I have already done several posts on Istanbul and now need to get more succinct or I’ll still be blogging on Turkey when we get home. There is so much to see and do.
For the next three days while David was at his conference I had a great time exploring Istanbul.
Day One I spent first cruising the streets, then getting my hair cut, and making my way across this huge city of 18 million by tram, bus and train to meet David and attend the conference welcome event at 5pm.
Day Two it was time for some sun and water. I set off on the public ferry system up the straits of Bosphorous. The ferry zigged and zagged across the strait sea making 15 stops along the way, right out to the Black sea.
Once on a serious sightseeing binge I prefer to pick up food on the fly rather than do the big sit down thing, and Turkey is great for that.
On this occasion I was delighted to find a Turkish version of a sausage sizzle. Basic idea of roll, onions and sauce but the Turks version is called fish bread; instead of an overprocessed banger you got a fresh caught, unadulterated, grilled fillet of fish. And instead of bottles of tomato sauce were bottles of lemon juice and salt.
Some time later traders got on the boat with pottles of natural sour yogurt which they served with a spoon of icing sugar on top of – so that made a wonderful dessert.
I got home just in time to freshen up for the conference dinner which was held on the waterfront with a buffet consisting of more than 50 scrumptious Turkish dishes.
Day Three it was time to hit the bazaar and the spice market. The bazaar is the largest in the world with more than 4000 shops. It is spectacular but for all that I preferred the sights, smells, sounds and tastes of the Egytian spice market.
After trekking through both I felt I had walked enough and decided to catch the tram home
....after which a hammam (Turkish bath) seemed like a very good idea.
And no – you do not get pics of me lying in a soapy lather on a marble slab, being scraped and pummelled by a big Turkish mama wearing nothing but her rather worn out, waterlogged underpants (and don’t pretend you are not relieved).
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