We left Japan Narita AirPort on Finnair for Helsinki. We both managed to get a few hours sleep as we were lucky enough to have lie down beds and I don’t think lasted more than 10 seconds once my head hit the pillow. For some reason I expected that we would fly over Russia to Helsinki, however on tracking th plan found we actually flew over the North Pole - I was a little disappointed that there was nothing to see…Santa did not given anything away to let me know where his digs are! All we have is the picture of the flight tracker and stickers that the crew put in the bathrooms!
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Finnair North Pole Stickers - found in the bathroom! |
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Flight tracker maps showing the route over the North Pole…the plan is white, on a white background but if you expand you’ll see it! |
A few hours cooling our heals at Helsinki then saw us join a flight bound for Istanbul. And we made it.
Enjoying a comfy ride through Istanbul to our hotel - The Tan Hotel in Fatih.
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We made it to Istanbul! |
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You cant quite see, but the luxury taxi had LEDs in the ceiling |
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View from our hotel window! |
In order to get ourselves into the local Timezone, we refreshed ourselves and took a walk to the Hagia Sophia which is around the corner from where we are staying. Passing an old wooden mansion, we became intrigued to walk further and then just across the road was the Hagia Sophia.
I had read that Istanbul was the city of cats…and it is no lie! There are cats everywhere. Shopkeepers put out tins of food on the street to feed them. They are completely relaxed and friendly - not the hissing ferals we are used to seeing as wild cats. They crouch and watch the passers by, oblivious to their cuteness.
Just the walk around the outside of the buildings is awe inspiring. Towering domes (Qubba) and towers (Minarets) are visible for blocks from the building. There is a tower that is wired with speakers just across from our hotel (See pic above) which must have been part of the old palace structures.
In walking around at dusk, the crowds were few and allowed us a sense of wonder at the scale…they are doing quite a bit of restoration work which has exposed the original brick work…layer upon layer of thin, what look to be terracotta - bricks are then covered with some form of plastering. The intricate details are amazing. It really piqued my desire for a tour in the coming days.
Once we saw the sunsetting, our bodies decided to tell us we were at the end of the day. We found an open air restaurant in the plaza below our room and enjoyed a light dinner of Gozleme and Kafkas, washed down with a long G&T, and then a Turkish tea to finished.
On of the local cats at the restaurant decided Fi looked like she needed company and jumped up on her seat to cuddle beside her while we ate dinner. It was magical.
What a great first day in one of the oldest and largest cities in the world!
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