Tag: Bosphorus bridge

  • Turkish Baat 9 : Back in Istanbul

    Continued from Days 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8

    Day 9

    Since it was going to be our last night in Turkey, we began searching for a restaurant with a view and found Olive. We asked the Sokulla Pasa reception to book a table for dinner. After breakfast, we were picked up, at 8.20 but then spent the next hour roaming around the hotel picking up and dropping people! Finally, at around 10, we landed up at the first palace in our itinerary – Dolmabahçe Palace. This was the residence of the Ottoman Sultans after Topkapi Palace. We were told that after the then Sultan visited Europe and saw the residences of his counterparts, he felt that his current residence lacked style. Despite not really having the money, he took loans, taxed his subjects and got this built. Now, this ‘little’ home built on EMI is valued at $1.5 bn.  I wondered if a Gates or Zuck could pick it up!

    No photos are allowed inside the palace, but you know… 😀 The place is insanely garish and really looks rich! After the Ottoman sultans were exiled, this was used as a presidential guesthouse for visiting dignitaries and Ataturk, when he dropped in from Ankara. To be noted that this was where he died. I wondered whether the sultans had put a hex on him.  (more…)

  • Turkish Baat 1 : Istanbul, almost!

    Prequel: Turkey resisted us twice, back in 2013. We planned a trip in January only to figure out that the weather wasn’t the best in all the places we wanted to visit. We tried again in May and there were protests. Not against us, but in general. This year, thanks to the house shift, it was all one big rush. To add to that, we had to shift our trip by a week at the last minute because my visa process was bungled by a very inept ‘travel agency‘.

    Day 1

    Maybe it was a bid to compensate, the cosmos decided to grant us an uneventful beginning to the trip. Though we began at an insane hour (4:15 AM flight) the Meru cab was on time, and we met B and P at the airport, on their way to Jordan. Chatting with them also meant that we didn’t fall asleep. Qatar Airways gave us an omelette and chicken early morning meal, and though I had plans to watch a movie, I promptly fell asleep. We landed at Doha’s Hamad airport and saw that giant teddy bear that belonged to the royal family. Wes Craven would be proud of that thing! But otherwise, quite an awesome airport, though I couldn’t find free WiFi. That tin-man playground seemed quite fun.

    collage1 (more…)