开斋节前在伊斯坦布尔的短暂休假
Martin Kubler 2012年10月29日
十月份似乎就要在工作和学业的忙碌中过去了，不过 — 幸好 — 我在开斋节前去伊斯坦布尔（Istanbul）休了一个短假。
在经历了一个又长又热的夏季和斋月之后，商业像反扑一样又一次席卷迪拜，在斋月（Ramadan）和古尔邦节（Eid al Adha）结束后的这几周，每个人都在尽最大努力吸金。10月25日和26日还有两个更重大的穆斯林节日。我们决定在今年开斋节在迪拜度过，并且在开斋节前去伊斯坦布尔（Istanbul）进行一次短期休假。
我们想去伊斯坦布尔过几天放松的假期生活，但由于这是一个热门的旅行地点，航班也经常是又贵又挤，并且因为之前我还有一份”合适的“工作，只能在节假日去（如果时间不受限制就好了），所以一直也没能成行。
唉，我现在做自由酒店顾问，这样的生活有一个好处就是我多少能去我想去的地方旅行了，并且如果有必要的话可以把工作带到旅途中完成。
和一个蹒跚学步的孩子一起旅行需要在出行之前多做些计划，不过我们最终还是成功抵达目的地，后来乘坐土耳其航空公司（Turkish Airlines）开往博斯普鲁斯海峡（Bosporus）和金角湾（Golden Horn）的航班离开。
由于我们想有一个更宽敞的空间，也想可以”在家“吃早饭，于是我们定了一个酒店式公寓，而没有订酒店，这座公寓是在马里亚纳群岛一个名为Çamlica的住宅区，位于这座城市靠近亚洲的地方。我们到达之后很惊喜地发现我们原来预定的只有一个卧室的公寓被免费升级为有三个卧室的公寓。是的，甚至是小顾问Max都很喜欢这里宽敞的双人床，虽然他躺在那些枕头和毯子中间的时候都有点不好找到他。
天气很好，我们真的很喜欢这里的秋天五彩斑斓的颜色，而迪拜可没有这些。我们也喜欢一个城市有一个发达的公共交通系统 — 显然在这点迪拜也不占什么优势，虽然它的地铁系统刚建好不久。
我们在早上步行走到最近的地铁站，从当地的面包店买一个巧克力面包作为我们的第二顿早餐，乘火车来到博斯普鲁斯，再登上一条渡船，抵达旧城区，去参观那里的清真寺、宫殿和集市。
我们要参观的景点清单上第一个就是圣索菲亚大教堂（Hagia Sophia），曾经是世界上最大的教堂，后来变成了一个清真寺，现在是一座博物馆。
我们也参观了苏丹艾哈迈德清真寺（Sultan Ahmed Mosque）— 蓝色清真寺 — 在奥斯曼帝国（Ottoman Empire）顶峰时期建立的帝国清真寺。
伊斯坦布尔大巴扎集市（The Grand Bazaar），是世界上最古老的和种类最齐全的市场，也是旅游路线中另一个极具魅力的景点。这里挤满了人，但大家都很友好亲和，这里是一个真正的无论在什么天气都可以参观的地方，密密麻麻的都是商店，什么东西都有卖的，古玩，珠宝，地毯（很遗憾，没有那种会飞的魔毯），书籍，果酱以及非常多非常多的各种东西。
美食方面，伊斯坦布尔也提供多种选择。我们喜欢街边食品摊上那些简单的食物，当然在这座土耳其最大的城市中还有很多别的美食，不过我们只品尝了几家当地的咖啡馆和餐厅。外出就餐一点也不贵，点一瓶啤酒或一杯白酒外加一份正餐和迪拜相比真的特别便宜。要知道，在迪拜，含酒精的饮料在商店或餐厅售卖的时候都加了30%的税。
最后一天的时候，我们去参观了多普卡帕宫（Topkapi Palace），曾经奥斯曼帝国的苏丹王们在其统治期间绝大多数时间都居住在这里，这里看起来就像是一千零一夜故事在现实中的背景地点。游览后宫不仅有教育启示，也非常有视觉震撼力，高度推荐这个景点。
如果想观赏完伊斯坦布尔的所有景点，一个长周末真的不够。但是我们在这个城市的游览经历给我们留下了非常好的印象，并让我们十分渴望将来可以再次过来游玩。
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Martin
英国与瑞士格里昂酒店管理高等教育学院 - Glion Institute of Higher Education
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A pre-Eid break in Istanbul
by Martin Kubler 29 October 2012
October just seems to have flown by in a blur of work, studies, and – luckily – a mini pre-Eid break in Istanbul.
After the long, hot summer and Ramadan, business returned to Dubai with a vengeance and everybody tried to cram as much as possible into the few weeks between the end of Ramadan and Eid al Adha, the “greater” of the two Eid festivals, which took place on the 25th & 26th of October. We decided to stay in Dubai for this year’s Eid and travel to Istanbul for a little pre-Eid break instead.
We wanted to go to Istanbul for a fair while, but it’s a popular destination and flights are often full or very expensive, so we never managed while I still had a ‘proper’ job and could only travel during holidays (if at all).
Alas, one of the advantages of my current life as a freelance hotel consultant is that I can travel more or less when I want to and that I can take my work with me, if necessary.
Travelling with a toddler does require a little more pre-planning, but we got there in the end and left Dubai on Turkish Airlines bound for the Bosporus and the Golden Horn.
We had booked a serviced apartment rather than a hotel room, because we preferred the little extra space and the ability to have breakfast ‘at home’. When we arrived at the Marmara Çamlica Residence, our temporary home in the Asian side of the city, we were pleasantly surprised to find that we’d been upgraded from a one bedroom apartment to a three bedroom apartment. Yup, even Max, the mini-consultant, enjoyed a huge double bed, albeit it that he looked a little lost amongst all the pillows and blankets.
The weather was perfect and we really liked seeing the autumn colours, which Dubai sadly lacks. We also enjoyed being in a city with an excellent public transportation network – again, not something that Dubai’s very good at, despite its newish metro system.
We’d walk to the nearest metro station in the mornings, grabbing a pain au chocolat from the local bakery for our second breakfast, take the train down to the Bosporus, jump on the next ferry, and eventually hit the old town with its mosques, palaces, and bazaars.
First on our list of sights to see was the Hagia Sophia, once the world’s largest cathedral, then a mosque, and now a museum.
We also visited the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque), one of the imperial mosques built at the peak of the Ottoman Empire.
The Grand Bazaar, one of the world’s oldest & largest covered markets, was another fascinating stop on sightseeing route. Crowded, but pleasantly unintimidating, it’s a true all-weather destination crammed with shops selling everything from antiques, jewellery, carpets (not of the flying kind, sadly), books, jams, and much, much more.
Food-wise, Istanbul has much to offer, too. We love uncomplicated street-food and there’s certainly plenty on offer in Turkey’s largest city, though we also tried local cafes and restaurants. Eating out was affordable and ordering a beer or a glass of wine with a meal was positively cheap compared to Dubai, where alcohol attracts 30% tax when sold in shops and restaurants.
On our last day, we visited Topkapi Palace, which used to be the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans for most of their reign and which appears like a true setting from the stories from 1001 Nights. A tour of the harem is both educational as well as visually stunning and I recommend it highly.
A long weekend isn’t really enough to see everything that Istanbul has to offer, but the time we spent in the city left us with very positive impressions and hungry for a return journey in the future.
Want to stay in touch? I’m on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Facebook – you’re welcome to connect & share!
Martin
【原文引自】：http://www.gheac.com/thread-7312-1-1.html
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