Old friends in Istanbul

We took the fast ferry to Istanbul. It is so fast that it only took two hours to cross the Sea of Marmara. It then took us two hours and two taxis to get from the ferry terminal to our friends' house. As we crossed the Golden Horn for the second time, it was obvious that there would be an interesting discussion on the final fare. This chancer's taxi then broke down which made our negotiation easier. However the taxi could not find the house and we had an extensive tour of the European side of the Bosphorous.

We stayed with friends from Johannesburg, Stuart and Anne Martin and their two children Alexander and Catherine.

Our children loved being in a house again and playing with people their own age.

We used Istanbul as a chance to replace clothes, buy shoes, and catch up with old friends. This was just as well as it poured with rain all the time we were there.

We had wonderful seafood with my old boss Saffet Karpat, and a very trendy breakfast with Murat and Rana Akyildiz whom I first met in Azerbaijan many years ago.

We also managed to do some sightseeing, showing the children the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, and the cisterns where the clever Romans stored their fresh water which they brought to Constantinople by aqauduct.

We also met up with some old friends from Egypt - obelisks! We never realised previously how few obelisks there are remaining. They were incredible feats of carving as we remember from visiting the quarry in Aswan. Many were carved from single pieces of granite which thousands of years ago was a major feat of stonework. We are looking forward to seeing the twin of the obelisk from Luxor which today stands in La Place de la Concorde in Paris.