Christmas in Istanbul, December 25, 2022

 Hello all.  Three weeks from today and I will be returning to Canada. Today is like every other day here, with few exceptions, like banks and such. All stores, malls and shops are open their usual hours.  Next Sunday, being New Years day, most will be closed...if they go the normal route. Kids in school only have the weekend off, but will have a short vacation mid January.

We have had nice weather compared to many places.....like Canada. Lows some nights around three degrees, and daytime temperatures up to 18 and 20 some days, but mostly around 12. The next week is also looking good. A week ago, the forecast was for 10 CM of snow for December 30, now will be around 14.

We have had breakfast at the famous Pierre Lotti restaurant, located high on a hill side where you go up in a gondola. The place has a number of restaurants ans is located above thousands of grave sites. Many of the hills here are used for grave sites and have done so for hundreds of years so I am told.

We spent one day in the huge Egyptian Market where almost anything can be found. We saw places that were selling fake U.S. one hundred dollar bills......true.. The next day, we were having a coffee at one of our favourite places and saw a pile of the fakes on the next table....they had been ripped to shreds, but we retrieved one for showing off.....except for one word, it could not be picked out of some real bills.

I have a friend coming down from Poland for a few days, and at that time we will visit the Chocolate museum, and the Grand Bazaar, etc,,,,,you know how it is....... get two or three women together and shopping will be the order of the day....here there will be ladies from Poland, Morocco, and Turkey....all great friends of mine. 

Istanbul Turkiye, December 11,2022

 Hello All. Yes, I arrived here on time yesterday, in fact we were thirty five minutes early. I was in and out of Passport Control/Customs in five minutes. So everything was ahead of schedule. We got in just before the evening rush.

In the past, I always stayed at the Ramada  Alibeykoy hotel, however it was booked for the times I needed, so my friends found a good  apartment for me. That hotel is where my friends and I set for a place to meet, and it worked out excellent. Another friend from Warsaw is expecting to come down for the first week of January, and we have set that hotel as the place to meet then also,

On the route here, we were above clouds all the way from Canada.....no ground visible until just before landing. Our route was Montreal, St Johns Newfoundland, Dublin, Munich, Belgrade and on to Istanbul.

By the way, I have spelled this country as it now wants to be identified. Travel agents and anyone dealing in that business are being encouraged to use this spelling.

We have a quiet day planned for this afternoon, and will do more starting tomorrow, when Hussian, my little friend here , is back in school for the full day. We are still good friends because I brought him 20 Birthday Cake Tim Bits.....his favourite.  We start the day tomorrow by having coffee at the Cafe Pierre Lotti which I have previously referenced.....there is several ways this place is spelled...sometimes one and sometimes two ells. That will be all for today.

Ottawa, Ontario, December 8, 2022

 Hello All. This will be a short report, as not much travel-wise has happened since my last update in November. I will be departing here during the noon hour Friday, December 9, and travelling via the VIA Rail system to Dorval, then a shuttle will take me to the airport. This ticket is included in the rail fare to Montreal. I will have a few hours at the Montreal airport, then at ten P.M., we will depart for Istanbul on Turkish Airlines flight  TK 36, for the estimated nine hours and three minute flight. 

My friends in Turkey have arranged for me to rent an apartment that is about three transit stops from where they live. My Turkish friends and another friend of theirs, (and now of mine), from Morocco, will be making plans for what activities we will get involved with. On January 5, a friend of mine from Warsaw will come over for a few days to visit that area for the first time. I have been kidding them that there will be three people bossing me around .

For those who wish to do so, you may wish to Google some of the places we see, and will do again; The Istanbul Chocolate Museum, The Pierre Loti Cafe...(the views from above an old Cemetery are outstanding on a clear sunny day.). and MiniaTurk, which is a large area of miniature models of many scenes from within Turkey.

 I should point out that now, we are seeing the modern name....Turkiye on many documents and in the newspapers.    I will report in after I have arrived in downtown Istanbul.