Day 14 - 19: Turkey

A 3.00am flight out of Cairo on Day 14 brought us to Istanbul at 6.00am, luckily our hotel had our room ready so we were able to crash for a few hours sleep before  setting out to explore later that afternoon.

I loved Istanbul! We stayed in the old city in the suburb of Sultanahmet, which is the main tourist area. That area is so picturesque - cobble stone streets with vendors on every corner selling roasted chestnuts and corn on the cob, cafes and resteraunts with outdoor eating areas spilling out onto the street, souvenir stalls and shops by the dozen all lit up by hundreds of Turkish lanterns in so many colours. These were by far my favourite!

 

Seeing the city had to be put on hold though as we set out early Day 15 on a two day tour to the Gallipoli Peninsula. After driving down there, we spent the afternoon at the ruins of the ancient city of Troy. They even have the Trojan horse from the Brad Pitt movie in the town as a tourist attraction.

Then Day 16 was a full tour of the Gallipoli Peninsula covering all of the battle sites from the Great War including ANZAC Cove and North Beach where our soldiers landed on 25 April 1915. They've still got the original preserved trenches. Ben was in his element being the history buff he is! Our tour guide was a wealth of knowledge and took us to the sites of the Turkish troops, explaining their histories to us as well as different views on the traditional ANZAC stories we learn in school.

 

Day 17, back in Istanbul, we spent wandering Sultanahmet and taking in the local sites - Sultanahmet Park, the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and the Hippodrome. 

That evening we caught the Metro down to the Grand Bazaar. An indoor maze of a market place where we haggled some great bargains. Ben bought a leather jacket and I got a beautiful walnut wood and pearl backgammon/chess board.  

On Day 18, we had an early visit to the Basilica Cistern, an underground water reservoir...

...followed by an afternoon on one of the hop-on hop-off buses looking round the rest of the Europe side of the city with some great views over the bay and a look at Taksim Square where all the current protests are going on, then got off the bus back in Sultanahmet to visit the Topkapi Palace and wander round the huge palace grounds.

Day 19 we caught the ferry to the Asian side of the city. The views of the old city were so pretty from the water!

Over in Asian Turkey we met up with my... hmm... cousin-in-law once removed? Something like that! Anyway, we met up with Bianca who lives over there and she took us out to explore the Asian, less touristy, side of the city. We wandered the markets, did some shopping and introduced us to some great new foods, before we met up with her kids and said hi to them too.

We ducked back over to Europe, love saying that, by 6.00pm in time to go inside Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque before dinner.

 

 

After dinner we wandered back up to Sultanahmet Park where the Ramadan celebrations had begun. Hundreds of families had flocked to the park in frontof  the Blue Mosque, with huge picnic spreads, all waiting for the moment the cannon fires signifying when they can begin their feast! The Blue Mosque and the fountain were lit up for the celebrations too and people were wandering the crowds selling fairy floss and glow sticks.

...And, last of all, here's some more lanterns just cause I love them!