Kadiköy and Şile, Istanbul, Turkey

Dick hard at work!

Exercise Turkish Style

After waving David off to work on Monday and having a leisurely breakfast, Marilyn, Dick and I walked down to the sea of Marmara and along the walkway. Although it was very hot, we stopped to play on the the machines in the exercise area before relaxing and watching the world go by from a nearby pavement café.

We then caught a bus to Kadiköy, a warren of pedestrian streets with lots of bars, shops and restaurants. One of Turkey's biggest fresh markets is there, and we saw wonderful array of fresh products, ranging from dozens of species of fresh fish and seafood to all kinds of fruit, vegetables and spices. An exotic sight! Our lunch was in a typical Turkish restaurant - very cheap and quite delicious!

On Tuesday we left David in Istanbul, while we went to Doğa Tatil Köyu - the company's resort. We arrived at 11 o'clock and immediately went to the pool as the weather was glorious. We almost had the whole pool to ourselves, there was only one couple there! Wednesday morning was also bright and sunny, but in the afternoon it began to cloud over so we went into Şile for a spot of sight-seeing and shopping. Although it began to rain, we found sanctuary in a restaurant with an amazing view and gorged ourselves on chocolate cake - such is life!

Marilyn and I had the whole pool to ourselves!

Overlooking the harbour in Şile

Now we are back in Istanbul and preparing to go to the Princes Islands for the weekend. More of that next week!

Completing the Circle, Back to Turkey

 

We arrived here, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, to be met by two delightful representatives of the school, Tuğba and Irem, and taken to our apartment on Bağdat Caddesi (Bagdad Street in English). We can see the Sea of Marmara from our bedroom balcony, and Bagdad Street, looking very much like a French Boulevard, from the front.

After all this strenuously stressful activity we needed to rest, so on Friday the company sent us, at their expense, to their resort in Şile, by the Black Sea. This place is amazing! It has replicas of the Roman aqueduct, Pamukkale's waterfalls, an ancient amphitheatre (seen in photo, below), a Venetian castle and the strange rock formations of Cappadocia! So, here we are, staying in a villa in delightful surroundings; but the best thing is that we have WiFi, as we have not had time to organise Internet connection at home yet.

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On Wednesday David went to sort out his work permit and papers (while I went to find my hairdresser) and we were taken out to dinner for a delicious fish meal at a restaurant on the Bosphorus, by Tuğba, Erol and Roger.

On Thursday we went shopping at the new Istinye Park Shopping Mall; an amazing place – even David didn't mind being there as it is so light and airy! This mall has opened since we were last here, only one year ago, so I was very keen to go there; however, most of the shops can be found in our very own street, which turns out to be the Shopping-Mecca of the Asian side of Istanbul – yeah! That evening we joined Roger at his complex swimming pool for an evening of drinks and mezzes. 

Instead of spending time all our time at the pool, we have tended to spend most of it hunched over our lap tops!! On Sunday and Monday, thanks to Skype, David and I spoke to Suzi,in Australia; Clare and family then Margie, in England; Glynn in Thailand and Paddy then Jane, in South Africa. Who would have believed, even 10 years ago that all this would be possible – especially that, while speaking to them, we could see them all as well – all except Clare that is as she is still having problems with her camera!

David working hard in his new job!

Me swimming in the resort's pool