Istanbul, Turkey

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April 1 - 2, 2008

Istanbul, Turkey

We arrived in Istanbul in the afternoon and checked into our hotel that was right across the street from the very old shopping “Bazaar”. We spent the afternoon snooping around the bazaar and checking out the many shops. You would not believe this place !!!! There are over 3000 shops in this place and I think half of them are gold and /or jewelry shops. Alice went crazy !!! It is really an amazing place. We did find some good deals on some gold. Besides the gold there is always the famous spices and “Turkish Delight” sweets at a about a 1000 shops and of course the souvenir, carpet and fabric stores. It is an adventure in itself just walking around this place as some of the vendors are very creative in finding ways to get you to visit their stores. Like: It’s good to see you again. I’ve been waiting for you and you’re late. Not a problem. I have the tea ready. Come on in.

Wednesday morning we took the very efficient rail tram down to the International Spice Market. This is a very old, and very famous, market that contains hundreds of shops for the many fresh spices and the daily food needs of the locals. ( Meat, cheese, vegetables ) It now also has many shops for sweets and all kinds of household items and clothing. This market is right downtown on the water ( that separates Europe from Asia )and a very nice place to visit. We enjoyed a very good, and very inexpensive, “donair” for lunch. There are literally thousands of small restaurants in Turkey serving this famous Mediterranean dish in many different ways. ( Spiced Chicken, Lamb or Beef with a variety of (secret) sauces and maybe some lettuce and tomato on Pita bread, French loafs or on a plate with salads ).

As we have been to Istanbul previously we did not take any tours in Istanbul. This is a wonderful city and we should have planned on at least 3 or 4 more days here even though we have been here before. The Turks are great people, the food is great, the shopping is good and there is a lot to see and do. It’s all we remembered, and more, from our first visit a few years ago.

Late this afternoon we took a flight to Kayseri, in the central part of turkey, and a 1 hour drive to Cappadocia.

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