I’m currently sitting on the rooftop undercover area of our apartment in a small seaside village in Crete called Agia Pelagia. We’re here until Saturday and we’re in beachside holiday mode, brought on mostly by the weather, the proximity to the sea and the bottle of duty-free gin Rod purchased at Athens airport.

We arrived late last evening after a very long day of travel from Istanbul:

Fast taxi/uber (it’s the same in Istanbul) to Gayrettepe Metro where we caught the new M11 fast train to the airport, but not after I’d fallen down a few stairs whilst readjusting my suitcase. The suitcase skated at speed, down the steep stairs nearly taking Rod out. I managed not to face plant and held on to the handrail, my left arm outstretched behind me, my left foot somewhere behind my butt. Clumsy tourist.

Fast train to the airport. The Gayrettepe metro station is situated 72m underground and a series of escalators takes you to the platform. As usual, no sitting room on the metro, much to Hamish’s disgust.

Fast 1 hour flight with Aegean airline to Athens

Even faster 30 minute flight from Athens to Crete

Our host had booked a taxi for us to get from Heraklion to Agia Pelagia, which is a blessing, especially after arriving in a new country late at night. Our host, Nikko, is lovely and he has a bunch of things we can use at the beach (snorkels, flippers, kayak, lilo). I think we’re going to love it here.

I’ll recap our last few days in Istanbul.

Friday night after our ‘day off’ we walked up to Taksim square and had a look around. We really like Taksim Square – it’s got a great vibe, there’s a lot of walking space with no traffic, there’s parks and gardens and of course, lots of things to eat. You may have seen the Turkish Ice Cream vendor video with Hamish (that was in Taksim). We walked down the famous Istiklal street where Hamish had corn from a street vendor for the cost of 50 cents! We eventually sauntered back to our street, where we had dinner at Cafe Susam and where Rod finally could order a glass of wine!

Saturday we decided to visit Suleymmaniye Mosque (little sister of the more famous Blue Mosque) and walk around the Grand Bazaar. The mosque was beautiful and the views over Istanbul impressive. We needed to cover our legs (all 3 of us) and I put on a head scarf. After the mosque, I got us a bit lost, so we didn’t manage to find the Bazaar. Never mind, we headed home for an afternoon rest as we had booked a Bosphorus sunset cruise for the evening.

The cruise was a lovely way to spend a few hours – the photos speak for themselves I think. I talked to an American couple sitting next to me, proof to my doubting children that I can actually be nice and make friends. The sunset did not disappoint.

Sunday Rod and I left Hamish at home and headed back in to the city to find the Grand Bazaar. We noticed there were now two huge cruise liners docked, which added to the overwhelm of people in the city – many of them dawdling along the narrow footpaths to my displeasure. The Bazaar was OK, but I wouldn’t call it Grand. Rod purchased a rip-off Lacoste polo for 5 euro. The stall attendant pulled out a WAD of folding cash from his pocket, but didn’t have 45 euro change. He then just walked away. Like, literally with our euro and said nothing. Obviously he was going to find a friend to break down the note, but we just stood there like ‘noobs’ (as Hamish would say) waiting for him to return. He eventually, returned.

The afternoon siesta routine then ensued. Rod and I, keen for a last bit of exploring, walked to Galata tower (impressive, although not impressive enough to pay 30 Euro to climb) and made our way back to Cafe Susam for pre dinner drinks (we picked up Hamish on the way) and snacks.

If you have been considering adding Istanbul onto your travel wish list, but not quite sure, we recommend doing it! We went from Wangaratta of 20 thousand people to a city of 15 million overnight and other than me getting us lost of couple of times, didn’t have any issues or stress getting around. It’s safe. The locals are friendly, most speak English and the public transport system is the best. We used 1 Istanbul Card for the 3 of us and each fare is $1 – we used the trams and the furnicular; walking downhill in the morning and using the funicular to get back uphill in the afternoon. The hills and steps are steep, the footpaths narrow and the traffic busy, but what an incredible city – 5 stars.