Cisterns, spice markets and the Orient Express

 Sunday 22 September 

We start the day in the extremely beautifully restored Basilica Cistern, once the hub of the water distirbution network. It's quite beautiful and lit accordingly, including modern sculptures as well as a version of Medusa backlit so that she appears as a sinister shadow on a nearly wall,  It's rather expensive to get in compared to other attractions. the palace the day before was probably better value, but it's very atmospheric.

As we come out the heavens have opened (not on the forecast, thanks BBC!) so we wait a while in the very good gift shop. Love the ceracmic ocean liner arrangement of tableware.

Once the rain has stopped, we then head off to the Spice Marker which is unsurprisingly both crammed and overpriced. After a brief stop to buy some probably very over-priced saffron, we head over the road to Sirkeci station, currently in process of refurbishment, but where the Orient Express found its terminus back in the day. It has some beautiful stained glass and a charming little free museum, but it's still used as a mainline station. Later that day we also visit Pele Palace Hotel, where many of the celebrity guests alighting the Orient Express went to stay whilst in Istanbul.

After a brief lunch stop at a fast food chain I'm sure I've seen in London, we head over to the ferry and for the price of a tram fare go over to Kakkale on the Asian side. At first it feels a bit like Croydon on a Sunday afternoon (with everyone out to shop - though tbh I've never been in Croydon on a Sunday afternoon), but we have some delicious ice cream and an enjoyable wander through the streets, keeping our purses tightly shut. Not what we expected, but the locals obviously know what to go for.

Twenty minutes back into Eminomu and we take the rammed funicular and antique tram up the hill to Taksim Square via Oxford Street. There's a lovely memorial to you-know-who at the top but the rest of it is just modern retail as far as the eye can see.

 

So we decide to head back downhill and after a slightly unpleasant walk through the less celubrious parts of Beyoglu, we find the Pere Palace which hass accommodated so many famous guests including Ms Christie herself, and we treat ourselves to a not-horrendously expensive glass of wine with some lovely nuts in the rather beautiful but also rather dimly-lit bar. And of course the loos live up to expectaions.

We then find Hazzo Pulo, an historic and rather quaint restaurant nearby, decorated with press cuttings that we think must feature the two 60-something guys in charge - brothers or gay, not sure, but one of them gives us both a massive hug when we say it's the best wine list we seen, and when we've been presented with a menu without photographs...

Afterwards we go home the wrong way and tempers fray a little. By the time we get back to the Old Ottoman after a very long walk, Dee has heartburn and I'm in need of more alcohol, So she goes to bed and I sit up to listen to our resident folk band  with a Raki and am joined for a chat by a pony-tailed (too old for it) DJ from Norway called Lars who's pleasant enough company but after a while the Scandinavian glumness sends me off to bed (alone!) with a handshake and "have fun". He's nearly 20 years my junior and even if I could get over the ponytail it's extremely unlikely he would be in the slightest bit interested in me!