Istanbul: 26 - 29 October, 2009
Athens: 29-31 October, 2009
Background: This very successful trip arose out of bit of a disappointment....
It seems I'm not fated to go to Tanzania. A while back, I missed a trip with a group I know did it well. Recently, I was on the list to go with that group over Christmas 2009. I was really looking forward to it! But the recession meant that not enough people signed up, and the trip was canceled. I'll just hope it can be third time lucky.
So, my plans for 2009's big trip having fallen through, I looked around for a "consolation prize"... and decided that it was "time" to take the trip to Istanbul which I had been wanting to make, but had not put on the calendar. And as I was going to be "out there" anyway, I added a stop in Athens. Of course, traveling to Turkey and Greece from England is a lot easier than from the US, where I may be living in not so many years' time. (London-Istanbul is about like New York-Dallas.)
Go to Istanbul now. There is a scientist who has predicted three... or is it four?... earthquakes accurately. He can't predict the "when", but he's done well with the "where" and "how big". And he says the next will be big, and directly beneath Istanbul. It will be a great tragedy if the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi, Suleiman Mosque, New Mosque, etc, etc, are damaged... but I will at least have the memories, 'cause, for once, I Got My Act Together.
Thank you, internet, Expedia, Travelocity and Easyjet... this was all "self organized"... that work being something of an adventure in itself. Simple "out and back", to one country, and one currency? That would be too easy!
And thanks are also due to the lovely people in the places I visited, and those responsible for making both cities "tourist friendly".
(Hmmm.... while tidying that, I was amused to note that I have no photos online of Berlin... which I have visited "many" times... once while the Cold War was well frozen... machine guns at Checkpoint Charlie, etc, once during the fall of The Wall, once for the tenth anniversary of the Wall's fall... and one "extra" time! Do I think Berlin is a good tourist destination? I'll let you guess.)
Photos and text © TK Boyd 11/09. Click here to contact me.
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