In the night we stopped at the Turkish frontier and had our passports collected. Down the line we had to pay £5 for a visa – a new retaliation against the UK for saying the Turkish need visas. Didn’t have enough money so a guy, after a lot of arguing with a dodgy policeman, lent us the money. We met him at the station and waited for banks to open to pay him back. Walked around some mosques and got hassled by a Turkish youth. It was my fault really. I’d sat down to look at the map and he started putting whitener on my boots. He said no money, so reluctantly I let him. Then he demanded money and I didn’t want to give him my large note, so in the end after threats and stares I gave him about 80p in Greek money! Loads of people wanting to sell us things, and one bloke just wanted to practice his English. The Grand Bazaar was really fascinating with all the passages and identical shops. We are now in Asia. Had some Turkish coffee. It’s the same as European Istanbul.

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Stocked up on food, waiting on the train. Lots of Americans and Germans. Makes me want to go home when there’s nowhere to sleep. I’m not fussed about Morocco but Barry is keen on Romania so we’ll go.