November 19. Reuniting with Mark and going to Tbilisi

It was long (but good) day today. It is now 11pm in Tbilisi. We got up at 7:30am in Istanbul. Packed and went upstairs for breakfast. The view of the Blue Mosque and the river in the morning mist was awesome. Breakfast was pretty basic, no meat but very fresh. Dan did see some six legged friends in the kitchen where he was searching for coffee. I did not go there so I am operating under assumption it was something else and eating is as usual :).

We walked towards the river to see the old city wall. On the way we encountered a very pretty neighborhood of the typical Turkish homes with extended second floor balconies. There were some wood homes there as well. They now house boutique stores and hotels. All are unique and very interesting. We took many pictures but I left the cable to transfer these to computer so these would have to wait until we are back. Near the river there is a promenade with lots of runners.

By 9 am came up to Hagia Sophia. Unfortunately it was closed on Mondays!!!

So for the remaining hour we walked around the site encountering a group on beautifully dressed Turkish men apparently participating as extras in a historical movie near the row of old wooded buildings above the Hagia Sophia site. These buildings used to house important official, now they are as historical hotel (the queen of Spain stayed there recently according to a plaque).

Finally we came inside the studio of a painter of Uzbeki and Georgian heritage. His range is similar to that of the cellar guy in Tallinn. Except he stopped trying to paint years ago, and now is just trying to sell. One had to live too. But you can tell there is no love in most of these paintings anymore.

We took the reverse route of tram followed by metro to come back. After some long lines for the passport check we finally joined Mark in the boarding lounge.

He shared his adventures. Apparently we just missed each other at the cistern yesterday. He got a lot done in his extra day in Istanbul. Saw Topkapi palace, took Bosphorus cruise, and explored Taxim nightlife.

The flight was short and comfortable. We enjoyed a selection of meals (Turkish airlines have something like 10 food choices for the hour and 50 minute flight.)

At the airport, passport check was almost instantaneous and we each got a present - a bottle of red wine. Seriously For the first time in our lives we get a present for visiting a country. Amazing!!! The person who was meeting us was late. I was told to look for the bald/close cut guy - almost all of them looked like that. I asked a few if they were him, but they were not. We thought he forgot, waited around, and eventually took the (old, clickety Soviet) bus to the city.

Mark demonstrated his great communication abilities by getting locals to advise us where to get off. We thought that locals would not be friendly if we spoke Russian and so tried to communicate in English, which hardly anyone speaks. We looked like a bunch of alien freaks - big eyes, sitting on a bus, trying to communicate in some weird language, it was dark outside. Ultimately we heard someone speak Russian and talked to them. Turns out most of the people around us spoke Russian and we were told that Russian is very welcome too. Everyone around was very friendly.

At Mariott Courtyard in the center the very helpful staff directed us to our hotel. Since most of the street signs are in Georgian we took a very scenic road there that showed there is much to do to get the city to where it needs to be. Our hotel is very nice but at the edge of niceness so we contemplated going elsewhere but ultimately came back there and stuck to our guns.

There are three separate beds in the room. Really cute!!

 

We went for dinner to the nice restaurant with green letters. Cannot tell the name. That's where hotel staff sent us. In a middle of us having a great time and working hard on life-taxidermying ourselves the guy who was supposed to pick us up walked in!!! It was amazing how he was able to track us down.

Mark loves cable cars in the dark

After dinner we took the cable car - at 10pm up the mountain on left bank of the river. It is a pretty cool experience after dark. Then we walked down and walked around a bit before deciding to call it a day. Very very cool!!!

The wishing bush