Yalova

Now before you judge the old Burka, as I used to, consider this.   No bad hair days, savings on hairdressers, no make up expenses, no acne problems , no gazing into the wardrobe wondering what to wear today? Yes I think this could catch on in Katikati 

First stop in the morning was the underground cystern . Made famous in the movie 'from Russia with love ' it used to hold over a million tons of water in case of siege. 

These icecream vendors were a scream. Made a show out of every icecream sale

We enjoyed the palace gardens mostly and a Turkish tea over looking the channel (through to the Black Sea)

We're in Europe still, and that's Asia over the bridge 

   3 days is a long time in any city for us and certainly long enough in Istanbul so next morning we caught the ferry south east for Yalova

This is a lovely town, a bit like Mt Maunganui and I booked this hotel for a week. The views from our 5th story room are fantastic. I can watch shipping and yachts all day !

My impressions of Turkey have changed considerably . The people are so nice, there are a couple of bars in town but  

nearly everyone drinks tea. NO drunken teenagers or abusive louts. 

  These little pink buses are the public transport system

There's an election coming up and buses were going round and round blaring out messages. The prime minister, Erdogan ,is getting bad press in the papers as being corrupt and wanting to make himself President for life. Who knows ?

That's our hotel behind the bus

  

Now we all know it's the 100 year anniversary of WW1, and this mobile caravan is visiting towns all over Turkey

It was so interesting seeing it from the other side. They suffered terribly also and considering we were the invaders ? Still that's water under the bridge