Istanbul 1 : Back to Asıa…
Just a note to let you know Died, Lennert and I arrived in Istanbul for a fantastic holiday! Lennert and I will stay for three weeks while Died, Clemens, Arjen and Paul will fly in and out to stay up to 2 weeks with us. The city of Istanbul is very special so far. I expected it to be more Asian and more poor - it is very different from anything I know. It ıs good we have three weeks to indulge in it. Please don’t mind all my typo’s and errors with ı ınstead of i - these Turkish keyboards are driving me insane!!!
Just as a teaser we prepared polo’s for everyone in the group with ‘BS05 Istanbul - Back to Asia’ written on the back . Especially with the discussions on the accession talks of Turkey wıth the European Union (and the no-vote to the proposed constitutional treaty) this is of course a delicate issue. Already on Schiphol Airport (that is in the Netherlands…) we got into discussions with some Turks… Here in Istanbul our outfit is also up for discussion with locals, although they often don’t speak a word English so we can’t really have a debate.
Our hotel is Hotel Accura [contact information underneath] while from Saturday onwards we will stay at the Hotel Yasmak Sultan [contact information underneath]. Our Hotel Accura has a rooftop with amazing view on the Aya Sofya - the main tourist attraction if you were restricted to one. The hotel should be 4 star and is okay, these star-indication often mean very little in Turkey…
The weather is - obviously for Istanbul in July - very good. Some 30 degrees Centrigrade with no rain.
Hotel Accura
Binbirdirek Mahallesi Binbirdirek Meydani No 1
Adliye Sarayi Karsisi 24400
Sultanahment, Istanbul
tel +90 0212 5179890
http://www. accurahotelistanbul.com/
Hotel Yasmak Sultan
Ebusuud Caddesi No.18-20
Sirkeci, Istanbul
tel +90 212 528 1343
http://www.hotelyasmaksultan.com/