The Black Sea

Dear All,

Firstly, thanks for all the messages you're sending, it's lovely reading them. Every time we see comments underneath a blog posting we get really excited!!

As I write this posting, I'm looking over a lovely little beach on the Black Sea. It is idyllic. Get this for a great morning; we woke up, opened the door and saw the sun, an empty beach and blue sea, donned our swimming costumes, headed for the sea, grabbed each others hand and ran into the waves. It was a magical moment!!

Mark is out with the tripod at the moment trying to get a good shot of the beach to post. I know we're not great at photos and will try and put more on, promise!

We left Istanbul a few days ago as we're waiting for our Indian Visa to be processed. After 5 days in that amazing city we were ready for a little rest, as was the wallet. We managed to park in Sultanahmet, in the old city opposite a back packers hostel and used the facilities of the hostel. Not a bad deal for £20 a day. Sleeping was not so easy - the inhabitants of the hostel were young and up late drinking and chatting. Don't get me wrong, we indulged in our fair share of this, but not quite as well as the late teens and early twenties!! (you know she lies mark)

There were two great benefits to staying opposite the hostel; firstly, taking a van like ours into a city and finding a convenient place to stay is not easy - here we were so central we heard the call to prayer from the famous blue mosque (it's Ramadan or Ramazan as the Turks spell it), secondly we met loads of young people from across Europe - inter-railing and travelling, and got to eat out with them and drink etc. We spent a day around the Grand Bazaar with Jo who's returning to NZ from London, what a trip she has had, that's one brave woman. Jo, if your reading this, hope all is well and keep safe. Mark had a day with Mathieu from Paris whilst I went embassy hunting and we had a good few evenings with, to name a few, Jake, Fiona, Suzanne, Alberto the windsurfer and Ali. Hope to see some of you folk in the future.

Istanbul is such a vibrant city. 16 million people live there and the legacy of being the central trade route between Europe and Asia is everywhere. The place is so full of energy. There is nothing you can't buy. Whole streets and areas are devoted to one product - needless to say we spent a good morning in the car and truck area!! (sorry! - mark)

5 days went almost without notice. There are three central areas to the city, the old town on the European side, the new town on the European side and the Asian side, or Anatolia. Two stretches of water divide the areas - the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus. We loved just walking around the city and taking everything in. You could spend so long there. When we return we'll see Topkapi palace and the Basilca and take a Hamam - Turkish bath for the uninitiated!!

You may recall that we were heading to Istanbul to gain our Iranian Visas. The Iranians granted our visa prior to the uprisings and we were a little uncertain as to whether they would honour it when we went to pick it up. However after paying 90 Euros each into the Iranian bank account they issued us with a tourist visa valid until 9 October. We think it means that we have to be out of Iran by the 9th. This is 45 days shorter than it should be, but we were so grateful to get the visa we forgot to argue the point. I've been tempted to go back, but the timing fits our schedule.

The Iranian embassy wasn't the only one we visited. To gain our Indian visa we had to get a letter of recommendation from the British Consulate. Just shows you can get anything for a price! One letter with both our names on cost £63. It took the guy 10 minutes. With our letters of recommendation and $50 each we headed for the Indian embassy. What a difference between the two embassies. The British one was a massive stately home-type building with beautiful gardens and really tight security - it was like going into a prison! The Indian embassy was on the fourth floor behind a bank! It took us ages to find it. Anyway, we return tomorrow and will hopefully leave with another stamp in the magic burgundy book.

The guy who runs the hostel we stayed opposite suggested this part of the Black Sea coast - we wanted to look a little North as the rest of our journey will take us through the central, southern and eastern parts of the country. Turkey is massive, by the way. We are scratching the surface of the history and geography of what promises to be a fascinating country.

Fate is a funny thing. I'm not sure if i really believe in it, but we have had a great few days here on this campsite, not least the last day we were here when we met Zerrin and Berrin. They aren't a double act! When we asked their names they both groaned! They're two lovely sisters who live in Anatolia, Istanbul and are here on a short break. We chatted over breakfast yesterday about politics, feminism, Marxism, Turkish culture, etc etc. Who'd have thought it?

Anyhow, we ended up having dinner together last night and had a good laugh. They have brilliant english - Zerrin is a university lecturer in Theatre Studies and Berrin a university lecturer in Media Studies - a very intellectual and interesting family. They invited us to stay in their apartment for a couple of days in Istanbul - what a treat! Getting insider knowledge on a place is the best thing, and we haven't got to the Asian side of Istanbul yet, so this is double good!!

Crossing into Asia was another real high point. When we crossed the bridge over the Bosphorous and it said 'Welcome to Asia' I was whoop-whooping for a while that we had driven to another continent! We've been away six weeks now and we're pretty much where we wanted to be.

Lots of love to all and a special shout out to Lucinda and the whole Wakefield - Jelley clan xx

Oh, and in case we don't write tomorrow - Happy Birthday Dad xx