A news report on our final evening of our Egypt and Jordan tour brought a sudden change to our plans. The situation in Syria had become more violent after weeks of little change and we decided it would be prudent to give up our plans of overlanding through Syria and Lebanon on this trip. Although we'd probably be safe in Syria as tourists, the risk that we'd get stuck there wasn't a risk we wanted to gamble with.
So, after a delicious final dinner and farewells to our tour members, we headed to an internet cafe and found a flight to Istanbul for the following morning. As a nice silver lining, our new flight let us join Tom and Caitlin, who were already booked for Istanbul, and we were even seated together.
Most of the next day was spent travelling and waiting for ages in very slow queues at Istanbul airport. Riding the tram to central Istanbul, temperatures were noticeably chilly and the city streets felt more East than West. After months of unfamiliar surroundings, Istanbul was a little taste of everyday life, and with it the reminder that our trip was soon coming to an end.
Arriving at the tourist district of Sultanahmet, Tom and Caitlin's hostel had no double rooms available, so we went walking and found a hotel just down the hill from them. They had a massive pile of washing they'd been trying to get washed for a while, so we left them to it and had a fun evening wandering around Taksim Square and the lively Istiklal Caddesi, which was packed with locals. We dined at a bustling street lined with bars and eateries and enjoyed being in the thick of things.
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