Cannakale/Istanbul: Cloudy, approx 9 degrees....
Up early (4ish) for our flight from Cannakale to Istanbul. The idea being that it would be quicker to fly back to Istanbul than to take the bus back. We later found out the bus arrived in Istanbul before we did. Sigh....
So it was back to the Eresine Hotel (which felt like home, I even had the same room!!) to drop off out bags and freshen up. We then headed off for lunch and an inspired selection of restaurants by yours truly had as at 'Doy Doy' for lunch. Here we feasted on puffy bread, pide, eggplant moussaka and the freshest orange juice I have ever had!
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| The Hotel Eresine... |
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| Puffy bread.... |
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| Puffy head.... |
We then began our trek to the Grand Bazaar to spend all of our hard earned. With a stop off along the way at a chemist to load up on cold and flu drugs and Strepsils. I was about to become the official drug dealer of the trip....We walked back past the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia on our way to the Bazaar.
At the Grand Bazaar you could buy all manner of things....some good, some complete crap....rugs, evil eyes, scarves, lokum, tea, oils, plates, silver, gold, tacky, cheesy and didn't I just love it!!! Although, having said that, I think I enjoyed the Spice Market more in terms of authenticity. But I do love a crap souvenir!!!
Our walk back to the hotel gave us an opportunity to gaze longingly in the windows of many a fantastic food store. But of course, the most cultural place we could go was the local Maccas....some were taken aback by one of the McFlurry versions. However, Evan covered himself in glory by ordering a Happy Meal complete with crown.....sigh....
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| More baklava!!! |
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| A little taste of home....Turkish trams.... |
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| A medley of yum.... |
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| Mc Flurry Negro....??? |
One of the enduring memories I will have of Istanbul is all of the tulips that were everywhere. The Turks obviously have great civic pride in their cities. The other memory that I will take away from here is that of the call to prayer. Once I figure out how to You Tube videos, I will put up the call to prayer that I recorded. The one I recorded started at the Blue Mosque and then echoed throughout the city to one of the mosques near where we stood. The call then rebounded between the mosques in the area. Just unreal!
Back at the hotel we started to get ready for our farewell to Istanbul and Turkey. It was Liz Smart's 17th birthday, so we decided a night of dancing was called for. We headed out to a show at Istanbulin. Dinner and a show that was....interesting....Traditional Turkish dancing and music, a bit of belly dancing and then some soft porn dancing!! All topped off with a chocolate birthday cake.
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| Don't they scrub up well!! L to R: Evan, Ash, Rachel, Laura, Bridget, Liz S, Martin, Tom, Hadley and Gi Gi... |
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| Liz's Mercedes Benz chariot.... |
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| The kids up for a bit of a dance.... |
Tomorrow we farewell Istanbul and Turkey and head off to the Western Front....
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