Yesterday's objective was to cover another section of Constantinople's impressive Theodosian Walls. (This, by the way, is Theodosius II, not the Theodosius I of the Obelisk.)

We taxied to the Marble Tower, and then walked north to the Gate of Rhesios, before heading home.

This section gives you lots of different wall experiences, for which this site offers a handy little guide and map.




















Excellent walk. The only snag was that Istanbul is getting a bit dusty (there's been no rain for a while), and you're near dusty things like roads and restoration works quite a bit of the time. Still, nothing that a few buckets of water couldn't cure once we'd arrived home.

Today's walk was a little different. Destination: Sirkeci Station.



Designed by Prussian architect August Jasmund, and officially launched in February 1888, Sirkeci Station is a very imposing building (albeit somewhat smaller than I had envisaged). There's also a tiny museum, which displays railway memorabilia.

But the main reason for coming was that I'd just finished re-reading Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (more on that on The Velvet Cushion shortly), and Sirkeci was the station from which the Orient Express set out on its journey to Paris and Calais.

Actually, that's not entirely true... Christie's story, more accurately, is set on the Simplon Orient Express (there were other routes), but I guess that was too much of a mouthful to include in the title...

The station, officially named Istanbul Gar, no longer serves European trains, but is now a major stop on the cross-Bosphorus train line.

Never mind, what you're here for is the atmosphere...