Istanbul- Day 1

As I start this current journal the clock is notching towards 11pm. That means I have been awake, more or less, for close to 34 hours, apart from the odd catnap on Alitalia.
 The flight departed Pearson at 4:30pm, arriving in Rome shortly before 7;30 Monday morning,
In typical Italian fashion, they ran out of white wine about 20 minutes after bar service opened and the red ( Chateau du Plonk 2012 ( October?) was exhausted by the time they hit row 10 at mealtime- I was in row 11. The hostess tried to appease me with Italian beer, which, for the uninitiated, tastes like budweiser after it has been through dialysis!.
  The connecting flight from Rome to Istanbul left promptly, 65 minutes late, but luckily the gas from the garlic laced chicken gave us enough extra thrust that we made up a half hour and arrived only 20 minutes late.
 A cheap $5.00 per person shuttle got us within 10 minutes of various hotels in the area adjacent to Taksim, known as Beyoglu. A series of confusing sidestreets, mostly smaller hotels bars and restaurants eventually connect with Istikal Caddesi, a pedestrian street running several km northeast and ending in the now infamous Taksim Square. After a few minutes of aimless wandering between the Pera Suites and the New Pera Suites I found my home from home for much of the next few days. After a brief, halfassed effort at unpacking my gut slipped me a quick "time to eat" nudge.
 After a supper of Braised octopus , tzatziki, mixed seafood grill ( smelt, sardines, squid, salmon, seabass and giant prawns and a Turkish beer to keep it swimming, a walk up the hill to Taksim was an appropriate conclusion to the night.
  Sadly the recent riots have left the Square largely bruised and abused. Several busloads of police in full armour and riot shields were hanging around watching for , or perhaps waiting to start some trouble.
  Needless to say, a quick exit seemed to be the wisest move.
  The hotel The New Pera, is on a side street adjacent to several bars, which will hopefully quiet down before midnight OR offer 3 for one specials and free lapdances for local insomniacs!
  Tomorrow the plan is a trip to the old section of town and its various Mosques or the Grand Bazaar-otherwise known in Canada as Giant Tiger!!
 Luckily it is all downhill on the way there.
  One slight change since the last trip in 2008? was a slight population change Then 12million ( officially) now- unofficially 18M!!!!!!!!