I'm sorry for all those who were waiting for our news, it's taking me a lot longer to digest than I thought! and on the way back it was very basic, just drive eat and sleep and some play! but here I go: better late than never!:

Driving on those small roads that are called motorways we didn’t quite believe we would actually reach Turkey but we did! Getting in was another matter, The bus not being on our name and the green card nearly expired (there was a new one in the same folder, but we didn’t know that at the time!)  . we had to buy visa’s ( € 15 a piece!)And none of the machines recognized Vincent’s ID card

I was very Kafka  like, the very popular type and the ‘I shall not laugh’ and the ’ I must ask my boss first’  type were running from desk to desk until finally  they made up their minds to let  us in, gave us  the right stamps and we could continue into Turkey!

The Road in Turkey was beautiful, wide and well made! We slept somewhere at a not quite finished mouse pestered petrol station, and the next day

Istanbul! We arrived in Istanbul over a mega super motorway, straight into a Ants nest with a very particular  set of rules! Like one never indicates where one wants to go neither left nor right, And had it been only one…. Millions or cars, trucks, people, and Taxi’s .Everywhere!   not Indicating beeping their horns! Vincent actually exclaimed thank god we brought a GPS system! We actually found a camping!, really it was a neighborhood  football space where kids and Adults play football from morning till midnight!! Next to that there was a kartingtrack, same hours!! To go absolutely crazy! We could take showers in the changing spaces for the footballers! And he asked full price! We were in great need of a wash with all that blacksea salt in our hair so we stayed there 2 nights  then moved to a guarded parkup near the blue mosque. We did meet some lovely Italians and drank some beer and Rumanian Palinka/schnapps with them! We even wrote a song about the camping!! We will meet again!

We wondered around  a lot and saw the grand bazaar! Lots of colours , and tourists. We ended up near the aya Sophia and the blue mosque where the Ramadan was very visible! Lots of stands that sell food of all sorts, tea trinkets and ice cream which gets served with a show, very funny!

And lots and lots of people that all get together to break the fast. With live music and dervishes.

The atmosphere was very nice and festive, without any aggression like we know here at gatherings of that many.(we reckoned it was mainly because there’s no alcohol and everyone behaves).

And this was every evening of the Ramadan!

We saw a lot and visited the blue mosque/with a man who had been Imam a few years in Austria  ‘s Senne thought him a very friendly man that showed us around! Until he asked us some lira, Senne’s trust in humanity was lost! It took us a lot of energy to convince him that we had known from the start .

 The Aya Sophia was also really worth  our while! Incredible the size and the mix of religions and time. Beautiful !!! the mosaics of Mary Jesus next to the Loge of the Sultan and that kind of introductions

 
Ea said people really like me here, don't they?! she got a lot of attention! with her innocent eyes, her blond hair and her straw hat.
more soon! Jyoti