Zambia World Wide

Having arrived at the airport in Istanbul, we took a taxi to the hotel which we had booked in advance. This time there was no argument about the booking as there had been in Cairo. Once again we went to the Tourist Bureau for information, and then sat down to decide what we wanted to see and where we would go. Istanbul is a very crowded and colourful city. It has seven hills within the city which does make sight-seeing hard work, particularly for young children. Probably because it is so crowded, it is a very vibrant and exciting city to visit. There is much to see and many places to go, and since we were only there for a week we had to work out some kind of itinery if we were to fit everything in. Istanbul is the largest port in Turkey and has spread from the old city which was on a peninsular jutting out into the Sea of Marmara into both the European and Asian areas surrounding the peninsular. To the North is the Golden Horn, to the East is the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara is to the South. Most of the population are either Turks or Muslims, there are other minority nationalities, Greek, Armenian, Christians and Jews to name but a few. The city was known as Constantinople until 1930 when it was renamed Istanbul.

Before I write of our holiday, I will explain why we were so excited at being there. Istanbul was founded about 660BC as Byzantium by the Greeks, after a chequered history it was renamed Constantinople in 324AD by Constantine I. even then it was subjected to many attacks by the Persians, Arabs, Bulgar's and the Russians. The city held out against all these attacks until the armies of the 4th. Crusade attacked and overpowered the city in about 1204. In 1261 the Byzantines regained control of the city but it was not to last, as in 1453 it was attacked and taken by the Ottoman armies. It remained under control of the Ottoman Empire until 1918. At the end of World War1 the allies took control until 1922 when Turkish Nationalists overthrew the Sultan and took control. It is because of the history that we are glad we came here.

There are so many Minarets and Mosques it would be impossible to visit them all, so we decided to visit the more well-known ones. We first went to the blue Mosque and then to the Mosque of Suleiman, both of which are beautiful buildings, and stand out against all the other buildings in the city. Both mosques are very large and circular, almost empty of any type of furnishing. Consequently every word uttered echoes through the buildings. One morning we took a boat trip down the Bosporus, the boat way moored at the quayside near a number of small fishing boats. Going along the river we passed the Okapi Palace, and went under the suspension bridge which now joins Europe and Asia. As we travelled along the river we saw many historic and magnificent buildings plus we had a different view of the city, and only then realised how large and crowded it really was.

As we returned to the quayside, we saw a small fishing boat moored a short distance along the quay. The boat was surrounded by seagulls which were diving and fighting one another, we decided to see what was happening. As we approached the boat we could see a charcoal grill on the quayside, and realised that the boat had just arrived with its morning catch. The fishermen were selling the fresh fish at the quayside and also were grilling fish to sell to the crowd passing by. As they gutted the fish they were throwing the roes, heads and bones over the side which explained the large number of seagulls. The smell of the grilled fish was very appetising and we started to feel hungry. We could no longer resist temptation. We asked for two of the fish rolls which were not really rolls but half a french stick split in two with the fish in the middle. Gary didn't want one and we thought Craig would only have a bite or two so I gave him my roll. We thought after trying it he would then hand it back, not a chance! He just kept eating and eating until there was none left. By this time Jan had eaten her roll and the fishermen were sold out and packing the grill away. I never did get to try those fish rolls although both Jan and Craig said how nice they were.