Istanbul

We drove in to Istanbul which is huge and had arranged to meet someone from the hotel near to the train station. As usual we were drawing a lot of attention and as we pulled up there was a terrific bang as a three car accident happened next to us. The hotel person never arrived so we put on our rucksacks and marched off in a long line to our small hotel right in the middle of the city.  The place is as you would expect, quite mad.  There are endless places to eat and you are enticed in at every one you pass. We had arrived quite early in the afternoon so Julia and I went for a quick look to see where we were and found we were around the corner from the Topkapi Palace and the Blue Mosque.  We popped into some mausoleums and found just how fantastic these buildings are going to be.  That evening we wanted to eat and gave in to one of the many offers of great food.  A nice evening.
Day two we went off walking and went to the spice market, a huge under cover market of fantastic sights, sounds and smells.  Then to the Bosphorus to eat fish rolls cooked on bobbing boats and then passed ashore.  We visited the Cistern, which is an ancient underground water source built on massive pillars, very impressive. Having decided to buy a bum bag we headed for the 'Grand Bazaar'. Well, you have never seen anything like it.  An under cover  market on a scale beyond comprehension. Thousands of stalls and shops with people enticing you to buy their goods.  The only thing they do not appear to sell is the type of bag Julia wants!!  We met some of the others for dinner in the Ham restaurant, which had cushions on the floor.  Bit expensive for what you got so probably wont go back there.