After a fabulous family get together night in West London, Bob and I headed off to Heathrow on Tuesday morning to get a British Airways flight to Istanbul. We were using miles to fly this leg and back but the connection in Istanbul looked a bit tight so we decided to have a night at a hotel near the airport there to eliminate that stress.

It was a lovely day to fly. Still a chilly wind in London but bright sunshine and the views as we took off (pretty much on time, well done BA) were fantastic. London is a beautiful city from the air as well as from the ground and it is always so lovely to see the Thames curving and turning through the bends of the city.

The flight was smooth and we were well fed – 3 seats between the two of us, the old window/aisle booking strategy paid off again – and we arrived in Istanbul 3.5 hours later. The weather in Istanbul was atrocious. So foggy that we were literally 2m off the runway before we saw it, gusting fierce winds and pouring with rain, a gloomy 14c. We got a cab to our little hotel about 15 minutes from Istanbul Airport. I’d got a deal on Booking.com at the Istport Garden Hotel for £47 for the night b&b. Istport Hotel | Arnavutkoy – Istanbul Airport Hotel (istportgardenhotel.com)

The good things about the hotel were that it was very modern, clean and comfortable spacious bedrooms. The breakfast was a fantastic, tasty spread. The bad things were that they’d advertised a bar and although there was such a physical structure, in fact they had no alcohol available at all. There was a little restaurant and despite the lack of suitable beverages and also because of the howling downpour and wind outside, we ate in. The meal – lentil soup followed by a massive shared mixed grill with salads – wasn’t cheap at £45 for the two of us. Never mind, as an overnight it was still a very comfortable bargain and if the weather had permitted there looked to be some decent kebab places in the vicinity. Of course they might not have had any wine or beer either.

Our flight out today was at 1320 and Istanbul airport was busy due to the public holiday. It took us an hour and a half to get from check in to the gate, lots of queues. However, comfortable, smooth Turkish Airlines flight and we touched down in Cyprus to 29C at about 3pm. A lovely big taxi was waiting for us care of Ozy at Gunray Rental Cars and we got to the house at about 415.

Everything was looking fantastic…. well apart from the noticeable big gap in the hedge in our lower garden which was subject to a collapsed wall and slight landslide back in February’s freak storms. We will get on to solving that tomorrow. But everything else was looking beautiful, the garden has grown so healthily and so well. Inside the house was in top shape which was lovely to find. These 2 winter storms have been savage but there was nothing damaged here, we were lucky. Two roof tiles slipped but our roof did not leak. We had some water ingress from a top landing window but no damage.

Unpacked all our stuff and then headed out to Ileli for a food shop. Wowser our go-to farmers stand for veg seems to have changed names or ownership. Will have to investigate that. Got all the shopping we needed and got back and put it away. Then had quick showers and headed down to Tervetuloa restaurant for our traditional first dinner.

Very much welcomed by Amir the lovely head waiter and Afet the beautiful owner, we enjoyed dinner eating outside in their garden. She told me it was the first night they’d opened the outside this year so that was nice. She hadn’t even got all her gorgeous gourd lights up yet. We own several of her creations. Had a lovely dinner, the so-called small meze of about 10 cold dishes and 3 hot dishes, then we both went for the lamb chops which came with a big salad, chips and rice. Finally there was a dessert plate of carrot cake and a sliced orange, Turkish coffee and a brandy. It was £23.40 each for the whole lot. Incredible. It has gone up a lot. Afet managed to hold the same meal at £10 each for about 15 years until covid came along. Since then and mainly due to the terrible battering the lira has taken, prices have had to rise, but it is still a very good value for money.

So lovely to be back here again. Lots to do over the next 3.5 weeks…… stay tuned to see how we get on. But….. wonderful to feel the sun again and to have left sweaters, raincoats and thermals behind….