pearl murphy

European Away trip number 2 ….

It’s three weeks since our trip to Istanbul to watch Liverpool play Galatasary in the Champions League. And now it’s time for our second away match, this time against Eintracht Frankfurt who are (obviously) based in Frankfurt. The last three weeks have not been kind to us from a football perspective with last minute lossesContinue reading “European Away trip number 2 ….”

Galatasary- the journey home

My route home was different from my route out. Firstly I flew out from Sabiha Gokcen airport rather than the main Istanbul airport. I got to the airport by using the metro. I needed to walk about a mile to get to the relevant station, Sirkeci, which wouldn’t normally be a problem. And indeed itContinue reading “Galatasary- the journey home”

Galatasary away – the game

This won’t be short! I’ll start at the very beginning with the one thing that’s absolutely essential for any football match – a ticket. For most of the top teams in England (and probably elsewhere) demand for tickets outstrips supply. As an example, Liverpool have a 20 year waiting list for season tickets and itContinue reading “Galatasary away – the game”

Galatasary away – accommodation and extracurricular activities.

After all that fraught traveling I eventually arrived at our Airbnb where Paul met me. It’s only small but clean and tidy and all we really need. We’re only staying for two nights and will be out most of the time anyway The location is great – plenty of shops and bars nearby – aContinue reading “Galatasary away – accommodation and extracurricular activities.”

Galatasary away – first day

We were up early and Denis dropped me off at Leeds Bradford airport with plenty of time to spare. It’s a really busy airport first thing in the morning but everything went smoothly and I was soon having a sausage butty and a cup of tea. But an away trip only gets going properly whenContinue reading “Galatasary away – first day”

European Away Trips – preparations

One of the great pleasures in my life is going abroad to Europe to watch LFC play. We’ve been to lots of major cities and towns and also some smaller more out of the way places. Sion springs to mind And Maribor When the draw for the league stage come out (usually about the endContinue reading “European Away Trips – preparations”

Lecce 5 (and last)

We had to be out of the Airbnb by 10.00 after which we planned to travel to Brindisi together. Paul and Angela’s flight was much earlier than ours so they were planning to go straight to the airport while we intended to do a bit of sightseeing and have a meal in Brindisi centre beforeContinue reading “Lecce 5 (and last)”

Lecce 4

We got up to find the hot water working so for the first time we could all have a hot shower! We decided to go to the large market which opens twice a week “Mercator Bisettimanale”. It’s a huge outdoor market but really for the locals rather than tourists After wandering around aimlessly for aContinue reading “Lecce 4”

Lecce 3

We had a bit of a slow start as the hot water system had failed again in the Airbnb. It had failed yesterday and they had worked hard to fix it but the same problem happened today. As we were doing a food and drink walking tour later in the day we had brunch mid-morning.Continue reading “Lecce 3”

Lecce 2

We didn’t see much of Lecce last night as it was dark when we arrived and we were all a bit worn out with the travel. Once up, we headed off out for some sightseeing, stopping en route for coffee and pastries for breakfast We made short work of those and then headed off towardsContinue reading “Lecce 2”