Our Istanbul Adventures

We arrived in Istanbul on Saturday 23rd April, hopped on the train directly at the airport, and went straight out to the suburb of Aksaray in the older part of Istanbul, where we had our hotel booked. We pulled out our European phrase book on the way to practice a few Turkish words, and enlisted the help of the closest local to help us pronounce them. I am now proud to report that I can say "Thanks" and "Thank You" in Turkish. And that's as far as I got.

We got lost on our way to our hotel (which no-one on the street seemed to recognise the name of), but found it eventually, and got ourselves checked in, before immediately setting out again in search of the Grand Bazaar. We found it, but it closes at 7pm each night, so it wasn't open. So we just kept wandering, enjoying the sights, and feasting our eyes on all of the Turkish sweet shops. There are a million of them, and all have about the same number of varieties of Turkish delight.




The next day we ventured out on the bus to the busiest street in Istanbul, Istiklal Cadessi, which apparently three million people walk down each day. We stopped at the monument of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Turkish military leader during Gallipoli (more about him when I talk about Gallipoli) and later president and the people's hero.


We found a roasted chestnut vendor and tried our first chestnuts.


Guess what kind of shop had this decor?


A kebab shop!!! Can you believe it? With the most enormous revolving meat thingie we've ever seen.


We admired all of the extremely well dressed locals, and Tom decided that he needed to try to make his look a little more European. So we bought him a scarf (never thought he was a scarf kinda guy).


But he wasn't satisfied that he looked entirely European yet, so insisted that we get him a very metrosexual jacket.


He says he'll fit right in in Paris now!! Hehe.

We kept wandering...



And found the local clock tower,


Tom spotted someone mattocking, and couldn't resist telling them that was his job at home too.


We tried more self portraits...


We were actually trying to get this view in the background.


So decided to hand the camera over to a local next time.


Oh and by the way, don't be concerned that Tom got to be the only one buying things. Since he got a new coat, I figured I deserved one too. Can't have him looking all fancy and me in a traveler's wind jacket, can I?

Here we are at the top of the Istiklal Cadessi street, with the crowds behind us. I may have been having a little power nap at the time.


And then best of all, we got to sit in a street cafe and watch the crowds go buy, sipping Sahlep, a very creamy cinnamon-y drink similar to Chai Latte at home.



More of Istanbul to come, and then Gallipoli!



Over and out. We're having a ball so far, and it's all barely begun!