Sydney to Istanbul. Time for another tour.

 Our first encounter on the trip was meeting Peter and his wife Emma at Kingsford Smith International Airport Sydney. After checking in with far too much cycling gear, it was time to have a coffe and speak to the family before we head off.

No sooner had we arrived at the airport and it was time to go inside and get through customs.  I had no problem  but Peter had to pull some gear out as I think the pedals in his carry on luggage looked a little suspicious.  No problems and we were no onboard and making our way to our fist destination, Singapore.  The flight was nice and smooth which is good for a person who never really handles flying at the best of times. 

A quick 1 & 1/2 hour transit, which requires 2 trams and a long walk and we were now waiting for the 2nd leg of the trip to Istanbul, Turkey.  The 10 hours went pretty quick and I got at least 6 hours sleep.  I hope I snored and pissed everyone off.  I didn't sit next to Peter on the plane because of our bookings.  It wasn't a problem as he'll get enough of me by the time we get back to Australia on the 16 October 2013.

Touchdown Istanbul was at 7.30am today.  We were met by our driver and taken to the Marmara Guesthouse in the centre of town.  Nice little guesthouse with extremely hospitable owners.  Nothing was a problem to them.

We had to wait to get our room, so during this time we went for a walk to see the Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern and the Grand Bazaar. I've put some photos above and below of the Blue Mosque which is out of this world.  When I was young I wasn't interested in history, and perhaps one could say I wasn't interested in school at all.

 The photo above was taken inside the Blue Mosque.  Inside the mosque are millions of blue tiles covering nearly every inch of the Monument.

 The photo above is the roof of the Blue Mosque.

 I'm trying play around with the settings of my new Nikon D3200 SLR camera and this photo is my effort inside the underground water system of the Basilica Cistern.

 Another attempt at taking photos without the flash.

 It was really amazing walking under the city to visit the Cistern.  We went down a couple of flights of stairs and came across this labyrinth of columns dimly lit with enough light to add some mystery to the site.

This photo was taken from the terrace area of our guesthouse.

During the afternoon we put our bike together and thankfully they never suffered any damage in the trip.  Tiredness was setting in late in the day and I think an early dinner and a good night's sleep is what I need.  Len has just arrived and is now putting his bike together.  I hope we get the chance to meet up later on in the ride.

Tomorrow will be another sightseeing day and putting the front racks on the bike.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.