Istanbul

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Istanbul, end of my Middle East tour. And what a captivating city to finish in! Turkey has been a surprise for me, it's so scenic and beautiful. I'm not sure what I expected, but this is definitely a place to come back to one day.

Istanbul is a beautiful city. Being spring at the moment all the gardens are planted out with springflowers, and there are lots and lots of tulips everywhere. I'm not sure of the connection but it seems to be a city of tulips as there are a number of tulip statuettes around.

And it is actually raining here! After so long in the desert one kind of forgets about cold and wet weather...

And you have to love a city that does corn on the cob and roasted chestnuts as street vendor food!

The Blue Mosque was a required stop of course, and so worth it. The mosque itself is mostly one huge room, with hundreds of stained glass windows, lush carpet and lots of lights. It's beautiful, and just too big to get in a normal photo, much to the disappointment of the many tourists. But despite the number of people sightseeing through, it manages to keep an air of dignity which further enhances it's beauty.

The Blue Mosque is across a beautiful park from Aya Sofya, which has been a church and a mosque and is now a heritage site. Unfortunately the line to get in was just too long to fit into my brief stop here, so I had to be content with admiring the outside and putting it on my 'next time' list.

Topkapi Place was an accessible stop however, with its rooms and rooms of lovely tiled walls, decorated ceilings and warren of corridors and living spaces, particularly in the harem section of the palace. The gardens were lush too, with winding paths amongst ancient trees and more flowerbeds. More beauty - you could spend weeks here in Istanbul and not take in all the lovely things that are around the city.

Unfortunately the Grand Bazaar was closed on the day we had free, so I didn't have the chance to spend my money on copious souvenirs and cool stuff to weigh down my backpack, which was a pity.

We managed to get a couple of nights out with the group I was travelling with though, taking advantage of those last sheesha sessions before moving away from this part of the world.

Seeing everyone disperse was sad after so many weeks together, but luckily for me I have accquired a couple of travelling buddies for the next two weeks: Tania (from the Mainland, Culverden to be exact) and another Emma, an Aussie from a small town on the Murray river. So I'm not on my own quite yet, though we will have to start thinking for ourselves now, without someone to do all the hard yards arranging accomodation and transport for us.

The Middle East has been an eye opener for me, so different from all the negative hype, full of lovely people and such culture and history. They have a hard time ahead, trying to balance their long followed traditions with the pressure of the modern world, getting the best of both without sacrificing who they are as a people.

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