Istanbul (not Constantinople)

And we're all here!

Where to begin....  The Don and I actually spent two weeks in Turkey back in 2002, in between the end of my exams and graduating, and on the back of him spending 6 weeks in Saudi and Brunei and looking pretty much like a Turk by the time we went there.  The holiday included two long weekends in Istanbul, with a week in the middle crossing the Sea of Marmara and visiting Bursa, Pamukkale, Troy, Ephesus, Gallipoli, and I'm sure many more places, but in all honesty, I remember very little about Istanbul.  I remember going to the cinema and watching Spiderman, and I remember Turkey winning their quarter final of the World Cup and then again their third place play off resulting in many honking horns and flags flying out of car windows. I don't remember there being a tram system throughout the town and tourist areas, or if we even went into The Blue Mosque, which is odd.

So actually it was quite fun to go back!  And boy did we tourist-out the place this time.

First up, a 3-hour walking tour of the city which our knowledgeable, kind, chatty, interesting and interested guide stretched out to 7-hours (her choice! We told her if she was busy she could leave us and we'd do the rest ourselves, though we definitely appreciated her spiel) to make sure we covered everything on the itinerary. Normally I'd give a bit of history on each of the things we visited but you know what, you can Google as well as me ;)

The Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) and
Sultan Ahmet Park (with the Hurrem Sultan Hammam
next to it - more on that later)

National flower of Turkey!

Sultanahmet Square, where the Hippodrome once stood
- and a fierce wind blew!

The original roman street level

The Ancient Greek Serpent Column 
(missing it's head) made to commemorate
a battle

Turkish coffee, tea, kanafeh, baklavah and Turkish delight -
sometimes you just need to stop for a hot cuppa and fine piece,
no matter where you are in the world!

Basilica Cistern

A traditional carpet weaver

Eating Simit (picking - or nearly picking - a carpet
is hard work!)

The Grand Bazaar

The Spice Bazaar

Hagia Sofia - which was originally built
as a church, then converted to a museum in the 1930s and
in 2020 became a mosque

Back to Sultan Ahmet Park...

...and finally to a roof-top bar to enjoy the view and
some aperitifs before dinner.