ISTANBUL

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Well, following our Eastern Turkey tour we spent nearly two full days in bed with stomach bugs, which was not exactly all that pleasant, but hey Turkey is probably one of the places you can expect to come down with one.

Luckily we didnt have to feel too bad about this as the two days we were feeling the worst, it was absolutely pouring with rain. It was the first rain Istanbul has seen all season. When we finally made it out we went for a great walk along the waterfront of Istanbul and even went for an adventure on the trams over the Golden Horn to Taksim Square (where the Istanbul locals hang out).

After two days to ourselves to semi recover from our stomach bugs we started our 15 day Flying Carpet tour with Fez. The first day of our tour was a day tour of Istanbul so we got to see alot of it all in one day before we headed off for 14 days.

First stop was the Blue Mosque, which was amazing. Incredibly busy but amazing. Stop number two was the underground cistern which has been there since the Roman Empire governed Istanbul. I actually think this was my favourite part of the whole day. The atmosphere and the sheer size of the cistern was just inreiıble. Our next stop on our whirlwind tour of İstanul was the Hagia Sophia, which has had many faces in its time, both as a church and a mosque, but it is now classified as a museam and is no longer a place of worship (in order to respect both religions). The size of this buildıng and the ornate interior was epic for the tıme it was built. Our final stop was Topkapi Palace. This is where the Sultans used to live during the time of the Ottoman Empire. It was beautiful, they had three display areas, the first one showıng the garments the sultans used to wear. The second was the gems and treasures room.. so many beautiful things. They especially loved emeralds as well as owning the second biggest diamond in the world! The final room was a religious artifacts room, which contained many different prophets belongings, for example Moses staff, a bowl Abraham drank out of and pieces of prophet Mohammeds beard.

After a long day of walking around it was time to head back to the hotel to prepare for our early morning departure. The most important fact we learnt all day from our guide Fatih is that Turkish coffee after every meal helps an upset stomach. He was absolutley right, we felt so much better.

On our way back through Istanbul at the end of our tour we are hoping to see the thıngs we missed when we were feeling so unwell, so keep an eye out because there is so much to do in Istanbul. Off to Gallipoli we go!

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