Rick and I arrived home last week from an amazing holiday in Istanbul. Why Istanbul and why in December (when it's rainy and cold) you ask? Well, Istanbul has been on our 'someday' list for a while, and the fact that it would be a bit cold and possibly rainy didn't deter us as we live in one of the rainiest cities in Canada. The tipping point for us was that United airlines was promoting their direct Newark to Istanbul route with really great prices and I had a flight credit with them that had to be used up by the end of the year, so everything just sort of aligned to make the time right.
Originally we were planning to be on the ground in Istanbul for 7 days, but due to mechanical issues, our flight from Newark was canceled, and as the airline only had one flight a day to Istanbul, we left a full 24 hours after we were supposed to leave, leaving us only 6 days on the ground in Turkey. And what a fabulous six days they were!
We booked the Albinas Old City Hotel as our home away from home and it was a great choice. The location was great - it was in the Sultanahmet-Old City part of the city - only about a 5 minute walk to the Blue Mosque. And, included in the rate, they had a huge buffet breakfast each morning.
I will share more about our trip with you after Christmas, but for now, I'll leave you with a few more pictures from our visit to this complex, fascinating city.
Yes Turkey, an amazing and original country. Come to Bashkortostan, to visit, and you will see many interesting things.
Posted by: Lyudmila Isakova | December 24, 2012 at 01:00 AM