Istanbul, Queen of Cities

The Blue Mosque, as seen from Hagia Sophia


Galata Tower


View of Galata Bridge from Galata Tower


Fishing with rods from Galata Bridge


Walking on Galata Bridge


Inside the Topkapı Palace


Hagia Sophia exterior view


Hagia Sophia interior view


Sunset in Bosphorus, as seen from the Asian side


This was an express sightseeing tour.

Next post: Urban Istanbul!

The year that was...

Weddings, rhino's, ancient churches and neon lights....

I've had a pretty busy year, I had intended to load some pics for you guys over the last 11 months but have not had the time. Here's a summary of some of the pictures that have captured my experiences across the continent in the last 11 months.

The chameleon called mother nature....

I found these gems of nature in the Hennops river valley, close to Pretoria South Africa.





















African sunset in Polokwane





The River Nile: Uganda








My first bunjee point, I jumped in Uganda over the river Nile.

Thessaloniki - Istanbul by train

Following on the "Ride the Balkan train" project that me and some friends started last year, here is episode 2. Istanbul!


Starting from the Thessaloniki train station at around 20:00, the train reaches Drama train station by 22:30, while being still on Greek ground.


On the Greek - Turkish border the train stopped for more than half an hour, both on the Greek and the Turkish station, Uzunköprü.

A few minutes after 4:00 the custom police completed the passport control and we were able to continue our sleep.


After the first light, at around 8:30, we woke up with some modern urban architecture in our eyesight. After spending some time at Google Earth, I guess this must be Bahçeşehir.


When you see these funky buildings remember: you still got another hour on the train!








At 8:49 we made a short stop at Halkali train station. A breath away from Istanbul.


First signs of Istanbul's urban structure








A ha!








At around 9:30 we reached our destination, the Istanbul Sirkeci Terminal.

Total travel time: 13 hours, 30 minutes!

In my next post I will play the tourist!