Thanks to the Internet, a taxi showed up at Jose-Maria's door promptly at 6 AM for a quick trip to Charles de Gaulle for our flight to Istanbul. While the flight arrived on time, navigating the airport was a challenge, thanks to a lack of signage; we had to go through the passport line twice. In the meantime, our flight had been taken off the arrival board so we couldn't find the right luggage carousel while they were announcing our name on the P.A. because our ride was looking for us. Luckily we connected up with them and our transport to the hotel.

We got checked in to our beautiful room, had lunch, a nap, and then went to Sultanahmet park for our first look around at the Blue Mosque and the obelisk.

For dinner we went to a local fish restaurant, BalikÁi Sabahattin, highly rated in the guide books and our best dinner out in Istanbul. We got to experience the hoard of feral cats that populate the city when one jumped in Barbara's lap during dinner. Another diner advised to just "wave a glass of water at them", which actually worked!