Istanbul - 3 nights

We didn't have far to drive the next day to get into Istanbul, but the fun part was getting through the tiny streets of Sultanhamet in the truck to where our hostel was. Adam managed to squeeze through and Shane and I were happy to discover that we had a double room complete with our own bathroom.

We headed off almost right away and had a peek around the Blue Mosque (where we had to take our shoes off and I had my first go of wearing a headscarf). The Aya Sofia was already closed for the day so we headed off to the Grand Bazaar. Most of the stuff was really touristy and overpriced, but I ended up getting a couple of things. We had kebap for dinner in a nice little cafe on the way home and had an earlyish night.

Next morning we slept in a bit, and by the time we were out and about it was about 10 and the weather had finally turned for us - it was cold, windy and rainy all day. We had breakfast in a café (Turkish coffee is strong!). Then it was time to go to the Aya sofia.. wow, what an impressive building. It was actually the third church on the same site, but the current building was complete in the 6th century AD! After the city was captured by the Ottomans the building was converted into a mosque and all the mosaics covered up with plaster. Now that it is a museum, the Christian decorations are being uncovered again so the overall effect is a strange combination of styles. There was also a massive scaffold in the middle of the room as they are restoring the dome.

Next we headed to the Topkapi Palace. We paid 20 lira each to get in, then another 15 lira for the Harem (about €17 each) which is really expensive, and it was a shame because the palace wasn't all that nice compared with other ones we've seen. There were some huge emeralds and diamonds in the treasury, and some odd Saint's Possessions (staff of Moses? Really? A stick that's 3 thousand years old? Oh yes and Mohammad's beard) but mostly the rest was kind of boring. The harem was beautifully decorated though - it would have been nice to see it without bothering with the rest of the palace...

We got back to the hotel in the pouring rain just in time to get ready to go to the football! Lee had arranged tickets for us to see Besiktas vs Ankaraspor, so a group of about 20 of us headed onto the tram and out to the stadium. Only trouble was, it was pouring with rain the whole night and we actually ended up leaving at half time because we were freezing cold, wet and miserable. Nothing a hot shower can't fix though!

Thursday morning we were up early this morning to go to the Iranian embassy to apply for our visas. The girls hung around trying to get their headscarfs on properly, and eventually we walked up to the embassy only to find it was closed today. So we have to try again tomorrow morning.

Shane and I went for a big walk around today and managed to see a lot more of the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market. We also walked across the bridge and up to Galata Tower for a nice view, even though it was still cloudy and quite cold this morning. We had a great spicy pork sandwich thing in the markets for lunch. Shane hung out at the hostel while I went and had a proper Turkish bath at Çemberlitaş Hamam. Very steamy and I had a good scrubbing from a lady at the baths! It's Luke's birthday today so we went out for dinner at a local place, followed by some dancing at a bar with about a million other aussies and kiwis. The city is crawling with them today!

Last morning and the Iranian embassy was open. We got our applications in after a few hours waiting but Steve has to wait behind until next week to collect them and catch up with us.