ISTANBUL !!!!

There are few years where i have travelled my best.... This is been one of those years where i had loads of work.. loads of travel.... loads of fun and everywhere !!!!

Istanbul... Have always been on my cards... But never thought would get a chance to see this place this quickly...  All thanks to our clients and thanks to Bala boss... i got an amazing opportunity to be there and see it by myself.. :) :)

Was all thrilled as usual... Had to hold up the excitement till last two days, since were waiting for the VISA to come by... And YES!!!! Got it .... All excited.... There was a wedding in the family so my sister had come to visit as well..  Previous night well spent with her and morning Masala dosa started my day with. Had to rush to office and then home and had to pack. One thing about all the travelling i am doing, "I have become very efficient in packing".. I can proudly say that now. So as usual i came home packed and ate and took a nap, got ready and started to airport. Had to travel to Mumbai for connecting flight to Istanbul.  Was all set for no sleep night.... Travelled to Mumbai and then was the biggest pain, we had change from one terminal to another and then we had to really wait in ONE BIG queue to check-ins. Since it was a group booking no web-check ins.. So did go through the whole 2 hours for check-in...  After 7 hrs flight we landed in Istanbul... All excited got off the flight to see the temp as 6 degrees.. Quickly wore my jacket and got hotel transfers. I got to know an interesting fact from my nephew the day i told him i am flying to Istanbul. Only city in the world which is in both continents(Europe and Asia). Beautiful city filled with loads of tunnels in them.. Few tunnels are couple of kilo meters long. Was a wonderful experience to travel in them.. Reached the hotel and all i did was to CRASH....

After a big long nap of 2 hours, i was ready to explore. We stayed at Conrad hotel and we had to travel to Hilton for the event. Took a taxi, and reached the venue.. There were rehearsals for next day event and back at the hotel... Next morning was event morning and after 2 was the excursion, cruise and grand palace dinner in line..

Excursion started with a palace view. Place called Beyeler Beye Palace.  Beylerbeyi meaning "Lord of Lords"...One of the oldest palaces of Istanbul.. Beautiful architecture and such colourful upholstery to matching beautiful furnitures. This palace is right next to Bosporus-Strait of Istanbul. Soo beautiful and serene..... After that we were taken to a cruise of 2 hours on Bosporus and such wooow experience it was.. We were welcomed by a Cay(chai- Black turkish tea).. Love of teetotaller like me... Had couple of sandwiches and yeah the view i saw from the cruise was unbelievable. I would not have believed if i hadn't witnessed myself. Such a WOOOOOOOOOW views, sea gulls flying, Orange skies.. Sunset looked amazing.. Beautiful torquiest coloured sea... surrounded by such beautiful buildings, ports, colourful lights of the city and wow the Bosphorus bridge. It'a bridge built on lines of SFO Golden Gate... Similar looking as well.. Such a WOW experience.,Only drawback was cold wind.. Never mind that didn't make me go down from the Deck.. Wore coat, gloves, caps and i managed to survive on the deck. The view was so beathe taking i didn't budge and inch but stayed whole of 2 hours and enjoyed everybit of it..

Beautifully lit buildings, almost all shades of lights on it.. View was unexplainable. I can only try to explain. few of the palaces were light with shade of Orange CT lights, few were lit in Red, Few lit in Purple.. The whole bay area was sooo LIT.... I would cherish the experience..

Now the ending of the cruise had another excitement waiting to unfold... We were invited to Chirange Palace.. One of the biggest palaces of Istanbul converted to a hotel.. Such an Extravagant dinner... No exaggeration it was extravagant... We had lots of performances right from Ballet, violinist, a band... Such a luxurious experience. Worth cherishing.... 

Day 2 was all about exploration... We had time till 7 in the evening. Next event was at 7 PM.. I didn't want to miss this event, since its all about my favourite singer "Sonu Nigam Live".... 

Such an wow moment it was to listen to Sonu Nigam sing... So magical.. One of the best experiences i had in my life was this event !!!!