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Published: November 14th 2007
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Today was our things we couldn't quite fit in last time day. We got up and quite reluctantly left the relative warmth of the hostel to get to the Blue Mosque. (Sultanahmed Mosque) on the way Rob bought himself a corn on the cob, but opted for the more expensive grilled one rather than the boiled ones. It was horrid even with the copious amount of salt that the vendor put onto it.
We got to the Blue Mosque and found that it was shut for prayer. I sat down and played with a cute but very wet cat whilst Rob took a photo of the times. We decided to go back at the end of the day nearer the bazaar closing times when we could avoid a prayer time.
The Grand Bazaar is something that is worth quite a bit of time for anyone coming to Istanbul. It is so fun and you can really get addicted to it. The whole bazaar is a collection of stalls/shops selling very similar items. There is a gold jewelery section, silver jewelery, leathers, souvenirs, fabrics, clothes, carpets etc. We did have a vague map of the bazaar in our Lonely Planet,
but is almost impossible to navigate using it.
I found an item that I liked as an xmas present for someone but the shop owner quoted a price that was too much. He told me to give him a price which I did and he accepted without bartering. I walked away satisfied but wondering whether he would have gone lower. We bought quite a few Christmas presents for people and we got very good at haggling, sometimes even getting prices down to less than half the starting price. I think our success was in large part due to it being the end of the tourist season, however Rob was quick to point out that they wouldn't reduce the price if they couldn't afford it.
Rob's constant need for food meant that we ate inside the bazaar rather than trying to navigate our way out of it. We found a nice little café that is situated just at the edge of the old bazaar, just near the traditional carpet shops. It wasn't extortionate and amazingly sold proper sandwiches.
From the bazaar we headed in the direction of the Blue Mosque with a small detour to a shop where
Turkish Delight was first ever made. The sales assistants in there were pushy and appeared reluctant to sell us what we wanted. We nearly left without buying anything, but we are glad we didn't because it is really good Turkish delight.
The Blue Mosque is much more aesthetically pleasing than the Hagia Sofia and was built with that purpose. The inside is breathtaking and we were lucky enough to be there when they had all the lights turned on so absolutely every part of it was visible. We sort of hung around an English speaking tour group which was interesting and yet free. Apparently the tiles inside the mosque are valued at approximately ten thousand pounds as each is hand painted etc.
We nipped back into the bazaar to find a stall but we failed to find it, even though we walked down every possible passage.
We stopped off at an Internet café to update the travelblog which is getting massively behind now. We have the diary entries on our pda, it is just finding the time and good enough Internet connections to get it done. The café was in a scary almost derelict building not too
Artistic Shot
Look out for similar pictures to come... dissimilar to a squatters flat. There is Internet at our hostel but as a general rule we try to avoid hostels that charge for Internet as they usually over charge.
We were both hungry and well aware that eateries would not be open after the football game finished. We opted for a café that we had seen the first time we were in Istanbul. Their menu said there were numerous vegetarian options including stews, mezers and kebabs. In reality they had nothing vegetarian except for lentil soup which I took my time eating whilst Rob had an interesting take on a lamb hotpot.
We got to the Nargile bar about five minutes into the game. Fenerbahce vs PSV Eindhoven which ended 2-0 to Fenerbahce. The atmosphere was fantastic again and we smoked our nargiles like pros. Some of the staff there recognised us, obviously not many foreigners enter during football games. As we were leaving the bar at the end a couple came over to say goodbye which was really nice.
Nothing was open as we walked back to the hostel and the very unhelpful guy working the desk could only think of McDonalds that would still
be open. Rob got a burger and I bought a rather impressive salad. All the veg was fresh, tasty and a very decent size, not what we expected from there.
At the hostel we went on the Internet and chatted to friends and family on Skype until we were asked to leave the common room as it was closing. So much for a twenty four hour hostel. Night night. Stob.
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Rach
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begining to wonder about the obsession with turkish delight. Hmm mosque sounded quite interesting, least its differnt from looking round catherdrals, or ruins :P. xx