WANDERING WITH WILLIAM
  • Home
  • Blog

Malta - Istanbul - Chicago

2/19/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
The bittersweet time has come for us to leave Malta.  We have truly enjoyed our time in the county and our stay at the aqua penthouse flat in St. Paul's Bay.  We have had good conversation over wonderful meals - everything from pizza and pasta to rabbit stew and rib eyes.  The dining spots have ranged from outside patio's beneath towering palm trees to vaulted stone rooms below street level.

We have found plenty to see and do during our 33 days in Malta, yet we took it at a relaxed pace.  We noticed that churches are to Malta as pubs are to Ireland - there's one (or two) on seemingly every block.  As Paul drives us to the airport he explains that there are well over 300 churches in Malta - it's said that there is one for every day of the year.  We certainly have seen at least 33 churches during our stay!


Our flight to Istanbul arrives in the afternoon.  We have a 23 hour layover so we have booked a room at the Renaissance hotel overlooking the Sea of Marmara and located just 10 minutes from the airport.  After checking in we catch a taxi to the Sultanahmet district. We stroll around the Hippodrome - viewing Sultan Ahmet (also known as the Blue Mosque), the obelisks, and the German Fountain.  Just a few steps away is Hagia Sophia which from 537 until 1453, served as an Orthodox cathedral and seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Picture
Picture
By now it is time for dinner.  We stop in a local restaurant.  We order the cheese pide and the Turkish meatballs for our meals and share them.  The waiter brings us a freshly baked flat bread, followed by cups of puréed lentil soup, then the main courses and lastly small pieces of baklava for dinner.  Each of the meals are each priced at 15 Turkish Lira ($5.07 / €4.54) and the food is very good!  Of course, the cost of our beer and wine doubles the bill.
Picture
After dinner we stroll around a while longer then, despite the warning from our taxi driver to wait until 9 pm when the traffic will be better, decide to catch a taxi back to the hotel.  Oh my!  This is India level traffic jams.  14 million people call Istanbul home and most of them seem to be on the roads.  It takes us an hour to get back to the Renaissance.

On Friday after a relaxing full breakfast we take the hotel shuttle to the airport at 11:30am.    Once again we are lucky and the middle seat between us on our Turkish Airways flight is empty.  The flight is delayed on take-off but arrives on-time and I use the 9 1/2 hours to watch five movies - a good way to catch up on some more recently released films.
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Hi.  I'm Anne.  I wander around the world with William.


    Enjoy Some of our Favorite Links below
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed


    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014


    Categories

    All
    9138
    Albuferia
    Alicante
    Ambato
    Antarctica
    Argentina
    Armenia
    Atlantic And Islands
    Barcelona
    Cambodia
    Cartegena
    Chile
    Colombia
    Costal Rica
    Cuenca
    Easter Island
    Faro
    Hungary
    Iceland
    Jaco
    Jakarta
    Kuala Lumpur
    Lisbon
    Loule'
    Malta
    Medellin
    New Zealand
    Olon
    Panama
    Porto
    Portugal
    Santiago
    Scotland
    Seville
    Singapore
    Slovakia
    SouthEast USA
    Spain
    Taipei Taiwan
    Tavira
    Thailand Bangkok
    Thailand Chiang Mai
    Uruguay
    Usa
    Valparaiso
    Vancouver
    Vienna
    Vietnam Halong
    Vietnam Hanoi
    Vietnam Ho Chi Minh
    Vietnam Hoi An
    Vietnam Hue

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photo used under Creative Commons from A Vahanvaty