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Turkey


The Thracian scenery, seen from the train. The station at Kabakca, where the train has now been stopped for about two hours. The guard spent a while getting me to unpack my bags and then told me that another train was about t... Eventually, somebody found out that it would take hours for the fault with the engine to be repaired... Still waiting. We're on out way again. I don't know what this is meant to be. The station at Halkali. Unlike Bulgarian stations, Turkish ones have their names displayed prominent... There doesn't seem to be anything keeping the train doors shut though. This train is on its way out ... The approach to Istanbul. There's an impressive array of minarets in the distance but they aren't very easy to see here. Another view of the Istanbul's outskirts. The Blue Mosque. I must be close to the end of the line now. There's the Bosphorus Bridge up ahead. The train was nothing like this long when I boarded it in Buc... This is the end of the continent. The other bank there is the start of Asia. It's a shame I didn't m... Another view across the Bosphorus, from the car park of the Topkapi Palace. Another view. The Middle Gate of the Topkapi Palace. This was as far as members of the public were allowed in the ... The chimneys of the Palace kitchens, which now house a display of Chinese pottery, seen across the S... The Second Court seen from outside the Inner Treasury. I've become a tourist now and I'm certainly n... The view from inside the Imperial council Chamber. The Terrace Mosque, with a view across the Bosphorus. The Bosphorus again. And again. There's the bridge, and a boat. Another boat, and a turkish flag flying rather proudly in the Asian part of the city. Guess where this is? I'm beginning to doubt the Solent's claim to be the busiest stretch of water in the world. A bit more of the Palace. In the distance now is the Galata part of Istanbul, on the other side of the stretch of water known ... I'm still at the Palace, waiting for a tour of the Harem. The Audience chamber. Tourists looking at bits of Mohammed in the Sacred Safekeeping Rooms. We're not allowed to take phot... Seen enough yet? The Courtyard of the Black Eunuchs in the Harem. Same again. A 16th century gold mixer tap. This feature of the Palace is still in use. It's the urinal in the gents'. The Aya Sofya museum, which has been a mosque and a cathedral in its time. I decided to put off goin... The Blue Mosque, seen from across Sultanahmet Park. I took another photograph without the woman but ... <i>Million</i>, the marker from which all distances in Byzantium were measured. It would have been a... A monument next to <i>Million</i>, bearing some unusual graffiti: "m<sup>2</sup> = m<sup>3</sup... The Basilica Cistern. The Basilica Cistern again. It's hard to tell at first how big this place is; it's all rather dark. One of the people reading those boards is translating them into sign language. I don't know why the ... Apparently, this place was forgotten for hundreds of years. I seem to have come off the tourist trail now. The <i>New Mosque</i> The original Turkish Delight shop. I couldn't really pass without popping in for a few boxes. The restaurant where I went for dinner. The group on the right are obviously getting into the cultur... The hippodrome. "Sorry for the temporary bother that we make". You should know what this is by now. The inside of the Blue Mosque, showing the "elephant's feet" pillars. Apparently, the Aya ... Street vendors. "Flowers, lovely flowers?" "Bread?" "You want cordless dril... Taksim Square, at the heart of the modern business district of Istanbul. It's a big mess of buses an... One of the gates of Constantinople. The old city walls. The ferry terminal from which boats leave for various other parts of the city. Fishing is very popul... The Bosphorus. There's the Galata bridge on the left, and the Galata Tower in the middle. Boats. I'm waiting for one to take me to Asia because I fancied a trip in the tethered balloon which... A car transporter ship. Haydarpasa Station, which was apparently a present from Kaiser Wilhelm to the Sultan. Presumably not... Inside the station. I don't want to catch a train; I just came in here for the amusement of seeing T... Outside the station. I think the smoke has been left behind by one of the ferries. It's not coming f... Europe. That's where I live. Actually, this is the first time I've visited another continent in eigh... Europe in the background, Asia in the foreground. This is as far as I'm going. I hope you enjoyed th...