Work trip to Istanbul, Turkey - 30th to 31st May 2007

My second trip to Istanbul in under a year, and unlike last time, I actually got to see a bit of the city on this visit. After one of those horrendous trips through Heathrow, which really makes you think that it is a third-world airport, I finally got there to 30-degree heat and blazing late afternoon sunshine. Of course, after having been before, being mugged for £10 of hard currency at the airport was no surprise, nor was the dodgy scrum of taxi drivers outside the arrivals hall.

I arrived just in time for dinner with some colleagues, which was in a restaurant with the most fantastic view over the Bosphorus. We were outside a restaurant on a quayside, with our table right next to the water on the European side. This photo was basically taken from my restaurant seat, overlooking a magnificent mosque, and a bridge over the Bosphorus. Obviously, being extremely old, Istanbul is crammed with amazing old buildings, narrow streets, and a very impractical street layout - in fact, the hilly nature of the city makes you think that it isn't perhaps the best site for a modern city!

Typically for a Brit abroad, the following day started off beautifully, but was then interrupted by a huge rain shower at lunchtime. My Turkish hosts seemed most shocked to see such dodgy weather, and seemed to be blaming me for it. So I made a quick escape to the airport for the plane home - again a nightmare journey, with the toilets on the plane broken and out of order for the final 2 hours of the flight! All a very long way to go for a few hours of meetings, but I was glad to get a chance to do something other than work this time - and that view over the Bosphorus was worth getting on a plane for.