Istanbul

The Oz Bus at the Orient Hostel

The Blue Mosque

Selling corn on the cob in front of the Blue Mosque

Grand Bazaar

One of my new friends on this trip - the captain of the Bosphorus cruiseboat!

Good view - The Blue Mosque

Smoking Shisha on the hostel Rooftop - Orient Hostel in Istanbul

6-bed dorm in Turkey. Only two could stand up at the same time.

Border crossing from Bulgaria to Turkey. The good old little football has been really good for little breaks like that so far!

ISTANBUL

We made it - to the crossroads of Europe and Asia. What a change of scenery this is. And we are right in the middle. Sultahnamet, the historical part of the town. As soon as we got off the bus, we were to feel at home. Everyone seemed to have learned our names in advance and as soon as we had settled into the rather small room we met on the rooftop to get the first shisha going. Top spot, in between the Blue Mosque and Haya Sofia. We spent our first night at the hotel, waiting for our last passenger Hugo to arrive. He finally made it, after days and days of waiting for his passport to come back from the Iranian embassy.

A great night with the whole group later, some of us spent the morning at the ambassy to get the last visas sorted for Iran. We then met up with the others to go on a Bosphorus cruide. The cruise was great, the guide not so much... but we had a good time anyways. A quick visit to the Spice Bazaar and our first Kebap fed, we tried to find the underground cistern, walked to the Aquaeduct instead and one of the girls lost her camera there. So I spent the afternoon at the police station. Two blond women and only Turkish speaking people, what a show!

Quiet night and then shopping for Iran. Well yes, us girls have to cover up and we got some nice gear to cover us all the way up. After that I just chilled out on the rooftop, not a bad spot for catching up with some work. And getting ready to head further east, Cappadocia and ballooning tomorrow!!!