Bye bye Istanbul

After a morning at school there followed an unbelievably stressful 90 minutes taxi ride of bumper to bumper traffic to get to Ataturk airport (during which today's pic was taken at Eminonou - please note the beautiful blue of the Bosphorus).  A journey that normally takes 40 mins, and this after waiting for 20 minutes to find a taxi, meant that I finally rolled in to the airport at 14.00 as a HUGE stress ball who then had to queue for a further 25 minutes just to get in through security to the terminal. ARRGHH. After that, well  I admit  it got better because Turkish Airlines really do have their act together - and so finally, eventually, here I am in Baku, Azerbaijan, staying with Robin until Tuesday. First impressions of the city as we drove from the airport are that the place is a meld of Russia (a country I love) and Turkey (ditto). The language is so close to Turkish that I'll be able to enjoy talking to folk.  Architecture both very modern and not so much, as seen from the taxi window was fascinating. Looking forward to exploring tomorrow.  For now, it's gossip catch up time with Robin.