this place is by far the biggest palace in Turkey. It was started in 1453 and has had about 6 Sultans live here and add to the place. The lines to get in were crazy and inside just as bad. Of course it started ******* rain while we were lined up to get a ticket and it rained all morning. The ticket was expensive 45tl but I think worth it. It is a great money spinner for the govt, there must be thousands of people go everyday. The place was packed when I was there...

OMG it is soooo cold. yesterday the weather was a bit cool but OK. Today it is raining and sooo dam cold. I bought the girls pashmina scarves and I been wearing all 3 today, with gloves, beanie and rain coat and still freezing. This morning I went to Hagia Sofia. It was built in 537 and was the greatest Christian church in the world till about 1450 when some dude named Mehmet took over and turned it into a mosque. Since then it has been used for all sorts of thin...

Since it is monday and some places are closed for the day I decided to go to the Grand Bazaar and then to the Spice market. Another factor in the decision was I met a carpet seller this morning and he was very persistant so I said I would come back after breakfast, the bazaars are the other way. Breakfast at the hotel is not outstanding but there is plenty of it. Boiled eggs, cereal and bread with jam. I love the Turkish bread so it is OK just not what you expect...

It took a long time to get here and I was pretty stuffed when I got here. If U are coming to Istanbul don't fly Qatar cos they fly to the wrong airport. There are 2 airports in Istanbul and one you can get on the train into town the other is a mission. If you are lucky you can get shuttle bus but mostly you have to take at least bus to Taksim then train and maybe a taxi from there. The hotel I am is is pretty poor. It is a brilliant location, right behind the Blu...

The flight here seemed to drag. The A#hole in front of me reclined his seat as soon as we took off and stayed that way for the whole flight, including the meals. I had two germans either side of me. I think they did online book in and thought they were gonna get all 3 seats. It turns out the plane was chockers so I got stuck in between them. They both had the stinkiest breath ever. I didn't feel so bad about ******* all the way.