a side trip (by train) from budapest to istanbul

I caught the train from Budapest to Istanbul to meet a friend of mine from Australia who had been travelling in the Middle East.

budapest_station.jpg

The train trip took 36 hours. I went second class. Each compartment in the carriage had six fold down beds. It would have been pretty crowded with six people but luckily there was only six of us in the whole carriage. I shared my compartment with a young Polish guy who worked for the Polish Railways. He had a free ticket to travel wherever he wanted by train and he was seeing as much of the world as he could in seven days. He loved trains. He only intended to spend a few hours in Istanbul and then he was going to get back on the train again and go somewhere else.

The train stopped in Videle, in Romania, and our carriage was left there for five hours waiting for another train to pick it up so we could continue on our way.

istanbul_train2.jpg

There were a lot of dogs in Romania and I wondered if they would give me trouble later when I returned on my bicycle.

istanbul_romanian_dogs.jpg

Istanbul is really beautiful. It is a city with a lot of water. I realised how much I miss living close to the ocean.

istanbul_galata_bridge.jpg

I like cities where people get to where they need to go by ferry.

istanbul_ferries.jpg

One of my favourite places in Istanbul was the fish market near the Galeta Bridge.

istanbul_fish_market.jpg

My friend, Lauri, and I ate a lot of fish while we were in Istanbul. This is a restaurant by the habour where we ate one night.

istanbul_lauri.jpg

And this is a boat bobbing up and down on the water where men fry mackeral, which they serve on fresh bread to the customers waiting on the shore.

istanbul_fishburgers.jpg

I thought pretty much everything I saw in Istanbul was beautiful. This is the spice bazaar.

istanbul_bazaar.jpg

istanbul_bazaar5.jpg

istanbul_bazaar3.jpg

istanbul_bazaar2.jpg

We went to see some amazing mosques.

istanbul_blue-mosque.jpg

istanbul_blue-mosque3.jpg

istanbul_tiles_mosque.jpg

istanbul_mosque.jpg

Just walking down the street was a source of constant pleasure.

istanbul_door.jpg