We’ve been planning this “bucket list” trip for about 2 years. Maryellen has always had a life dream of going to Egypt, and I had a goal of someday seeing the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. So we setup this 3 week adventure, which is a combination of guided and solo tours through the countries. We…

14 Hour Flight from Vancouver to Frankfurt, then a 3 hour layover in Frankfurt then a 3 hour trip down to Istanbul and then a one and a half hour taxi ride to our hotel (after standard confusion getting a cab – why don’t I prearrange a pickup from the airport!?). We finaly made it…

We upgraded to a nicer room and had a lovely view of the street with the Bosphorus in the distance. Today, we gave ourselves an “open day” to explore the city a little and get over jet lag, before meeting with our tour group tomorrow (Rick Steves). It’s a lovely day, warm and blue skies.We…

Meeting our Tour Group We had a little time in the morning before meeting our tour group – but contrary to yesterday, it was dismall, cold and rainy in the morning. I went out and found a grocery store for some supplies for the room and we found a nice little cafe for some famous…

Grand Bazaar The oldest shopping mall in the world, now just endless tourist shops, but still very interesting and the building looks the same from centuries ago We haggled a bit but still probably paid too much for some things. The tour we are on is trying the best to give us a good range…