Start of the Journey Home

Left Holland for good this morning. We are doing a 'jejak rasul'. We are doing a series of stopovers on the way home. It is one of those things - if you don't ask you won't get it.

We took off early on Turkish Airlines heading for Istanbul. Our last time to this historic place was 12 years ago when the kids were still small. The Turkish Airlines had a bit of bad reputations lately due to a number of accidents but then they have amongst the newest fleet and is a rapidly expanding airline.

We are staying at a hotel in Sultanahmet which is the prime location for visiting the historic sites in Istanbul. I could not figure out what Sultanahmet means until now - it actually is originally a garden area built by one of the famous Ottoman's Sultan called Sultan Ahmet hence the name.

Our first impression of the city is it has made a major transformation since the last time we were here. The airport is modern and the surroundings are generally quite clean without any visible rubbish on the roadsides. This is quite a contrast to some of the Turkish 'ghettos' or housing areas in Holland where rubbish seems to be everywhere.

Istanbul has many more modern buildings and a new tram system that rivals any European cities now services the city. Indeed Turkey has been making a big effort in trying to elevate herself economically and trying to raise the standard of living and quality of life to be more in line with the rest of Europe. Alas a few attempts to enter the European Union has not come into fruition. It might just be because some EU members don't want an Islamic country to be a member of their union.