Day 2 - Humidity and New Homes

Well - what a day. Been out of the apartment 12 hours - and achieved quite a bit.

First things first - breakfast at Bakirkoy Marina - a full Turkish. Very tasty and healthy. Served by the lovely restaurant owner who patiently listened while we tried to pronounce the Turkish versions of the food, and smiled as we did our little language lessons at the table. It all sounds great if you read the words as they are spelled - but that's not how it works ! High priority has to be Turkish classes.

 After being sated by breakfast it was time for a new adventure - catching a local bus. Far easier than we expected. Took it all the way to Florya - the posh seaside town we hoped to set up our new home at. With temperatures hitting over 30 deg, and it being school holidays, lots of people headed to the beach. First time we've seen a beach surrounded by barbed wire fences, with a charge of 10TL to go through a gate that resembled a concentration camp ! So weird. We didn't bother even trying - it was mobbed. So we took a walk along the fenced off promenade instead - absolutely no unauthorized access to this beautiful coastline, with a huge fence and rolls of barbed wire for miles. Why ?????

So we took ourselves off to nearby Yesilkoy (pronounced yesh-il-ko) - not by bus as we took the wrong one, got thrown off at the end of the line, and resorted to a "tacsi". What a litte gem of a town this is, Very European feeling - small enough to walk around, but so many shops, cafes and bars. We found an estate agent, booked an appointment for 2pm and went for a Turkish coffee (kahve). These take some getting used to, but I keep trying. When in Rome .......

And it was at 2pm that the fun began. In the next 3 hours we saw 7 apartments. The first 3 were too big, out of our price range, out of town, and badly advised by a money-grabbing woman who thought she saw "rich ex-pat" written on our foreheads. Needless to say she didn't last long. One of them we didn't even go into, and 2 are possibles - but probably not. 

One was 40 years old and has recently been vacated by the owners  and their 3 children. To use the agent's words - it looks like a "shit-hole" but he promised it would be cleaned. (Ffion and Catrin - if you read this - it was 10 times worse than anything I have ever seen in your bedrooms ! ). I could see past the mess but Paul's nose was wrinkled for quite some time. Another had an olympic sized swimming pool next to the beach, but was on the top floor (4 flights) with no lift. And it was only 2 bedrooms. And very ugly. 

So - with our potential visitors in mind all have been rejected and the quest continues on Wednesday. To whet your appetites though, the picture below shows Yesilkoy beach. You will have to enjoy it as it doesn't look as if we will be getting a swimming pool ! 

To finish a very eventful day we met 2 Turkishair pilots for a drink, who regaled us with stories about life in the company and the country. Very informative and worthwhile and left us in the knowledge that we have made the right decision. (Ask us that one again in a few weeks !!)

Oh - humidity - must have been on a par with Singapore today. Apparently it only goes on for around 6 weeks - and we are in day 2 ! Looks like we brought it over with us. So lots of washing lining up, but I still can't get the nice guy at the front desk to understand what a clothes airer is - even though I did carefully write it down and stick it under his nose.

So - off to look around Istanbul city tomorrow - no idea where we will go or what we will do. Will just have to see where the transport takes us. Lunch on the Bosphorous sounds good though.