Ortaköy, Istanbul

A slow and lazy start to my Saturday until meeting Sarah at 11.30 when we went in to Ortaköy for brunch at House Cafe. Absolutely gorgeous warm sunny weather, the food at House cafe is very tasty if a bit expensive, but then, this is Istanbul, not Akbuk.  So good to sit on the Bosphorus shore after more than a year, the famous mosque in its picturesque setting, with the Bosphorus bridge right behind is, and always has been, one of my favourite Istanbul views and I have blipped several times in the past. Felt very different to do so as a visitor, rather than as a resident.

Back home again, I spent a couple of hours catching up with my blips for the last three days in Cappadocia and traveling to Istanbul which I just haven't had the time or energy to do. Wednesday's road trip was extraordinary and memorable, Thursday morning was fascinating and by the close of the day I was back in the city I love. Choosing photos has been almost impossible, how do you summate a great day in one image?

At 17.00 I hailed a cab up the hill to collect Caitlin and together we went to Akmerkez. We had a snack at the Sushi bar, which was a bit disappointing, and then we saw "No Time To Die" - neither of us having been to the cinema since before the pandemic.  It was everything a 21st century Bond movie should be - an excess of super stunts, incredible (literally) action sequences, impossible scenarios and a touch of humour.  All the baddies died, jolly good but more than that I won't say incase you want to see it too!

I was surprised, after a day of such warm and beautiful sunshine, when we walked out of Akmerkez after the film at 21.15 to find it absolutely chucking it down!  Super heavy vertical and very wet rain. Living in Akbuk, I don't think I've seen such heavy rain, well, any rain, for many months!  We were lucky to find a cab because had we walked home I think I would have been washed away!