Back to Istanbul and home.....

From Urfa we drove down to the Syrian border (I'm pretty sure smart traveller warns against that too) to drop off half of our group who were heading off to Syria, Jordan and Egypt. Then drove to Adana to catch a flight back to Istanbul. It was quite an adventure as a huge storm came through Adana whilst we were waiting to board which flooded part of the terminal and the thunder and lightening made all of us want to catch the 26 hour night bus back.

It seemed to clear in time for us to take off and we arrived a couple of hours later to a cold(about 14) and rainy Istanbul. I really liked Istanbul and there was heaps there I still wanted to do, needless to say there wasn't enough time. But I had time to go to Taxim Square twice (and eat at this surprizingly cheap restaurant twice), take the tram, metro and funicular, see the pretty huge but great archaelogical museum and visit another Hamam (not quite as good as the one in Cappadocia - but still pretty good). I also visited the Grand Bazaar which was a bit disappointing and the Spice market again which wasn't disappointing at all. The men selling things were particularly hilarious - shouting out things like 'its cheaper for blondes' and 'give me back my heart' to all the girls.

So after 3 weeks with a bag full of washing I prepared myself for the 22 hour flight and fighting through security at Bahrain airport to return home. Why can't every day be a holiday?

See my photo's here