23 April – At Istanbul (Turkey)

Breakfast on it's way

Stephanie buying her breakfast

I went out with the girls again today with the intention of having a ride on the ferry across to Asia. It is easier than trying to walk across the bridge and for 60p each way a pleasant way to see the sights on both sides of the river. During the walk there with only four of the girls this time (Laura, Rebecca, Stephanie and Emily). They were called the Spice Girls in one place and in another were told that Stephanie looked like me and she was not amused. I was called ‘Santa’ a number of times! The girls were out to buy scarves and a dress for Rebecca and after they all spent one hour in one shop they came out without buying anything! We stopped for lunch at a small cafe that did not have a menu but had a list of five dishes written in Turkish on a card and all were 5 lire each (£1.70). Very good value for money and cooked freshly for us. The sun was getting strong by then and I had not taken a hat to wear so bought another one. As soon as I walked out of the shop, shades of Jane and Sally and in the same tone of voice, the first comment was not how the hat looked but ‘When you get on the ferry make sure you tie the hat under your chin so that it does not blow away’. I do get nagged by these girls!

Selling pickled vegetables

A knife grinder on the street

A spice shop at the Spice Market

Spices and turkish delight

All sorts of turkish delight

The ferry across the river

Suleymaniye Mosque from the river

Fresh fish for sale

A fantastic sweet shop with the owners family having made sweets for over one hundred years

                                                                                                                                                                                                         
We walked through the Spice Market where more sweets were sampled and bought but I bought a large bag of dried fruit which I shared round on the truck and still took a few days to be eaten.

The Turkish Army Band

The Turkish Army Band

A material shop

Street stall

  








                                                                                     


The boy dressed up like a prince would have been leaving his party because the next day he would be circumcised. There were lots of the costumes in the shops and I asked what they were for after seeing the boy wearing one.   

In the evening I went for a walk to the square and looked at the Hippodrome Obelisk and the Laid Brick Column. While there three local women spoke to me, much to my surprise as I would never have expected a local woman to initiate a conversation and I would never initiate one with a woman as women are generally not allowed to talk to men here (certainly strange men). The women had one child each there, (one baby also), and asked if I would take a photograph of their children, which I was happy to do. Their understanding of English was not very good and my understanding of Turkish is non-existent.

The Laid Brick Column

The Hipprodrome (Egyptian) Obelisk

Young girls in the square