h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm off to Istanbul on Monday for a few days. It's a four hour flight so most of Monday will be spent getting there and Friday with getting back. I'll have three full days there with two half day guided tours.

I'll try and report back each day if I can get an internet connection.

Looking forward to it.

If I ever had to go to Istanbul, I'd never get that song by They Might Be Giants out of my head while there.

Not Constantinople then?

And for me, that's the version with The Four Lads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcze7EGorOk

have fun, Gnomon, it is possibly my favourite city in the world

Have fun, Gnomon. It's on my Bucket List.

GB

Have a nice trip. I've heard it's a great town, but I've never really felt the desire to go there myself. My youngest is just back from there - he went out for six months, taking the scenic railway route both ways, via Sofia, Budapest, Prag, Belgrade (not in that order) and last week on the way back he stopped in Thessaloniki. Seeing him at the weekend.

Do you need a visa, too? That's one reason I don't really have a hankering to get back to Turkey. Not because it's much of a hassle, but passing through customs and getting separated from the rest of the family probably reminded me of the frightening experience of crossing the old Friedrichsstrasse border between EAst and West Berlin and getting separated from the rest of the party because of the colour of my passport.

I'd recommend having an Iskander Kebab at the Pudding Shop in the Sultanahmet district (puddingshop dot com)

If you've got the time, visiting a hamam is always nice - this one's my favourite:

http://istanbul.for91days.com/2013/05/07/our-first-hamam-the-kilic-ali-pasa/

Yep, Brits need a Visa for Turkey. When I travel there with my German colleagues it causes them much hilarity. Not sure if you need one with an Irish passport though.

Irish need a visa to enter Turkey. You can apply on line and theoretically getit within 10 minutes, but the website failed for me and the application took about 2 days.

I just buy mine when i arrive - after you deplane but before you go through immigration there are booths selling them, they stick a thing in your passport and you pay them EUR 15 (for Brits, there are different prices)

Turkey is actually phasing out the purchase of 90-day multiple-entry tourist visas on arrival ... from 11 April 2014, you will need to buy an electronic visa in advance. Until then, you can buy a tourist visa at Passport Control for £10, but you will need a crisp English £10 note. (Scottish and Northern Irish notes are not accepted!)

Now THAT is a very important piece of information. No one thinks to tell you that when you buy tickets in Germany (Germans don't need a visa)

Thanks!

yep very useful especially as I'm travelling to Turkey in April

Here are some photos of my trip to Istanbul:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eoinmcauley/sets/72157641769568385/with/12889991484/

If you're my friend on Facebook, you'll have already seen them all except the last one, the panorama, which wouldn't load on Facebook for some reason.

Love the photo of the spice market, such intense colours!

This might be a better link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eoinmcauley/sets/72157641769568385/

The first one only goes to the last few pictures on my phone.

Ah, the cisterns - wasn't a scene in a Bond movie shot there?

*googles*

From Russia With Love

Heh, I'm looking for flights to Manchester for the meet-up and one option that pops up to the top of the list on kayak.com is via Turkish Airlines with a 16 hour layover in Istanbul, 32 hours full trip.