Day 2: Istanbul

The dawning of the day was heralded by the mystical refrain eminating from the loudspeakers of the three nearest mosques. One in the distance began and were joined by the closest two within a few seconds, reminding me roosters, crowing at the first hint of light. Fortunately, they did not go for too long and we promptly fell back to sleep.

After a hearty breakfast from a smorgasbord of pastries, eggs, yoghurt, fruits and cereals, we headed of towards the Grand Bazaar.

It took what seemed to take half a day to wend our way through the myriad of shops. There were rows of jewellery shops, followed by scarves, ceramics, light shops, bags, etc. A shoppers paradise! You were expected to haggle and could usually get the prices down by more than 50 per cent.

After the Bazzar, we headed past hundreds of clothing shops to the Spice Market, which had similar stalls, plus spices and dried fruits. The pistachio covered candied carrot was tasty, and the boys enjoy they dried kiwi fruits.

Lunch was had at a fish and meat restaurant on the Galata Bridge whilst waiting to take a boat ride down the river and back. Effes beer comes in 500cl glasses here and 5 glasses took up half the bill....... These were shared between Dave, Mitch and myself.

After lunch and the boat ride, we made our way to the Blue Mosque. We spent a fair deal of time there, in wait of a promising photo from a rising full moon. Not quite as good as I hoped, but good that we were able to sit and relax for a while.

Back to the hotel to put our feet up. I fell asleep a couple of times uploading photos onto the computer. 

After a bowl of chips in the hotel restaurant, we retired to our room and I fell asleep as my head hit the pillow. Dave said I did not move a muscle.

Kate