Crossıng Contınents

*Travel*

Today I completed my journey all the way from one continent to another (actually about 15 minutes by boat - see below).

The wikiTravel page for Istanbul says don't miss the Basilica Cistern. Definitely right.

It's a large area underground, maybe a football pitch, with columns at regular intervals holding a roof maybe 30 feet up from the walkway piers that have been added for us tourists, about 1 metre above the 1 metre of water in the cistern, teeming with fish.

It's subtly illuminated and I managed to get a few good photos by putting my camera on night mode and holding it against railings, etc to keep it very still.

It dawned on me that all the columns were different heights, with a base beneath each to make them reach the roof. They must have come from a very large number of previous grand buildings. We're talking about well over a hundred columns of between 8 and 10 metres!!

At the end of the walkways there was a café on a platform over the water, so I stopped for an unusual coffee. The café owner chatted to me and persuaded me to go with him to his uncle to learn about quality Turkish carpets.

Yes, I could see what was coming, but why shouldn't I go along to see if I enjoy the ride?

Yes, I did buy a carpet. Combination silk and wool, and in colours I liked. I have no idea whether I got a good deal, but I think I may have, as the uncle didn't seem overjoyed. He swore me to secrecy about the price I paid, but that's probably a standard part of the schmutter.

Incidentally, I saw "schmuck" written down today, translated as the word jewellery. That's not the translation I'd deduced from hearing it in context.

I hovered over a beer until 12 noon, the local check-in and -out time, to move my bags.

This afternoon I did the single thing I most wanted from my journey - travelling from Europe to Asia.

Strictly, I've already been to Asia numerous times (well, at least the Middle East and Hong Kong). But there's something different about getting there by earth-bound transport. Air travel is a bit like the Star Trek transporter - you snap your fingers or click your heels together and suddenly you're in the middle of a new place.

I have to concede (as someone with something like 70 airports behind him) that air transport is cheating-travel. Road, train and boat count. I might possibly make an exception for non-pressurised propellor-driven aircraft, as you're still immersed in the experience, like Phineas Fogg's balloon flight to Paris.

I still recall the wierdness of one of my early flights, to holiday in Kenya. It was like climbing into a big metal tube and waiting while someone made the tube be a third of the circumference of the world away.

Anyway I went, walked round at least one mosque, went through some markets, used an internet café and got back safely. Asia, conquered!

Back in Europa, I bought two badly-needed t-shirts (xxl, which would then make my beer gut xxxl - a harsh judgement so I blame clingy material), walked via the Spice Bazaar to and through the Grand Bazaar (4000 stalls - count them).

Feeling that I've got the hang of Istanbul now, I find the right tram back, and even the right direction.

I'm just about to enquire why my room's precious air-con isn't working when I start fiddling with lights that don't work either. There's a power cut affecting the whole block. Great!

Deciding this means it's beer o'clock, I retire to the 1st floor lounge bar and strike up a conversation in the growing darkness with two Finns here for the F1. It gets wonderfully beery before the mixture of drunkards and candles chimes ill.

They go off with the rest of their group and I go in search of a kebab (honestly a proper meal here, and not just for drunk people).