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The First Day (night actually) |
Our landing at Ataturk Airport, Istanbul, Monday night brought the first surprise: there was four inches of snow on the ground! I'd been reading about Istanbul weather and I was expecting cloudy and rainy, but not snowy.
(This trip I was traveling ultra-light: four days of clothes and a tripod in my backpack, a camera, medicine, and notepad in my camera case, and that was it -- no computer, no briefcase.)
I got to the hotel using the airport limo into town and a cab to the hotel, the Armada Hotel, and I got my first overcharge. The cab driver negotiated to take me there for 20 YTL (New Turkish Lira), and it probably should have cost 8 YTL. Ah well... (but not the last, ah well.)
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The Armada Hotel, from their postcard. Most of the view of the hotel is blocked by an old city wall, and behind it is The Blue Mosque. |
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The Blue Mosque on a snowy night. |
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Near the Blue Mosque. |
I still had lots of energy, and I figured the snow wouldn't last, so I walked up the hill from the hotel to the Blue Mosque area. I shot some nice Blue Mosque-on-a-snowy-night pictures, and I encountered my first carpet seller hustler. He was a friendly fellow, and helped me around a bit, and got me an apple tea from one of the shops nearby where I was wandering.
When I got tired, I headed back... carefully. The snow had started again, and the road up the hill was a winding, steep, granite cobblestone road. (It's amazing how slick cobble stone gets under snow.) I made it back to the hotel safely, and I now had my night shots of Istanbul.
The room and the hotel were nice. It was the Armada Hotel; I found it on the Internet, and chose it because it was a four-star hotel in the Sultanahmet (Old town) district. The top of the hotel is a green-house-style restaurant with several great views.
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This strange sight is the ceiling of a small cafe near Hippodrome Park. |
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My first rug seller hustler, and waiter, at the small cafe. |