We woke up this morning and got ready to meet up with Keith and Lindsay again, then met them out the front of our hostel. Darren was still getting ready, so I took them next door to Palatium, where I took them downstairs to check out the ruins before we went inside and got a couch where Darren joined us. The boys had already eaten, so Darren and I shared a veggie pide, and we all got some drinks. (Mmmm, Apple tea...) When we were done, we walked down to the tram, which we caught to Karabaş, then walked up the road a bit to the Dolmabahçe Palace Museum. We actually had to go through an airport-type security check before going to line up to buy tickets! We walked through some very pretty gardens, complete with its own pond and overlooking the ocean, then came up to a massive palace. We lined up for the first of two tours, which was starting in about 15 minutes. The line was huge, but after the Turkish tour began, half the people went inside, so we ended up near the front. We had to put little plastic booties over our shoes before going inside (which was interesting in our thongs!) then we went in. We got a tour through this crazily fancy and ornate palace. They had a huge entrance hall, then we went up a crystal-banistered staircase, through many more ridiculously rich looking rooms, with massive crystal chandeliers, fancy Turkish rugs and upholstery, and there was a very pretty grand piano in one room too. There were so many rooms with just couches and coffee tables (and of course heaps of expensive decorations), and there were huge roof-tall mirrors on every corner to make the massive palace seem even more massive! We got talking to some Croatian girls who were hanging out at the back of the huge group to get some sneaky photos (I was doing the same, although photos were forbidden inside! Shhh!) and they were very cool and funny, so we hung out with them a while. Being at the back of such a large group was a bit annoying, as the guide had always started talking before everyone was in the room, so we missed pretty much all the information. But it still looked very impressive. I think I probably wouldn't mind living in a palace! The last room we came to was epic, with the biggest chandelier in the middle of what could have been a ballroom, and huge temple-like pillars all around the sides holding up a balcony which was surrounded by statues. We couldn't hear the guide here either, because the room was so echoey and she was so far away! So we just hung out with the boys and the Croatian girls before the tour finished and we headed through the gift shop (of course) to exit the building. Darren and Keith had a bit of a bootie fight and came out with their booties in shreds. Pretty funny. We walked around the outside of the palace and circled around to where the next tour was going from, the Harem. We had about half an hour until the English tour, so we went into the cafe for a quick apple tea before it started. When it was time we lined up again, got our new booties on and went in for the tour. It was a very similar feel to the last one, with huge ornately decorated rooms and halls, but this one was where they also had the Turkish Hammams, (which we didn't see) so there were more waiting rooms, fireplaces, women's rooms, as well as all the guest rooms. This guy must have had a lot of guests! We ended up on the tour with the Croatian girls again, so spent the time joking, laughing and taking sneaky photos again with them before the tour ended. We had a chat with the girls as we walked through the gardens and out the front of the palace, then said goodbye and headed back to the tram with the boys. They literally were just going back to their hostel to pick up their bags before heading out to the airport to fly back to Australia, so we hugged them goodbye when we got to their stop, then got off at the next stop and went back to our hostel. On the way we stopped by a hotel up the road where they had laundry services to check out the prices then went back to our room where we wrapped up in our blankets, as we were both pretty cold by this time! Thongs maybe weren't the best choice! We had a little snooze there for a bit before going for a walk to find some dinner. We walked around for a while trying to find something cheap, as we had used most of our daily budget at the museum, and ended up at a little restaurant where we were the only patrons. It was very weird and had no vibe, no music or anything, but the guy running the place was very nice and the food was delicious. Towards the end of our meal a girl from New York came in by herself, so we chatted to her for a little while, while we finished our free apple tea, then we had to go, as we had a message from the Croatian girls (Petra and Matia) who wanted to catch up. We walked down to the benches in front of the famous Blue Mosque where we met up with them. They had just come from a hammam so were feeling very relaxed, so we took them down to Palatium where we got some bean bags and some apple tea and just hung out and had a chat. We were all pretty sleepy after a bit (and the place was closing up) so we said goodbye to the girls and went back to bed where I did some bookings for a few flights and things before going to sleep.