Week three joirneying from the Stans into Turkey

Day 14 Around Bukhara
With a day time temperature of over 40degC and little cooling outside until after 10pm sightseeing at times was a chore. A hot wind did assist somewhat but the lack of shade at many of the sites made it difficult to enjoy the fantastic history we were visiting.
This city is over two and a half thousand years old and during the 9th & 10thC was the intellectual centre of the Islamic world.  Bukhara's location meant it was a major trading centre on the Silk Road from the 2ndC when the Han dynasty in China cleared out competing tribes. Genghis Khan besieged the city in 1220 and Mongols ruled here until the Timurud empire emerged. Later the Emirate of Bukhara ruled and the city was a centre of intrigue between the British and Russian empires in the middle of the 19thC.
In order to beat the heat Zafar started early and we visited quite a number of sites before sneaking back to the hotel about 2o'clock. Initially our luxury bus dropped us at an amusement park at the edge of a large garden where groups of young people were gathering waiting to find out where their entrance exam was to be held. From there we walked to a couple of old mausoleums then on to the Chor-Bakr necropolis. Along the way a couple dropped out and returned to the hotel with 'revolutions in the tummy'!  it appears to be going through the whole group. The Ark fortress in the centre of the city is a huge imposing castle symbolic of old Bukhara.
The highlight of today was undoubtedly visiting a master embroiderer in his home studio near our hotel. He and his team of apprentices produce works of exquisite detail, full of rich colours and patterns and most with an eye to historical Uzbekistan and Zoroastrianism. We bought a cushion cover which we'll probably get framed. We were shown into his showroom and the walls were covered with big and small pieces, some valued over $A100K.
A few of us walked into the square and ate dinner beside the big pond, misting keeping us cool. Plenty of market stalls and little tourist shops, selling camel wool, silk & sheep's wool shawls, miniature painted pictures, copper & brass work and plenty of Chinese produced copies of all the above. But there was little pressure to come into the shops, everyone is relaxed and friendly. This is the quiet season as it is so hot!


Day 15 Bukara and environs
Much of today seemed to be driving between different places to have a look at various activities but at the end of the day none of us were particularly satisfied. We visited a 9thC madrassa in Bukhara and then drove north for a while before getting out of the luxury bus and walking through the dusty roadworks to visit what was the Summer Palace of the last Emir of Bukhara. Built in the 19thC in Tsarist style it was quite interesting to see the dress styles and furnishings and to go into the Emir's harem house.
We had lunch at a ceramic workshop after a demonstration of pottery making, done the same way it has been for seven generations: throwing the clay onto a wheel where a pot was produced in about 2 minutes. He showed us how the glaze was made and ovens where the pots were fired.
By now we were ready for a siesta, however there was one more stop at an ancient minaret at Gijduvan before heading back to Bukhara in the late afternoon.
The economy in Uzbekistan relies wholly on cash, few places accept credit. Many of the ATMs are situated in large hotels and often seem to be out of order. This was the case again today as we traipsed around looking to get our 500,000som or $A85! We sat & had a pot of tea with one of our  fellows and chatted about the tour and life in Uzbekistan.Three other fellow travellers went off late in the afternoon on a side trip to another ancient Silk Rd city, Khiva, another 6 hours west by car. That left  the oldies to go out for dinner in the old square again & return to Tashkent tomorrow.






Day 16 Travelling back to Tashkent
Almost a rest day as the tour winds down and finishes tomorrow morning. We had until 1pm before we had to vacate our hotel rooms and get ready for the bullet train journey to Tashkent. So we  wandered down to the square and visited a carpet museum in an ancient old mosque and then sat in a tea house. Most of us then didn't want to brave the heat again until our luxury bus took us to the railway station.
The train journey went very smoothly, averaging over 160kph, stopping five or six times and arriving in under 4 hours. The Afrosiyob is very popular with locals and tourists and traverses the country easily. It is possible to see so much from trains, you get the lie of the land and appreciate how the landscape changes. From Bukhara the countryside was almost desert-like, dry and flat although a fair amount of water was flowing in irrigation channels. After Samarkand the well-tended fields of the Fergana Valley agricultural lands stretched north to the capital.
Back in Tashkent it was a return to the Hotel Uzbekistan and it's many & varied quirks. Also it was time to say goodbye to Zafar as he left us to return home in Samarkand. Wandering around the corner we found a burger joint which gave everyone who ordered a meal a pair of black rubber gloves to keep the fingers clean, quirky!

Day 17 Relaxing in Tashkent
Everyone in the tour party who was still in the hotel met for breakfast and enjoyed a relaxed meal without any time pressures. We wandered near the hotel with a couple Max & Kate who lived for years in Canberra, now retired. It was another hot day so we stuck to the shade and inside as much as possible. We spent some time in a huge edifice built by the previous strongman  President Karimov, dedicated to Timur and his descendants which had a large number of exhibits copied from objects held in the likes of the British Museum and the NY Metropolitan Museum. Lunch was a comical affair in a book cafe where the menu proved a waste of time as nothing we ordered was available.
In the evening after finding Australia had been knocked out the cricket World Cup by the Poms seven of us went out to dinner in an Indian-style restaurant and really enjoyed each others company. We were all going in different directions tomorrow:  Scandinavia, Russia, Australia and us to Turkey.

Day 18 Flying to Istanbul
Early start and a long wait, as usual, at the airport. I'm never completely surprised by airport security, they're all different: two xrays, take off our shoes and Tony's watch here? The Turkish Airlines plane was packed for the uneventful five hour flight with good service and reasonable movies, all you can ask for really. We had a little boy, about 3 years old, sitting beside us who after an initial chat & play with his airline gifts slept for most of the journey, a real bonus for us and his Mum.
Arrival at the brand new, extremely spacious terminal went pretty smoothly. We must have walked three or four kilometres through the arrivals hall by the time we exited and were handled by three different agents before jumping in a minivan for the journey to our hotel. This new airport is on the other side of the peninsula from the city, the route was mostly by three lane motorway and we were on the outskirts of greater Istanbul in 20 minutes.
Our little hotel is in the area of what's known as the new city, on the European side of the Bosphorus. Greater Istanbul has a population of over 14million and it is packed in all around the hills, overlooking the water. Our room is on a corner of the Haze hotel, above a busy road and is tiny by Australian standards but it has a kettle! We're staying here for 4 nights until our Intrepid Turkey tour commences so there's enough time to explore Istanbul.
In mid-afternoon we went for a wander, got some Turkish Lira from one of the many ATMs and had a look around the area known as Karakoy. Our first impressions were that we wouldn't go hungry as there are literally thousands of restaurants and cafes nearby; it is cheap by Australian/European standards and it is very densely packed with narrow streets and alleys packed with buildings, cars, shops etc. We are only 100 metres from the water and the same distance from the tram stop.
We ate near the ferry terminal and people-watched for ages getting a feel for the city and Turkish people. There are many tourists here but it is also a residential area so has a good mix.
Later, in the evening we strolled around and had a cuppa at a little cafe. Tea is what the Turks drink most of the time - small glass cups of black, fairly strong tea although green tea is readily available too. This area near the hotel is on the go until fairly late, but the 2 hours gained by flying east and good double-glazing meant we were pretty tired.

Day 19 Across the Golden Horn
No hurry to get going today so breakfast on the hotel roof was a leisurely affair. We'd decided that we'd explore on foot today, going as far as we felt comfortable with and having plenty of rests so we headed across what is known as the Golden Horn, on the new Galata Bridge from the area known as  Beyoglu over to Eminonu, where most of the mosques and major attractions are. It's Saturday and a major shopping day so Istanbulians were all out it would seem, plenty of families, well-dressed but not ostentatious, happy and enjoying themselves.
We were actually looking for a tourist office sign but having veered right past the Spice Bazaar and wandered up and down hills for 2 hours through laneways, past toy, hardware, clothes, shoes, home furnishing & homeware markets we still hadn't found it! An icecream, a cuppa and more strolling in the pleasant summer weather past fountains & centuries old mosques to the main railway station and we finally saw the sign. Speaking barely understandable English and with little information except a good map we left & decided to have some lunch and work out our afternoon plan.
We headed up the hill towards the Hagia Sofia and its minarets, saw the entrance to what we thought was a side alley and found ourselves in this huge park. Consulting the map we realised we'd stumbled into Gulhane Park which stretches around Topkapi Palace down to the river and the railway station. Wandering along paths with picnicking families & couples, past rose gardens and amongst huge old plane trees to the river and a poorly maintained parking area and a large statue of Kamal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish state and the man who led Turkish troops on the Gallipoli peninsula in WW1.
There was no path along the river so we returned to Gulhane Park and retraced our way back to the railway station, stopping for more tea. The area around the bridge was crowded, so many people out shopping and relaxing and catching the ferries which transport everyone around this far-flung city. We got back to the Haze hotel, a bit sunburnt and tired after plenty of exploring and now with a good idea of the city layout and it's transport options. Dinner was at a small place around the corner, traditional Turkish/Greek fare, where unfortunately we first felt  we got ripped off on this trip. There was no menu in English but we decided to order anyway, the food was lovely but the final bill seemed out of proportion to what we ate, more like the amount we'd pay in Perth! Another lesson for experienced travellers.

Day 20 Tourists in Istanbul
The weather forecast today was for rain drifting in from Europe later. It was a Sunday, Wimbledon mens tennis singles final day, Cricket World Cup final day & probably no tv!  We topped up an Istanbul Kart, a transport card and headed on the tram back across the Galata Bridge up towards the Hagia Sofia planning to spend the day being tourists. A young Turk approached us and offered to show us where the ancient Roman cistern entrance was and to his family's shop later.
We descended down beneath the city to an amazing underground water catchment area known as the Basilica Cistern, built in the 6thC by Roman Emperor Justinian. There are 336 marble columns, some in highly decorated sculpture art with two Medusa heads as the highlight. The brick walls are nearly 5metres thick and the cistern had a capacity of 100,000 tons of water storage. The light is deliberately dimmed so it was difficult to make out everything and it was of course quite damp.
Ascending back into Istanbul we were surprisingly (or so it seemed to us) met by our young friend Kumarun who escorted us to the aforementioned shop, which turned out to be a complex of carpet, & jewellery shops.
An hour and a half later we left having purchased three beautiful handwoven Anotolian carpets and parted with a substantial amount of money. How did that happen? There was a constant sales pitch, not aggressive at all, with plenty of tea & coffee and some wine and countless carpets, all different designs and patterns and colours. We had planned to buy one perhaps, somewhere, but not three! Oh well as we were told;  they'll last for decades, will out-live both of us and will greatly increase in value out of Turkey.
Still wanting to be tourists we went with Cam (renamed as an Aussie) to a hotel which had a good view from the roof of the entire nearby area where we took a few photos. Then he walked with us to the Hagia Sofia entrance which had a queue a couple of hours long (?), we decided to visit the Topkapi Palace instead. Here he got us "beat the queue" tickets for an extra 25lira ($A6) so we were able to waltz in ahead of another long queue of punters.
Built between1460 &1478 by Sultan Mehmed who conquered Constantinople it has been extended and altered many times. It served the Ottoman sultans and their court until the 1850's although it continued to house Holy relics & imperial archives until Ataturk converted it into a museum in 1924. The palace is centred around courtyards and many gardens with pavilions & other buildings for the sultan and his retinue. The whole complex has an area of 700,000 sqm & there are some great views across the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn.
After a few hours of crowds at the palace we headed back down towards Galata Bridge and more hordes, there seemed to be a special on Turkish fishburgers - maybe it's only on Sundays. We'd decided to see the Bosphorus, so got on a boat that tours around for an hour and a half, basically in a giant circle around the bays. It was crowded too, but we got a reasonable position to start off with. As we progressed the weather turned a bit wet & cold, something we couldn't have contemplated a few days ago in Bukhara! We did see plenty of the bay - along the Europe side and then under a giant single span motorway bridge near the Black Sea and back along the Asia side of Istanbul until we returned to Galata. The size of this city is amazing, far flung hills covered in apartments, people fishing virtually all along the coast on both sides and some impressive historical mosques and palaces.
We wandered back to the Haze in a bit of a daze despite the drizzle, as we were pretty tired. Dinner across the road, cheap & cheerful.

Day 21 Completing Istanbul
A few more showers greeted us at breakfast however although cooler it stayed dry for most of the day. We got on the tram and headed straight to the Hagia Sofia to beat the crowds, wisely as it turned out because today was a public holiday. July 15th 2016, an attempted coup & subsequent purge of many top officials (which incidentally made us cancel a trip here) is now celebrated as Democracy & Unity Day. It was no doubt the reason why so many army units and police were out in force all around Istanbul over the last few days.
The Hagia Sofia is undergoing major renovations externally but inside it was business as usual and we were able to wander everywhere including upstairs in the original Christian cathedral. Much of the huge ceilings are covered with beautiful mosaics and it was interesting to see how the Ottomans utilised a major Christian building and turned it very quickly into what became the biggest mosque in the world. There are many remaining mosaics of Jesus, Mary and even some of Justinian the original Byzantine ruler. It is certainly a very impressive building, although we weren't blown away by it;  the constant stream of tour groups probably put us off.
From there we walked uphill to the Grand Bazaar, an Istanbul institution for centuries which sprawls over the side of a hill like spiders legs. The various alleys were fairly spacious & the stalls sold a huge variety from handbags to jewellery to shoes. We bought a few items, including some sick tea for the suppression of bronchial problems.
Ending up down near the river after a couple of hours wandering, we had a light lunch then decided to go back over the Galata Bridge & take the famous funicular railway up the hill above Karokoy. It was the first built in the world in 1885 by a Frenchman, who realised it would ease the steep climb to the popular shopping and consular area up the hill.
We wandered along Istiklal Street past shopping centres and consulate, had a cuppa and went into  Catholic Church named St Antony of Padua. Tony's great-grandfather was Anton von Padua Loh,  born in the old Austro-Hungarian capital of Vienna so there is some small connection.
From there we headed downhill and back to the hotel for a rest before our 6o'clock Intrepid Adventures meeting. Our guide Ata, a genial young Turk, covered all the salient details in no time so the 8 of us present went out for a meal, meeting 2 more in the lobby. Another couple only arrived in time to join us the next day. All except an elderly Yorkshireman Bob, are Aussies and seem pretty easy to get along with.