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Istanbul is cooler, has a big city vibe, with traffic everywhere working to get where they want to go and using
short horn blasts, people wandering everywhere though traffic – even
vendors. The teas are different - we have changed from drinking mint teas to
fruit flavoured teas as the hospitality tea of preference. In Marrakesh markets
people hassle you and expect you to bargain. In Istanbul people start up a conversation
and volunteer information and by the way they have a shop just here…… Kiwis are well known in Istanbul because of people coming to do with the war. In
Casablanca and Istanbul people can smoke at the bar and don't care if you are eating at the next table.
One of the great things about belonging to
a Hotel Chain – we get great upgrades and accommodation recommendations. Our current place has a rooftop
breakfast/bar/dinner place and we get front row seats to activities on the
waterways – the ferries, party boats and cargo ships navigating their way up
the Bosporus channel to the Black Sea – the light configurations are very
interesting and make great guessing games as to where they are going. And it has an awesome swimming pool! I will miss my morning swims.....
I have realized my cold, or maybe it is a
combination of sinuses and hay fever is persisting in spite of the numerous
vitamins, minerals and health items I am consuming. It is the smoke fumes in
the air. You can’t get away from it. Even your clothes start smelling. I recall
our last trip to Trieste, Venice and other Italian cities. The stale, acrid smell
in the narrow streets lingered because there was no wind. And did our clothes
stink!! Tuesday night we are going on a dinner cruise. Hopefully the sinuses
will clear then… However, on Tuesday morning we visited the
famous Spice Market by the Yen Mosque – which, like many here in Istanbul, is
being refurbished. There we were offered
a Eucalyptus Tea sample. Within one sip, I could feel my sinuses, chest and
stomach clearing!
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