Day 88 August 9th

We both had a reasonable sleep at the airport considering that we just spread out on some seats. No dramas with the flight but when we landed we lined up at passport control and then found out we needed a visa. That meant going to another line and buying a visa which was just a sticker in you passport. There was a mini bus shuttle that delivered to your hotel so we took that with 7 others. The trip in was 50 mins and then the fun started. The driver was trying to find our hostel and had no idea where the street was and asked at least 20 people for directions as he didn't have a map. We had a mini tour of the area but as it was hot in the bus everyone just wanted to get there. After one and a quarter hours we finally arrived at our hostel so I would hate to think how long it would have been for the other 4 stops.

We unpacked and had a quick walk around the immediate area to get our bearings. It was amazing how quickly we got offers for help every time we stopped to look at the map - they would just ask "are you lost?" and then ask if we were Australian when we spoke. We found a good spot for dinner where we could look at the food and the selections tasted veery bit as good as they looked. All the food has great flavour and we are enjoying the eating experience.

Day 89 August 10th

We set off for the Grand Bazaar this morning and Sarah was looking for some bargains. It is a huge place and while there were lots of people, it wasn't as crammed full as I thought it might have been. There was some rip-off brand stuff but there was also some really nice gold & silver shops with quality stuff. We wandered around all morning and I bought a little ceremonial dagger and Sarah a breakfast plate set and a makeup mirror.

Lunch was at a kebab place and we dropped our purchases off at the hostel before heading to the Blue Mosque. It was huge and all the domed roofs were spectacular on separate levels. We had to take our shoes off to get in and Sarah had to cover up her neck and chest where her V neck exposed a bit of skin. Once inside it was a large open space with 4 huge pillars that extended almost to the dome roof. There wasn't a lot to see because half was roped off for prayers, but being a big open space you could see it all from one place anyway.

Day 90 August 11th

First stop today was the Basilica Cistern which was built in 532. It was a water storage building and shows how advanced these early Byzantine civilizations were. The roof is 65m wide by 143m long and supported by 336 columns. It is a spectacular building and it seems incredible that carp live in the waters and by the size of some of them, they are very well fed. We went to the Aya Sofya which is an old mosque that is now a museum. The lines to get in were reminiscent of Paris so we decided to try early tomorrow morning nearer opening time.

We walked to the port area and had some lunch and then went on a 2 hour cruise up the Bosphorus which separates Europe and Asia. It was very pleasant on the water although at times it was pretty rough. Our navigation skills were then put to the test as we headed back to the hotel on a more direct route that took us through a few back streets. We ended up making it with no problems and came out exactly where we had hoped.

Day 91 August 12th

The getting up early to see Aya Sofya was a success as there were no queues and we went straight in. The interior is huge and seems to be suspended by nothing but the guide book tells us that they are hidden within the walls. There is a lot of scaffolding inside going up to the main dome where they are restoring the ceiling. The scaffolding itself is a construction marvel with stairs and a lift. They will be doing it for at least 50 years by my reckoning as they still have lots to do. The restored bits look great but there is a lot more unrestored than restored.

There are quite a few mosaics on the walls and while some are complete there are some with big pieces missing and we couldn't find out what they will do with the missing ones, perhaps add new pieces.

A mild case of Delhi belly meant I couldn't go too far away, so we went back to the Grand Bazaar and bought some presents for my girls. Sarah bought some dishes and tiles and I have to bring them back with me next week, so I will have to watch the excess baggage.

Day 92 August 13th

We went for a walk to the Aqueduct of Valens which is supposed to have been constructed in Emperor Valens reign from 364-78. It was an easy walk with the map in hand and was not too hard to find. It is a spectacular construction and where the ground dips it goes to a double story series of arches. There was a couple of statues in the park next to it but once again the writing was in Turkish so we had no idea what they were about.

We then decided to head through the back streets to the port area on the Golden Horn. It was completely different from walking around the tourist areas and I'm sure we were the only English speakers. We stopped and bought some pistachio nuts from a local trader and despite the hand signals, we got what we wanted. When we stopped to eat some there were some really old wooden houses behind us that looked as thought they were ready to fall down.

We got to the spice markets and the smells were incredible. There were also other market things like clothes, plates, lanterns etc. but it was mainly sweets and spices. It wasn't huge but so many stalls were basically the same, it didn't really matter. We then headed to the dock and bought a fish sandwich for lunch. The fish are BBQ'ed on a boat tied up to the dock and they hand them over to you. It wasn't too bad once we got rid of some of the huge amounts of onion in the salad.

The final stop for the day was Rustem Pasa Mosque which according to the guide book was small and hard to find, but spectacular. They were right and large parts of the walls were tiled in the traditional Turkish style. The Dome was in great condition and the whole thing was really well kept. It was a bit of a hike back home but the way we went was stalls in small streets the whole way so it didn't seem too bad. One funny thing was a traffic jam on the street where we were walking. The cars were not moving at all and after walking a while we found a small truck parked facing the wrong way (it was one way) unloading rolls of material.

We went to a Whirling Dervish show in the evening and it took a while to get going but when they started whirling, the 2 guys must have whirled for close on half an hour with a couple of short breaks. Probably the hardest part was to stand dead still when they had finished. We then went downstairs and had a Gozleme (pancake) which had a variety of fillings. We had a "mixed stuffs" which had a bit of everything available.

Day 93 August 14th

Another travel day, this time back to London. We got picked up from the hotel and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. We had limited our Turkish Lire so that we would not have to change excess back to pounds, so we arrived at the airport with 10 lire between us. The flight left at 1:10pm so we thought we would be able to get something to eat the the cash left over. Wrong! Well mainly wrong as the only thing we could get was french fries for 9 lire ($9) and when they came out they were the size of a small butter plate. Luckily we had a bag of potato chips with us so we ate them on the plane.

We got back to London on the train with no problems and checked back into the hostel for my last night before heading home. I was keeping my fingers crossed that my bike was still there as they stored it for me while in Turkey.

Day 94 August 15th

I am writing this in advance as Sarah is going to keep the laptop with her and it is just the flight home from Heathrow to Singapore to Adelaide. A week at home to psyche myself up for going back to work and then it is back to the old routine in Adelaide. Update: Got on the plane at Heathrow and decided to get on last as I was going to have plenty of time on the plane. There was 1 seat left that I could see and there was a hugely obese guy in the one next to mine. There were no others available so I had to squash in and couldn't use the armrest as he was overfolwing onto it. Snoozed a couple of times but his arm kept falling onto me and waking me, so I just watched movies and had very little sleep.

Singapore to Adelaide was a whole lot better as there was hardly anybody on the filght and I was able to put the armrests up on the centre seats and sprawled out over them. Had a good sleep and was feeling pretty good arriving in Adelaide.