I could wax on for some time about how I already miss the Balkans (good times, very good times) but no sense lamenting when there’s so much to celebrate. Istanbul provided a wonderfully sunny welcome, though by now we appear to have worn out that particular good grace. I’ve spent the week reacquainting myself with the many delights of Turkish cuisine, and having the enjoyably role-reversed experience of playing tour guide for Kate and, for a day, Jamie. We’ve had plenty of new adventures too – two heads are better than one when it comes to finding fun in a city as overwhelming as Istanbul.

And overwhelming is the word for it. After two nights near Taksim, the bouncing, throbbing heart of new Istanbul, we fled across the continental divide to Kadikoy, still my favourite place in the city. Taksim area is absolutely stuffed with bars, clubs, and a rainbow of other drinking and shopping establishments. Twice we wandered its cacophonous streets looking for a drink and a song, and twice there were simply too many choices. Why stop and hear this particular guitarist when there’s four more just down the street? And what’s that around the corner? And what about that place we passed in the beginning that looked so cool? I’m hopeless in these situations, and Kadikoy has proved the perfect cure. Still many, many choices, but Kadikoy is too cool to thrust everything at you in a bombast of touting and overlapping music. Kadikoy is all about discreet signs, small clubs under low overhangs, and not being able to find the place you’re looking for because it doesn’t appear to have a sign at all. We ended up in converted house, the bar taking up the top two floors, plus the small attic, which is where they stashed the band. We’d never have known it from the street, but they put on quite a show in the tiny room, well worth staying through the heat.

Even the relative calm of Kadikoy is still Istanbul, though, and I’m looking forward to starting the journey south and spending some time outside. The forecast is for thunderstorms tonight, so we’ve delayed our departure by a day to try and wait out the worst of it, but we’re heading to one of the Prince’s Islands tonight, which should provide a nice city break. And a good excuse to spend more time on the always-relaxing public transit ferries (they’re not Brisbane’s high-speed cats, Carmen, but they’re still heaps fun).

Also: Saw a dolphin! In the Golden Horn. Turns out there are dolphins in this tiny strip of hyper-trafficked water? Would not have guessed, but there you are. The Horn was also full of jellyfish – millions and millions of them, mostly alive and glowing phosphorescent. A beautiful sight present at every bridge and ferry crossing.