Excluding the game

[Spike]

What were your top 3 personal memories of Istanbul?

 

Mine:

 

1: getting out of the taxi for a piss only for the lights to change and me and slappy had a 7k walk to the ground. Couldn't find our taxi from the thousands of other yellow ones crawling their way there. (we actually beat our taxi to the stadium as well)

 

2: Mini Pavarotti, and the perfume seller (quoting Slapnuts: Jon Hall, him over there needs perfume, as he's a smelly c***)

 

3: We all dream of a team of gingernobs and the singing in Taksim the day of the game.

[Jonesy]

1. The taxi journey there. Big Wayne made the call to leave at 5ish. It was bonkers at that time trying to get there. Any thing had two wheels or more was being used to transport the fans here.

 

2.The bus journey back into town. Very very very surreal.

 

3. The side street next to that pub where we were all drinking and singing. Madness!!

[oakie bob]

1. The taxi journey there. Big Wayne made the call to leave at 5ish. It was bonkers at that time trying to get there. Any thing had two wheels or more was being used to transport the fans here.

 

2.The bus journey back into town. Very very very surreal.

 

3. The side street next to that pub where we were all drinking and singing. Madness!!

surprised i didnt make the top 3...........oakie bob stuck in liverpool

[The Hitman]

1.Gary Macca on the Monday night,when we were all on the lash.We must've sung that song 15 times,the lad leading it lost his voice for the rest of the trip.One of the best songs to sing in a pissed up group,that one.

 

2.Walking back to the hotel with my Dad,after the aforementioned singing,at 3.30am.Walking 40 minutes the wrong way,despite the fact that the hotel was 5 mins walk away.I'll never see my Dad that pissed ever again!

 

3.The cab drive there,ending up just walking across the dirt.Again,very surreal.

[Jonesy]

surprised i didnt make the top 3...........oakie bob stuck in liverpool

 

 

I found it funny at the time. I've moved on since then. I am now busy laughing at people from Norway who clearly consider taking a flight to mean walking! Must be that scouse sense of humour I have!!

[oakie bob]

I found it funny at the time. I've moved on since then. I am now busy laughing at people from Norway who clearly consider taking a flight to mean walking! Must be that scouse sense of humour I have!!

we must stop letting you park here

[Guest AdamS]

Just one for you. The day after the game we were walking down the street. Some old turkish fella who must have been in his late sixties approached and was gesturing to swap his jumper for my Liverpool scarf. I tried to let him no that he could just have it, but he wouldn't allow that. He ended up giving me a pen for the scarf. As I put it around my neck he looked at me in the eye and was in tears. He walked away absolutely made up.

 

I saw him half an hour later selling it*

 

*No I didn't that was just before anyone else told me I'd been blagged.

[Will]

1. The exrcuciating pain followed by the most blessed relief on finally getting out of the cab for a p*ss on the way to the ground. I have never needed one as much in my life and I hope I never do so much again

 

2. The nightclub in that side-street bringing the speakers out into the street to attempt to entice us into their club, which we did - in order to use the toilet

 

3. Our odour on the long trip home (hello, Big Wayne!)

 

4. Sen's appalling attempts at sudoku on the flight to Frankfurt

 

5. The lock-in in my local on the night before our early start to Istnabul, followed by polishing off some shoddy bottle of schnapps in my living room, and then onto the vodka

[Vlad JNR]

1. A pissed Kevin Nolan stood at the front of our coach starting all the songs

 

2. The sea of Red that was Taksim square

 

3. The trail of taxi's that just seemed to go on forever

 

4. Everyone on our coach being knackered at the end, a bizarre sense of disbelief

[Maldini]

1. On the bus on the way in from the airport, looking out the window and seeing a shop-keeper chasing a huy down the street with a foot-long machete and planting it squarely in his back.

 

2. Walking down a side-street off Taksim Square and seeing this:

 

 

3. All the locals on the way to the stadium waving the banners and cheering us on

[jfogarty]

1. The sing song in Dublin airport and drinking Raki on the plane

2. The best piss ever in the sand 3 miles from the stadium

3. That mad circus terminal at the airport. It was either get s***faced on carlsberg and opium or give out with the rest of them. I done the former

[Redwire]

The journey to the game, the songs on the bus, the crowds cheering us on, the stadium in the distance and the trek across the moonscape.

 

Getting GMTV to buy us beers in Taskim Square after the game on the promise that we would appear on the next morning's programme, then f*cking off fifteen minutes before transmission, leaving them panicking about who to get to go on.

[Herbie von Smalls]

Getting GMTV to buy us beers in Taskim Square after the game on the promise that we would appear on the next morning's programme, then f*cking off fifteen minutes before transmission, leaving them panicking about who to get to go on.

[ricflairandy]

the big f***off bike shop under the bridge

 

starting a "get to work , get to work, get to work" chant in mcdonalds in the square when the f***ing mcdonalds workers where tp busy joining in the lfc songs

 

waiting in antalya airport for 12 hours for a flight to the bull.

[Armin_Tamzarian]

1. Walking through the Grand Bazaar on the morning of the final. All the Turks surrounding me and chanting Liverpool (and Fenerbace, Besitktas etc). Shopkeepers giving me stuff, probably out of sympathy after they saw my orange hair. Meeting Ian Rush there and his security guy/mate being unable to work my new camera so I didn't get my picture.

 

2. Getting a taxi to the stadium, drinks being expertly mixed in the back by an air hostess and being dropped off at the cafe before the road where certain taxi drivers couldn't go - well thats what our guy said... Going into a cafe and being summoned to a table by 3 Turkish policemen supposedly on duty who bought us drinks to toast a Liverpool win. Then going outside and meeting a turkish guy who had brought a little tea set and whisky bottle and set it out on his car boot, he'd driven for miles and we toasted a Liverpool victory again. I walked most of the way to the stadium shaking hands, using my one word of turkish until I got tired and hitched a ride in a taxi with some lads from Lymm. The journey there was chaotic but brilliant.

 

3. That drained surreal quiet on the coach back. Getting out of the coach and being lost in Sulthanamet finding a bar and talking for hours with an AC Milan fan who knew as much about footy as anyone I've ever met. I then got lost again wound up talking to a turkish policeman and devoted Fenerbace who gently insisted when I told him where my hotel was and where we were that he knew the way better than I did. He was right amazingly enough.

 

I could've gone to 10 easy.

[Kahnee]

5. The lock-in in my local on the night before our early start to Istnabul, followed by polishing off some shoddy bottle of schnapps in my living room, and then onto the vodka

 

Was that the same night you had two women in your flat and came on here asking for suggestions?

[Elisha_Scott]

the big f***off bike shop under the bridge

 

starting a "get to work , get to work, get to work" chant in mcdonalds in the square when the f***ing mcdonalds workers where tp busy joining in the lfc songs

 

waiting in antalya airport for 12 hours for a flight to the bull.

 

I flew from Antalya, after a 6 hour trip on a minibus from Marmaris. Were you with the fellas who were playing Ring of Fire over and ove r on an mp3 player in the airport cafe?

[Miracle@Istanbul]

The night before the game driving back to the hotel in a taxi, we were pissed and the taxi driver was taking the Piss.

 

I asked the driver how many IKEA's in Istanbul, he replied that were was just one, so i asked him how come we have driven past it 3 times.

[Sara]

Meeting Rafa and the boys at 1.30 the lunchtime before the game, and getting a cuddle from Rafa

 

 

Making the hotel bar stay open all night after the game and taking the piss out of folk who were going to bed before dawn - lightweights!

 

 

Landing at Scum airport and someone shouting "Fergie! We're back and guess what we've got!"

[Raj]

1) Mini Pavarotti at the bar near Taxsim Square the night before the game. Very funny

 

2) Seeing a Chelsea fan wearing his colours at a bar near the Blue Mosque, the morning of the game. We were sat with a group of Milan fans, who saw him first and launched into a rousing rendition of "F**k of Chelsea, F**k off Chelsea" in their finest English.

 

3) In the taxi on the way to the game, seeing all the improvised methods of transport. Seeing a guy sat on the back of a TNT couriers motorbike was a highlight.

 

4) Bumped into a guy that I knew outside the ground, hadn't seen him for 3 years. I was wearing my liverpool shirt and he asked me what i was doing there!?!

[Nerik]

1. Seeing Taksim square all in Red. The banners were amazing. The pick of the lot being "Glazer's dollars? Roman's Roubles? Just 5 Euros Rafa Por Favor!"

 

2. Not being able to find a taxi to the stadium but then being rescued by a group of Hungarian Red Bull employees who let us hitch a ride in their van.

 

3. The first sight of the stadium from afar. Just seeing all that red once again and knowing you are going to see the club you love playing in the biggest club football game around........

[anny road]

1. the journey from our hotel to Taksim, via the back street slums of Istanbul..."dont a worry...cheeeken people"

 

2. The lines of people on the side of the road cheering us......holding up Liverpool signs

 

3. Aldo Getting lifted up at the airport on the way back

[Miracle@Istanbul]

Innit funny how so many of these relate to taxi journeys. On our way to the game, I sparked a jingo while we were sat in traffic, the taxi driver was made up saying " hasheesh, hasheesh give me, give me, please", so after a good toke the traffic got moving again and our driver just put his foot down driving like a freak. 5 lane carrigway and he was in every lane, cutting across traffic without ever checking his rear view mirrors.

 

As we approached the stadium, we kept getting glimpses of the stands but each time from a different angle without ever getting closer to it, so he stops by some police and gets out asking for directions, my friend got paranoid and thought the driver was grassing us up for toking, a little midnight express moment.

 

Getting a taxi after the match was about as much fun as the Sabiha Gokcen Airport 9 hour wait.

[johngibo YPC]

1) taskim square. meeting up with all the YPC boys, setting off flares and learning the luis Garcia song.

 

2) taxi ride to the ground. yeah it took ages but we had a load of Efes and the turkish on the road were boss. i got dead emotional with the taxi driver, much to the amusement of everyone else.

 

3) finally getting somthing to eat about 4 in the morning, them kebabs tasted good. me saying i was probably ready for bed just as my sister ordered yet more beers.

 

probably all better than the match anyway!!

[Lee W]

1. Donating my ticket to my old fella who had never been to a European Cup Final, knowing I would get to see another one.

 

2. Dancing through the streets of Sydney City after the game at 7am in the morning, singing "Ring of Fire" and "Steve Gerrard-Gerrard, he's big and he's fookin' 'ard" then bumping into my new boss who had interviewed me the day before.

 

3. Getting congratulated by all me mates who support rival teams and hearing about my pub landlord back home dancing the on the bar and handing out free Champers to everyone. The feckin' tight-ar*e.