Vakif Tepe - Istanbul

Thunder and lightening started late afternoon, freak hail storm with ice pellets the size of marbles smashed on to the windscreen and bounced off the road just as we were driving to Vakif Tepe restaurant. Ahem! It's JUNE!! Hail stones? Really?

I was a temporary member of the Science department for the evening. Much honoured in being invited to join all fourteen of them for a celebratory dinner at Vakif Tepe in recognition of Tony's retirement after a zillion years (32 of them) at the school - much loved Chemistry teacher.

Vakif Tepe is at the top of a hill (Tepe=hill) and the views of the Bosphorus and the Asian side of Istanbul are magnificent. Or at least they usually are. At times this evening nothing could be seen except for the usual traffic on the bridge, where all drivers had their headlights on well before 7pm.

Such an enjoyable evening, really great food and jolly good company - no deluge could dampen our spirits ! but as for the weather, well really, what a difference a day makes!