Istanbul

It been an action packed week in Istanbul with the Muller family - a wonderful experience with excellent tour guides. We have had the luxury of captain George as the team leader with excellent plan and execution and would travel under his guidance for many more a trip :)

We've been so lucky (again) to stay in a hotel!!!! with aircon!!!! and a buffet breakfast!!!! in Sultanahmed thanks to Helgard - its been such a pleasure to sleep in white sheets and use fluffy bath towels.

Istanbul is beautiful in it's mix of culture, architecture, history and politics. It's a monsterous city that both of us weren't really prepared for, but the more you walk the streets the more it seeps into your skin and you want to stay out later and sleep less.

we've seen and read so much...we are learning constantly about a culture neither of us has been exposed to and its been such a pleasure. To me this is what travelling is all about - having to learn a new language, a new body language, to taste new food, to smell new scents, to see things that surpass you imagination, to learn a history you never knew exsisted, to realise that there is nothing new and that people have been the same through all the ages and cultures and religions. To read new authors and listen to new music... i feel richer for having come to Turkey and i'm very sad to be leaving tomorrow. It is without question that Turkey has been my favourite place of all this holiday.

Some of the things we did in Istanbul, so that we don't forget in all the rush and bustle of moving to a new continent:

Aya Sofya

Blue Mosque

Topkapi Palace

Ferry up the Bospherous to a small fishing village close to the mouth of the Black Sea

Galatia Tower and Taksim square (THANK you rachel for the excellent advice)

Ferry to the Prince's Islands in the Marmara Sea

The Grand bazaar

The Spice Bazaar

The amazing underground cistern - over 100m long - truly amazing

The aqueduct from the Belgrade Forest

Its been an amazing journey and i hope that we write more about each of these so we don't forget it ourselves when we are sitting in one place for just a moment, quietly, reflecting on everything that's happened.