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Today, Sept 27th, we had almost an entire day in Istanbul before catching another night train to the Bulgarian town of Veliko Tarnovo. So Nina and I continued our nostalgia tour of this fabulous but chaotic city by walking to Taksim Square (and return). This was just an exercise of remebering the last time we were here and collecting some more interesting images along the way.

Istanbul traffic is notorious, so the plan was to leave our hotel at 16:15 in order to ensure we got to the train station in time for our 20:00 train. This is a drive that in light traffic conditions should take about 40 minutes but the driver was nervous as sometimes it takes over 2 hours. Anyway today was a good-traffic day and we were there in just under an hour.

Veliko Tarnovo

Veliko Tarnovo is a quaint and picturesque town, built along the cliffs of a narrow and steep river valley, it was the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire.

We had visited this town at the end of 2014 and were excited to be back.

So after checkin and brunch (we were too late for breakfast as the train was late) Nina and I decided, that despite the hot day (33°C) we would walk to and climb the fortress. This is a very impressive structure. It occupies a large hilltop, is entered via a narrow causeway, and is surrounded by an impressive stone wall. We were able to spot a lot of restoration work that is new since our last visit. The ticket booth and turnstiles were also new.

As the sun set and the day cooled Nina went for a walk to the impressive monument that sits on the point where the Yantra River makes a tight turn, see the photos below. This monument celebrates the Asen Dynasty and the revolt against the Byzantine Empire in 1185/86.