JandalTan: Istanbul - our last stop in Turkey

We arrived in Istanbul with 4 days to spend exploring the city. It quickly became obvious that we were back in a big city as soon as we walked down the street. Calls of “Hi Lady, do you want to see my shop?”, “I will give you best price”, “Where are you from, my friend?” and “Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie” became the norm along with a few great one liners like “What!?! You are leaving the Grand Bazaar without a rug!?!”.

Foodwise, we quickly became accustomed to the Doners on every corner, as well as a few other favourites including Turkish Delight, Baklava (honey soaked pastry with a nutty filling) and Turkish tea which was bought to you everywhere you went – at the bus station, on the ferry, in a carpet shop…

There were also mosques everywhere which made it difficult finding the “Blue Mosque” which it turns out is more grey than blue. But we managed to get round all the sights we wanted to see – the Grand Bazaar, Basilica Cistern, Topkapi Palace and Harem, and the Spice Bazaar – plus a few we hadn’t planned on like the filming of the new James Bond movie near one of the many mosques, and a parade of Gallataseray football fans on their way to a game.

Some of the most fun we had was trying to learn how to play backgammon with some of the others at our hostel and the locals – who were all keen to teach us how to play, and especially keen to point out a bad move. One guy was so keen to play he ended up having a big argument with a few of his friends who wanted to go to the airport. It probably didn’t help that we had just bought a bottle of his favourite raki (Turkish spirit).