We’ve been following a pattern of 2 nights in a city followed by a travel day which leaves us with essentially one full day to see a city. This has been working out pretty well. Most big cities you can visit in a day, two if you really want to dive in. Given that it has been so hot, one day has been good enough for us as its really been too hard to do much more than that, our travel days have been nice in order to see the countryside in the comfort of air conditioning.
The one benefit of our city days is that we don’t have to get up early - and so we like to indulge in a bit of a sleep in. Our days tend to start late and end late as its nice to eat dinner later in the evening when its not so hot. unfortunately this means the kids have been going to be at around 11pm every night…sometimes they make it….other times they fall asleep at the table :o). We are going to have to really work hard to get them back on track when we get home!
So…we sleep a little late this morning and then get a text from Bruce and Brian that they are in the main square at a restaurant. We walk over to meet them…its another really hot day. We enjoy a lovely more traditional style breakfast at the London Bistro of omelettes and crepes and coffee and enjoy just spending time talking and eating.
Its then time to brave the heat and try to see some of this city. Immediately behind us while we are eating is a major construction zone. I understand from some other blogs I’ve read that this main part of the town has been undergoing extensive renovation and construction for some time now. The end result is something between spectacular and tacky extravagance. The main square features an enormous fountain…I mean enormous! It has a water sequence with water shooting out of lions and way up on top is Alexander the great riding a huge stallion. As you continue along towards the canal and over the bridge, you come across statue after statue after fountain. While they are truly magnificent and beautifully done - I’m not sure what the locals think of this extravagance. Our Airbnb host didn’t seem to care for it too much - he says the problem is that they have tried to make it look like they are old statues, but of course they haven’t - they look new. As a tourist, we did enjoy looking at them, but I can’t even think how much this project must be costing the city.
We carry on into the area featuring shops and browse around. There are shop after shop of gold and silver jewelry - I can’t imagine how they all stay in business side by side - perhaps they are all owned by the same person! There are lovely dress shops and shoe stores. There are a lot of muslims here and their dress is really beautiful - many women are wearing beautiful long coats and headscarves…hard to believe given the fact that it must be close to 40 degrees, but they look very nice.
We continue on and make our way into the Bazaar - its enormous, apparently second to only Istanbul - we weave through it but quite honestly, the heat is just to much. We’ve made a pretty good tour now and so we loop around and back up to the Fortress and find a place for a drink - a local Brewery. Good beer and food is a great way to beat the heat. While we are there a huge storm comes up and as we are perched up on the hill, we get an incredible view of the storm as it rolls in and the wind gusts start to fly huge pieces of debrie from the construction site - kind of scary! We have to shut the windows in the pub as the wind comes up so strong - unfortunately the rain that we all so desperately want doesn’t grace us.
We split up here and Dave, the kids and I venture back towards our apartment for some rest, we walk over a huge bridge featuring enormous anatomically correct male lions and then down to our little neighbourhood where we stop in a shop and buy the cutest little dresses for the girls.
We have a nice rest at the apartment and then everyone comes to our place for a drink on the deck. Its cooled off a bit now and we head down to find a place for dinner and run into our Airbnb hosts - they walk us over to the Bohemian area of town where we have an unbelievable meal in a little terrace. It has the intimacy of being in someone’s backyard and shortly after our arrival a small band arrives to serenade the diners. The food is truly magnificent - I can’t believe how lucky we have been on this trip with the food. It is not at all what I would have expected. Maybe we’ve just been really lucky with our choices, but for we have eaten very well for a very reasonable price.
We organize our transfer for the next day at dinner and then make the walk back to our apartment. Things have really livened up since we walked to the restaurant. Where once the other places had been quiet, now every table is packed. Little bars are playing good music and at another time in my life - this would have been a great area to stop in for a drink and maybe even some dancing…? Alas, Fiona is asleep in my arms as we trudge home and Avery is being carried as well. Funny how your life changes!
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