Day 20 – Thursday 28 May

We were a bit tired from yesterday, and the day before’s cumulative affect on our muscles. It is not so much the km, although nearly 12km walk is no stroll in the park. It is the heat, and the uneven ground or very hard large stone walk ways that add to the strain. You honestly cannot take a step here without watching where you are walking – whether it is a town street or at an historic site. It is the worst we have encountered and we are very conscious not to take a bad step and end up injured for the rest of the trip.

We took our time to get up and get moving. Had a leisurely breakfast and considered what we might do from our list. We are playing catch up in-between going places to think about and process our experiences so far.

After the big day, a note on footwear. We have always placed a priority on footwear, and wear the most comfortable trekking style footwear – either boots, or the sandals depending on the situation. Money well spent to absorb the shocks and take the hiding the cobbles, stone streets and pathways provide. We have Teva sandals and Oboz waterproof hiking boots. Both light and comfortable 🙂 Also high quality hiking socks for the boots.

We thought more about what we call the ‘tourist machine’ verses our current travel style. Our travel style seems to have changed a little, even taking into account the rushed job of throwing this holiday together with the least planning we have ever done. We are finding it difficult to motivate ourselves to get up early and rush from tourist site to tourist experience. Rather, we just like to wander, chill, meet locals and other tourists and hear their stories. Soaking up the atmosphere is as enriching to us as sights at times.

The challenge is working out if we really want to visit or experience something because it is a popular thing or recommended, or something that actually really interests us. Again, I am not suggesting we are the authority on the matter, or judging the other sort of traveller – it is just where we are at for what we are seeking from a travel experience.

Previous trips we have relied on Rick Steves for guidance but did not have a lot of time to get his books this time and only viewed his videos again quickly. We did watch quite a few other videos on YouTube and have come to conclusion that they were not worth it. A lot of them are younger, full time SPONSORED travellers by clicks on their channels. MMmmm say no more. Wont be watching them in future. And please do not put the title of ‘hidden gem’ in front of me again, or “What I wish I knew before visiting xxxx” or “the 10 must do sites in xxxx”. FFS!

With all the musing and recovery our day soon disappeared and we landed on visiting the Grand Bazaar and then to the Georgian restaurant. The restaurant was on the other side of the Golden Horn and would take us about 40 minutes by bus, given they did not go as frequent as city centre loops so we put off the Bazaar and headed to the restaurant.

We got off in a modern suburb with a lot of shops and set our Apple map for the 1km or so walk a block or two away. When we got to the address, we could not see the restaurant. We asked the first passerby, an older gentleman if he knew. He did not speak English but could recognise what we wanted as we showed him our phone. He signalled to wait and disappeared around the corner. A while later he came back and motioned to follow him.

We dutifully did and he took us to a shop where a younger man spoke English. He indicated that the restaurant had moved, but it was not far away – another 6 minutes walk in the opposite direction. He helped with the correct address in the map and off we went, grateful for the lovely kind local interaction. Of course we expressed our gratitude to the old man who beamed and was clearly happy to have obliged.

Whilst we were navigating to the new address we heard the chilling and unmistakable sound of fighter jets approaching overhead. It was the most surreal feeling as time seemed to go into slow motion. As we looked to the sky, we also saw other people with concerned looks gaze upward. It felt like there was an unspoken shared feeling of trepidation of war descending reflected on their faces, including our own. In seconds they had passed, along with the chill down our spine.

The restaurant was where our friendly folk said, and we sat to down to enjoy a meal that made our digestions very happy. The whole vibe in the suburban street was quite different from where we are staying and the surrounds towards old town.

People were walking their dogs and overall it seemed to be a bit more modern. People were out and about shopping and eating out themselves. There were less Muslim women and the shops were open still at 8pm.

After our meal we waited at a bus stop for about 40 minutes before Vern became suspicious that he may have it wrong as no bus had come. Another check and yep, the loop went behind the block, so he had right bus number, wrong bus stop.

This is the frustrating thing here, it is so hard to work these things out as there is no signage at the bus stops, no lit up display or written one. Apparently an app may tell you, however, it would not be in English so we did not download it.

As Vern had quickly worked out from the iPad it was not far round the corner to the right bus stop and as we got there we literally missed a bus. Bugger, that meant another 45 minutes wait till the next one. I thought it was a little funny and just put it down to learning the ropes.

Vern was more annoyed with himself. He is so much better at working out transport than me, so I am happy to go with the flow knowing he is doing a fab job. It also gave us the chance to just people watch in an area that we may not otherwise see.

I watched the buses come and go with their hydraulic sound lowering to let people on and off like a birthing ritual. An old homeless lady sat on the ground on the edge of the street outside a fruit shop, eating a pile of fruit with her dirty hands and a knife. Young Jaja-binks women (lip implants, eye lash extensions, and often boob enhancements) strutting their wares with doting males in tow, young muslims and trendy risqué couples coexisting with tolerance making up the colours of modern Turkiye.

We engaged and showed photos to a (modern) young lady carrying a baby Bella dog on the street. All of this added to the enriching time we had, doing nothing but going to a fringe central suburb for a lovely meal.

We eventually got dropped off right outside our hotel, concluding that our current style of travel is “find the travel experience that suits you”.