Istanbul

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Monday Istanbul and a phone call from Jane to say that she and Simon were ill, Jane would meet us at the breakfast room though. Simon & Jane had a tummy bug, we didn’t know what had we done different to them but thought that it came down to them cleaning their teeth with tap water and us with bottled!! What a shame to end our trip unwell, we didn’t see Simon all day but Jane managed to come to the Grand Bazaar with us. On our way to the Bazaar we were coerced into a carpet shop where Jane found one that she quite liked but did not feel up to making any decision much to the shop assistants disgust. They seem to get very offended if you don’t buy off of them. The Grand Bazaar was great and not at all as we had imagined, very organised and thousands upon thousands of shops, 4000 in fact and it was immense. You could purchase everything from spices to Turkish delight, carpets, jewellery, shoes, clothes or whatever, a real rabbit warren with alley ways veering off the main street. Jane headed back to the hotel and once again our friend from the first day spied her out and wanted to escort her home, this time she successfully managed to brush him off and he didn’t worry us again!

Our last day together of GET 2013, Simon feeling slightly better, Jane slightly worse but they managed to spend some time with us. We again headed to the Grand Bazaar so Simon could see what he had missed out on the day before and they purchased a rug, somehow the Turkish trader could do a better deal than the day before. After going our separate ways we (Janet & Steve) headed to the Turkish Bathhouse (hamam), this was something that we had on our absolute to do list and we weren’t disappointed! Men and women have separate facilities and we were despatched to our relative areas. There is no English spoken and instructions comprised grunting and pointing, finally we got the message. We were taken into a large hot circular room, equipped with faucets every 2 metres and buckets of water. We were instructed to lie down here, stay for 15 minutes laying out flat on an enormous hot, round (5 metres across) marble table. We had been given coloured tags which indicated the services that we were to get. Eventually our assistant came back and started scrubbing us, gosh you should have seen the dead skin coming off, then you were washed with what felt like silk, it was glorious, they then heaved buckets and buckets of water straight over your head you felt like you were drowning, then finished, what an experience. Off for an oil massage for 30 minutes of undisputed luxury. I met Steve outside and we both thought what a great experience.

All wasn’t over for Steve though, he had wanted an authentic cut throat shave so had been growing stubble for a few days. Above the Turkish bathhouse was a barber, just right for the job, hehehe. He seated himself and away the barber went lathering his face, do you want a haircut, need your ears waxed, why not he said, well that was the mistake of the century. The haircut went well and very good it turned out too. Next they wax his ears, (old guys have hairy ears). Well once the wax cooled and set they pulled it off, nearly pulled his left ear off, bugger another one to go, wasn’t looking forward to that. Then comes the mud mask facial and after that a quick tidy up of the hairs that had been missed by the wax. Out comes a cigarette lighter to burn off any remaining offenders. They did a fantastic job and Steve walked out like a new man albeit with sore ears all for Turkish Lira 50 or $NZ33, what a bargain.

Our last night was quiet with both Jane & Simon still not well. We said our goodbyes that evening as were on our way to Cappadocia early the next morning and they were off home via London and we would not see each other for some weeks. As travelling companions they were great to be with, thanks Jane & Simon for a fantastic & very memorable few weeks.

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Photos

GET 2013
The Group