I have arrived! I had a nice smooth flight but my luggage didn’t. 😦 It has decided to stay an extra day in Zurich. The people at the airport were very kind and helpful. I was met at the airport by a representative from the tour group. The poor man had to wait an extra hour for me . Besides the luggage problem, everything has gone well. Istanbul is a huge, modern city, and the traffic is crazy. The expressway looks just like home, and the speed and traffic, are very New York City!

As the plane prepared to land I could look down on some very intensive farming. Many of the fields ran right to the coastline of the Sea of Marmara. The view of the city from the airplane is awesome. There is the water, the Golden Horn, Bosporus Strait, and Sea of Marmara, all converging. The huge mosques are all visible from the air and there are so many of them. Walking around today we also discovered there are a lot of little neighborhood mosques.

We took the expressway into the city and as you come down a hill, you look across the city, and see the old Roman walls and entry to the Old City of Constantinople. This city is over 8000 years old!

Our motel is in the Old City where the street are very narrow, cobbled and brick. Most of the stores were closed on Sunday. I’m really hoping I don’t have to go shopping for clothes.

I can hear sea gulls as I sit here and write. We are very close to the water. There must not be a bug problem because the windows are wide open and there aren’t any screens.

My hotel is extremely modern. To get in the room you put the room card up to what must be a scanner on the door. When the door is opened, the entry lights come on automatically. If you want more light you set you card in a holder on the wall and the other lights come on. There is a control pad for room service, do not disturb, and something else I’m not sure of. It all looks very clean and new. There is also a great breeze blowing off the water so we have doors and windows open and haven’t had to use the air conditioning.

The pictures below are the view from the airplane, the old city walls and a fountain in the park with the walls behind.