08.20 The sleep was welcome. The hot water is somewhere else. What about breakfast?

10.06 It is getting better. The hot water is here and the breakfast was big, just what we needed. Buckwheat porridge, bread, cheese, jam, tomato, cucumber, juice, coffee and strawberry cake. There were several breakfast options, with very little difference. Time to prepare for our trip to Yalta.

11.35 Sitting on the trolleybus to Yalta. A bumpy ride at the start but things will get better. We went to the post office before embarkation. We began with entering the wrong place and were asked by a guard in military clothes. The post office was found and the postcards sent.

11.48 There are several stops before we leave Simferopol. Bus stops, red lights and hell knows what. I just saw a man trying to start his green van with a cranks. Another van of a similar kind and colour had a sticker with the letters SU on it. SU standing for Soviet Union.

12.41 There are forested and cloudcrowned mountains around us. The trip carries on. In the middle of the forest and lady got onboard. She had her nose covered in resin, why she had it I have no idea.

13.25 I just saw the Black Sea. We passed through Alushta and we´re approaching Yalta.

Finally we reached Yalta!

14.33 2½ hours on a bumpy trolleybus is over for this time. We have walked from the bus stop and down towards the sea. This year´s trip has taken us from the shores of the Baltic Sea to the beaches of the Black Sea.

15.02 We´ve walked around in the town and its beach walk and seen a statue of Anton Tiechov and wife. We also met an old man that seemed to be covered in medallions. We are getting hungry. Along the beach you get the chance to get your picture taken I different settings. The old Russian royal court and a HD-driver to mention some

The seaside in Yalta. Here you can be photographed in all kind of costumes and environments.

15.31 A trip guided by a waiter has brought us from the beach walk to a Tatar restaurant. The beer Etalon just landed on the table. Time for a taste. Hm, a strong taste to say the least. The restaurant´s special Tatar food takes 80 minutes to prepare.

17.07 This restaurant sure knew two things, serve little and charge a lot. The bill, including service fee, ended at 55.50 hr ($ 11) each. Time to go with the trolleybus back home to Simferopol.

Yalta

18.09 Back in Alushta. It is hot here in the trolleybus. I fall asleep from time to time. ”Just” 1½ hour left.

18.43 Something made a noise and the trolleybus stopped. The driver went out, got behind the bus, made sure that the bus once more got connected to the electric wire above us again, got onboard and off we went.

19.40 Just got back to the station in Simferopol again. It will take a while before I enter a trolleybus again.

21.16 We have since returning home looked for stops for the trolleybus to the airport. I know I´ve sworn to wait with trolleybuses but what can we do? We think we found the right stop. After that we went shopping. All went smooth until it was time to pay. At our counter it was chaos to say the least. Harsh words were said, we guess, a shopping bag with groceries was lifted down behind the counter and the young lady behind the counter looked sad. We realised as we got home that the clothes Christer had hang out to dry on the balcony were gone. We looked in the closet but no clothes. At last we found them in the bathroom.

22.44 It is 22° out on the balcony. Here in the room awaits evening beer, plans for the arrival in Turkey tomorrow (how much is the Turkish lira worth?) brushing of teeth, black out and sleep.

22.58 Someone just tried to unlock our door. Are we or that person in the wrong place?

Saturday 2nd of July

07.22 So it has come, the day when we´re leaving Ukraine. Soon breakfast and other morning duties before we head for the reception. There a taxi will called for and a new adventure begins. That’s it, taxi. We skip the trolleybus.

08.43 Just got back from breakfast. It reminded of the one we had yesterday. The juice was replaced with some square dairy product. It was an international breakfast today. Both Greeks and Turks by the other tables. My chair fell backwards as I got up. Time to gather energy before….

09.38 Checked out and seated in the reception waiting for taxi they have called for. The taxi that will take us to the airport.

International departures terminal at Simferopol Airport.

10.09 Just reached the airport. The ride here went smooth and cost 40 hryvnia. Check in begins at 10.50. It feels good to be here in time. From another part of the departure one can hear people wrapping tape around their luggage. It seems that leaving Ukraine and taping luggage goes together. It also happened on the train towards Poland two years ago (9 July 2003).

10.56 Still at the same place looking at the people around us. Some are using tape, the check in queues are not moving and right now am an sat down next to us. He is wearing a riding helmet and Brazilian soccer sweater. There are plenty of people from Malaysia here.

11.40 We moved to the slow queue. A German sheepdog is walking around without any leach. I think he is sniffing for drugs.

13.13 Finally in the waiting hall. The queue kept crawling forward. Some people from Kazakhstan cut the queue as it was our time to check in. One of them, a red-haired, Russian speaking gentleman with glasses from many years ago truly mastered the queue cutting. At last it was our turn. We began to check in and got the news, we were in the wrong queue. This was the counter for people with destinations beyond Istanbul. To top it all of, a lady in high heels almost managed to step on my foot. During all this someone managed to drop a bottle of wine. A sigh could be heard from the ones in the queue. The security check took some time, we passed two X-ray machines and had our passport, ticket, boarding card and immigration card thoroughly checked. Here as earlier were there people cutting the line. A gentleman talked with the guard, led a lady pass the passport control, came back and shook hand with the guard. I guess that this was to days last problem. At least within the next 2-3 hours. We have a lift off at 13.30.

13.35 No lift off here. Haven’t even got up from the seats. The luggage cart have passed, did it have our backpacks on it?

13.57 The doors towards the aeroplanes swung open and we went there. We stood there, waiting and got he message, Moscow!! The ones flying for Moscow were welcome.

14.29 Finally onboard the plane. Seats 6A and 6B. What will happen next? A certain red-haired gentleman managed to cut the line for the aeroplane. I am glad he is going to Alma Ata. A place there we are not going, at least not this year.

14.53 We are floating on and through clouds. I wonder if we will get anything to eat or drink?

15.34 We got something to eat, chicken, bread and salad. We got something to drink, Coca Cola and mineral water. They haven’t served any coffee. We are twenty-five minutes from landing in Istanbul. In the food box came a note that said that Turkish Airways never has pork in their food.

TURKEY

16.36 Passports are stamped, backpacks are picked up and now it is time to get some money from the ATM. It will just be a small sum to start with. After that we will ride the bus to our new home.

16.45 The money is withdrawn. The guy ahead of me tried to withdraw 7300 lira, that is $ 5840. This wasn’t accepted by the ATM.

18.16 Local bus/airport bus to Aksaray in the European part of Istanbul. We met some newly wed in a car on the way here. We got off and a man began bothering us. He offered to help us get to our hotel. We told him that we preferred to walk. He showed us which way was the right one but soon came running after us. He insisted to get us a taxi. He claimed that the tram was ever so far away and cost a fortune. We bargained about the price for the taxi ride and of we went.

Our ride went past cars, people and other stuff. Suddenly a dead halt, the driver said: "Salam aleikum where is this hotel?" to a local man. We drove on up a hill and came down it again, backwards. We went into another street and new questions were asked. We soon learned that our hotel was just 30 metres away. The last metres was managed by foot. As we checked things were lost for the man in the reception, first it was our note confirming our booking. Then it was the key to our room. It was easy to find the note but no sign of the key. Instead we got hole bunch of keys, I think it is the spare keys, and now we are in room 106. The bunch just was brought back so now we are back to no key again. We are staying at Cordial House Hotel at Peykane Sokak 29.

Peter has got lots of keys this day.

19.01 A man just stepped into our room. He said he was sorry and left. We sure need a key.

21.15 Home again after that we bought lots of beverages and chocolate. After this deal came tonight´s offer. We got invited to a restaurant. This day´s special offer had expired but they made an exception for us. Kind people or people willing to earn money, well I don’t know. What ever is was, they served us soup, salad, Shish Kebab and fresh water melon. Time to drink,,,, water.

22.37 It is 26° on the yard outside our room. It is time to get some sleep. I hear voices from the other rooms and the sleep is welcome. Out in the distance we can here the call to prayer.

What is this? Something remaining from a Christmas celebration?

Sunday 3rd of July

08.00 I just woke up. Outside the birds are singing and seagulls are crying. Nothing planed today. I have plans for more sleeping.

09.05 Doused off a little more, got out of bed and went for a shower. I am right now sitting on the side of the bed draped in a towel. We got two beds each. One for sleeping and one for storing belongings. This is the day then we take a first peek at Istanbul. It is right now 25° warm.

12.10 Out on the streets of the town, or to be exact in a park. The sun is shining and a cool wind blows. There are mosques around us.

12.17 Here I am just sitting relaxing in the sun. suddenly a young man appears and offers a shoe shine, of my sandals. Then followed a question of our origin. On top of that an offer to buy some collective coins. He went on with asking for a cigarette and finished of with a new offer for shoe shine. A bearded man just passed accompanied by his wife. All you could see of her wash her eyes and nose. The rest was covered .

Hagia Sophia

Blue Mosque in Sultanahmet, Istanbul

12.35 Sitting by a sleeping fountain, between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia. We are thinking about having lunch.

13.23 Time for lunch at Gűlhane Sark Sofrasi. I have ordered Adana kebab and Christer Köfte. Adana kebab is a dish from southern Turkey a minced meat roll with red peppers. Köfte are small, grilled minced meat packages, they are actually the model for the Swedish meatballs.

14.01 That meat roll sure was spicy! It came with salad, peppers, tomato, raw onion and rice. After this I had a cup HOT, strong Turkish coffee.

Peter drinking Turkish coffee.

Christer in front of the Blue Mosque.

Peter on a walk through Istanbul.

15.05 Back, tired and thirsty. We bought postcards and stamps in the reception so now we will be able to send a greeting to the ones back home. The key is still on the run but they will make a new one for us tomorrow. Now it is time to add water to the body, both inside and outside.

17.30 I wrote the postcards and had a siesta. Christer began with the siesta and writes his postcards now. It is 28° outside. Such temperatures drains the body, head and rest. Might as well keep a low profile, indoors for some time. Time to have a little to drink.

20.44 We went out to find a mailbox and a place to eat at. The eating place is Meshur Sultanahmet Köftecisi found just nearby the mosques. We didn’t find any mailbox. But we met Mustafa or as he prefers to be called Mick. He spoke a lot about his brother and sister in USA but also about himself, his cousin and their store that they just opened. He showed us there and invited us. We met the cousin and also what they called their international family. They offered us apple tea or beer. We said thanks but no thanks and left the store. You cant walk far here without getting an offer. Socks from Hugo Boss for first 20 then 10 euro. Time to pay for our food.

21.19 We paid to a man by the door. He said ”Thank You” with a voice just like Don Corleone himself. Just got back to our warm room. The door to the yard is open and some cool air goes in there and out of our room door. A door that we still haven’t got a key to. All we know is how to lock in from inside. We must “borrow” a key from the reception if we want to open it from the outside. Speaking of outside, it is warm, damps and crowded out there. I hope we get used to it.

22.33 Dark and 26° out there. The room is getting cooler. I am getting tired. Tomorrow is a new day. I wonder how many will offer us how much under how long time?

Monday 4th of July

09.50 I slept, not well but still slept. It is a rainy day so we have to see what we do.

11.30 It is shining up. Just some dripping from the rooftops.

12.49 Still clouded but no rain. As soon as Christer has washed his clothes we will go for some lunch before we get to the Topkapi-palace, the Ottoman sultan´s old home just nearby. We are staying in the Sultanahmet area there most of Istanbul’s famous attractions are.

14.06 Just came back from buying us some lunch, a yoghurt each. The lunch made us feel ready to head out. That failed cause the rain began to pour again.

A wet walk in Gülhane Park this rainy day.

15.54 We went out as the rain took a break. We walked towards and in the beautiful Gülhane-park downside the Topkapi palace. After some walking we did aim for the entrance of the palace. It was at this moment that the rain returned. We decided to cancel the palace visit. Not so fun to walk around on a wet court yard. The only fun thing in this was the fact that we found a mailbox. As we got home they brought us the news, there is still no key.

16.30 I´ve been down at the restaurant Ortaklar down on the corner for some coffee. I was invited and served by a one eyed man. He was blind on his left eye. Christer is laying in bed with aching muscles and bad stomach. Is it because of the local bacteria’s or a common flue? We have no idea.

18.23 Back at the hotel after a new visit to Ortaklar. This time for Urfa kebab, minced meat roll, rice, vegetables, spicy sauce and bread. To drink a Coca Cola and it cost me 4.25 lira ($ 3.60) for the meal. Christer decided to rest instead. The food was delicious. Grilled meat and freshly baked bread.

19.40 We went out to buy breakfast and visit an Internet café as it once again started to rain. It rains, according to the guide book, 35-40 mm in Istanbul during July. I think all this and more have come during this day.

20.41 Sitting in the hotel bar having tea. We´ve just been shopping for breakfast. We cancelled Internet, due to the rain.

21.35 The rain just went over in a cloudburst. It sounds like a wind blowing outside. But there is no wind. It is the sound from the down pouring rain.

22.32 We hear a motor running somewhere outside. I wonder if someone is pumping away water? Less rain and lower temperature, +21°. What a day...