Dates: October 2015
Hunt: Mid Asian Ibex, Kazakhstan
This is a II part report, the first one is Istanbul. My wife and I decided to take a long overdue holiday and stop over in Turkey for a few days. She would return home while I would carry on to Kazakhstan to meet up with clients and hunt Ibex. I have always wanted to go to Istanbul and while I have had many opportunities to do so it just never panned out. So finally we arrived in Istanbul on Turkish Airlines! I cannot speak more highly of Turkish Airlines, the service was excellent and the Comfort economy seats were equivalent to biz class. There was no problem carrying firearms and the check in NY was painless. On arrival I was met by my local partner who arranged all my clients gun handling in Istanbul. He met us at baggage claim and assisted with depositing our guns in bond. It took all of 15 minutes. From there it was a short ride to the old city where we stayed in a quaint old hotel.

About hotels there are different locations and several choices of hotels available, we chose a local hotel within a 5 minute walk to the blue mosque etc. That part of the city is pretty quiet in the evenings, but still with plenty of restaurant choices, but those with more action and night live (there is plenty available) in mind may wish to stay in another part of the city.

Istanbul is a fascinating place with lots of history and architecture. We ended up doing most of the major sights including the Topkapi palace, Blue mosque, Haghia Sophia, Bosphorous cruise, spice market, the main market and the kings hunting lodge. A hammam or Turkish bath was also enjoyed! It was a bit of an experience and boils down to having a bath with a Turkish man, but such is the way it is. He did get a knot out of my back which had been bugging me for some time! The Hamamm place we went to was close to the Haghia Sophia and has been in existence since the 1500s so pretty cool overall. The facilities were top notch. We also took in a dinner show of a whirling dervish. I don't know what I had in mind about whirling dervishes, but it is actually a spiritual dance connecting with the other world and is quite mesmerizing in some ways!

As the saying goes a picture says a 1000 words so:



Kings Hunting palace



view of the business district



bridge connecting asia and Europe across the bosphorous



Blue mosque at night



Inside the Haghia Sophia - there was quite a bit of renovation going on, but it is an amazing building



Family photo



Another night shot of the Blue Mosque



In the main market - everything is available!



Spice market



Haghia Sophia



Whirling dervish in action





lots of fishermen, they were catching small fish that looked like mackerel and sardines



cool pic I thought!





tanker on the bosphorous straits



tourist boat



Container ship



Left is Europe, right is Asia. The Bosphorous bridge connects the two





Inside the Haghia Sophia, the pulpit from where the imam delivers his sermon. It is no longer a working mosque. Whereas the Blue Mosque and several others still are.




you have to eat some baklava in Istanbul.



Suleymaniye mosque





Inside the Suleymaniye mosque



hustle and bustle of Istanbul





Queen Victoria was in port





Supposedly a ritzy part of Istanbul


To Summarize, Istanbul is really worth seeing and experiencing and while there are problems on its borders in no way did we ever feel unsafe. I think for hunters headed to Asia especially, not spending a few days in Istanbul is their loss. As my local partner also explained its a good way to catch up with your firearms in case they get lost in transit coming over from the States. Especially those who have connecting flights in the States. 3-4 full days is plenty of time to see all the sights and sounds. It's also a good way to have a little vacation with your wife or lover and then he or she (one has to be politically correct these days $#%$%) can return while you carry on to Asia, which is basically what we did.

Oh I did forget to mention the great shopping for carpets, ceramic tiles and other cool stuff.

In closing if anyone needs help arranging a layover or dedicated trip to Istanbul or elsewhere in Turkey I will be happy to put you in touch with my local partners who offer an all encompassing service, from gun handling to transportation, booking hotels, shows, restaurants, sight seeing not only in Istanbul but all over Turkey, etc.

Coming soon Part II - Kazakhstan

Thanks for coming on the journey.



Arjun Reddy
Http://www.HuntersNetworks.com
30 Ivy Hill Road
Brewster, NY 10509
USA
Tel: 845 259 3628

Istanbul is a very neat city. As you are driving in from the airport and pass the stone wall near the waterfront (in your pictures) and realize that was built by the Romans when the city was called Constaninoble you start to appreciate you are somewhere special. I hope you were able to go haggle with the the rug merchants and buy a rug and perhaps enjoy (endure?) a glass of raki. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Thanks for the detailed report. I was there a few weeks ago and have the same memories. Just not as many pictures to prove it.

Not my first choice for a vacation destination. Certainly a nice place to start and finish an Asian hunt.

Ski+3