Today we entered Europe. From Ankara this morning we caught a highspeed train to a newish station (named Söğütlüçeşme) in Istanbul on the Asian side. Thereafter a traffic intensive bus ride took us across the Bosphorus to the area around the Blue Mosque.

However, before the train Nina could not resist another look around our hotel in Ankara and captures some more images of Gençlik Parki and some of the local flower gardens that adorn the sidewalks in the area.

After checkin formalities Nina and I went for a walk past Haiga Sophia, The Blue Mosque, Sultanahmet and the Egyptian Obilisk; a little bit of nostalgia. Thereafter we found a restaurant high up on a building terrace and watched sunset over Istanbul while we had a drink and dinner.

All in all a very satisfying day.