Au Revoir Symi!
The 7.30am ferry took a spectacular hour skirting the dramatic Turkish coastline into Rhodes Harbour and a grand entrance it was, into the fortification of Rhodes castle.
A 20 min taxi ride later arrived at the airport well briefed on Rhodes, and after a flurry with security & baggage control, surrendered one new tub of 'more gorgeous' cream. Not happy!
Athens to Istanbul was a quick changeover, and only an hour flight.
Emily, of little motherly faith, deemed to join me on a train and tram trip to the city, an interesting people and sights watching 4TL trip, to Sultanahmet, and a short walk to Kybele Hotel.
Checked in, and exhausted from our onerous day (?), we crossed the road for a thorough going over at Cagaloglu Hamam. A gift to the city in 1741, from Sultan Mehmet I, apparently King Edward VIII, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Franz Liszt, Florence Nightingale all visited the magnificent marble steam room, little changed since the Ottoman Empire days. More recently (just), Omar Sharif, Tony Curtis, Chevy Chase, John Travolta, Kate Moss, and Cameron Diaz have been steamed, exfoliated, massaged and pummeled within an inch of their lives.
Renergised, and squeaky clean, off to visit the stunning Blue Mosque via an external admire of Hagia Sophia, and dinner. We lucked out, the open air restaurant threw in live music, and the giddy twirls of a lone Whirling Dervish.
Dinner was all fresh and healthy, but nothing special. On the wander home, lucked into a free Open Air Concert with some Turkish pop singers backed by a honed orchestra. So, of course joined the crowd, foot tapping turned into dancing with the best of them. Heady stuff with the lighting on the minarets and domes of the Blue Mosque, and Hagia Sophia!
The Turks are friendly, polite, helpful, have a great sense of humor, and will try to sell you anything. On the way home one handsome young Turk wanted to know if Emily was my daughter ( I might add another had asked, obviously plausibly, if she was my sister), and then asked how many camels I would swap her for! Hmmmm.. in the absence of a place to put the camels, I could'nt do a deal!
A great intro to Istanbul for Emily, and a reminder of how I love this city!