Very touristy...

Friday, September 30, 2011
Istanbul, Turkey
The border crossing was a little different than I am used to. Exit stop in Bulgaria, before a stop at 'duty free' in No Mans Land, followed by a final stop on teh turkish side to get a visa; all whilst half asleep in the early hours of Wednesday morning. I passed out on the bus after that and awoke at 4.30am at Istanbul's bus station.... which is absolutely huge!! Bit of a rabbit warren too, so prepare yourself before you go there, or know where you are going...
After craashing out again (3 in a bed in our day room! rather that than 2 in a single bed, one on the floor and one in reception as the other part of the group had to endure!), we emerged for luch to check out a city of many delights ... mostly of the sugary kind!

We spent the afternoon wandering around the Basilica Underground Cistern and admiring it's 336 columns (!). There are hugh fish in there and if your camera is up to it you can get some good photo opportunities.

Cat insisted on a very touristy photo of us in Sultana dresses which I was extremely mortified by and then the resulting photo that she chose was even more humiliating!

The organised part of the trip ends here and therefore we had to say goodbye to the rest of the group, althougha couple were still around for dinner and the following day.

On Thursday we crammed in as much as possible:

The Blue Mosque - which smelt of feet (you had to take your shoes off!) and tbh was only worth it as the entry was free. It is only the tilework inside that features any blue so this seems to not live up to it's name either!

Grand Bazaar/spice marker - a trip to Istanbul would not be complete without haggling your way through the stalls here.

Galato Bridger - fish sandwich, fresh from the river for lunch, on the lower deck and then a walk across the river and up to the Galato tower (bit of a climb up the hill) for views all aroud the city

We finished off the day with dinner and then backgammon and a shisha pipe - perfect!

Friday was more relaxed and the downpours throughout the day limited out enthusiasm to venture out too far. The morning was spent at the Topkapi Palace and specifically the Haren. Then a quick dash for souvenirs back at the bazaar before a pauper snack (we are running out of money!) to end the day on budget :).


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