Lira on us yet and hadn’t read the guidebook completely yet either.

So our first night we went for a walk down through the Ghetto area (they seem to have a magnetic pull), where I very quickly snapped a photo of a derelict house (guidebook says don’t take photos of crappy things!) before we walked down to the water’s edge and found a gorgeous fish market. Shame we had just eaten an icecream along the walk and weren’t hungry as the people were friendly and the fish looked really nice, as did the crabs and lobster! Well mostly looked nice, there were these huge flat fish with what looked like chicken-pox on them, but on closer inspection they were more like barnacles and the fresher fish were still ‘grey’ but the ones out in the air for longer had gone red. Anyhow despite being offered free giant seasnail and sardines and having one guy put a crab up to my arm to nip me, we decided not to have dinner there. Not exactly the smartest choice, as we did go to a fish restaurant nearer to the hotel and the fish (entree and main) was nice, however I’m sure not quite as fresh. At that restaurant we met ‘starvin marvin’ one of Istanbul’s MANY cats (okay so I named him that) and of course I gave him some fish, ensuring he hung around ALL night much to the annoyance I’m sure of the restaurant staff! Oh the waiter also made Mara and I a rose each out of a napkin – clever!

The second day we woke up early-ish to a lovely shining sun and warmth and bright sky! I knew to be conservative so put on jeans and a wide-strapped singlet. Apparently still a bit too low-cut though, as after constant comments and stares I ended up buying a scarfe to tie around my shoulders and cover me!!! Mara and I headed straight up the main (tram) street and to The Grand Bazaar. We’d walked past it last night so knew where it was. Anyhow, with 3000 shops we were WELL occupied for about 8 hours of the day! Shops selling everything; jewellery, ottomans, rugs, carpet and kilims, ceramics with different patterns, glass objects, tea sets, knock-off brands clothing etc, etc. Pretty much every market you have been to, all rolled into once. Gosh it would be hard trying to find one shop in 3000 wouldn’t it!!?? Well we can tell you from experience IT WAS VERY HARD! I decided before coming that I was going to buy a (cheap) turkish rug of some sort… we looked and looked and had free apple tea everywhere we went, haggled the prices of ottomans, and then some more ottomans at a different shop, haggled scarfe prices, nearly got a free cat, and then i found a rug I really liked. Two issues through 1) had no cash left at that point and 2) I wanted it cheaper than YNL130.00. So Mara and I headed out to get money, and after looking at more rug shops and having lunch, I decided yep I still wanted THAT kilim, from THAT shop. What a mission! In trying to find the shop (I had his business card) we showed it to someone who offered to help us, as we were literally walking around looking for the street signs and numbers, and this kind guy instead dragged us into his shop for 30 minutes showing me his things instead. He did have a lovely, but overpriced rug, but still ‘my one’ wasn’t there. The shop keeper looked puzzled. Mara and I looked annoyed… time to continue our search. So, with no help from them we eventually found the right shop! The man remembered us and said he already knew what happened when we were ‘hijacked’ as the other shopkeeper had actually come and taken the kilims from his shop to show me (they swap and share things like that!) BUT ‘my shop keeper’ recognised ‘the lady wanting a kilim with green and blue on it, and NOT much red’ and he had kept my one aside!! haha cheeky thing! He knew I would be around looking for it. Even with all this, I still bargained him down to YNL 105.00 which equated to just about 40 Pounds; pretty good for a kilim that should last over 100 years they reckon (new family airloom?). Anyway the shop keeper was really lovely, and even after sale got us some apple tea and had a good chat about Istanbul, his family, turkish delight etc. It was him that put us in the direction of the Spice Market (Egyptian Market) for the real, really tasty turkish delight – not the ‘tourist crap’ they sell everywhere else.

So at the Spice Market we found a Turkish Delight store and met Raoul ?? who gave us pretty much one of every flavour each to try, and then we only bought a small box – so we tasted about as much as was in the box! We then enquired about the Apple Tea we had been drinking all day for free, as we’d noticed a difference in taste between two shops. So he showed us ‘the real stuff’ and gave us a glass each to try. It was delicious – so we bought some and had it cryo-sealed. It’s in pellet form, and looks a cross between kitty litter and chook food… anyhow! We didn’t have dinner that night – too full from all the free stuff! We did however, meet out tour group members and leader Fahrit at 7pm. Our first day of tour would begin tomorrow…

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