Turkey Part 4: Back to Istanbul

We saved most of our sightseeing in Istanbul for our return - especially as we wanted the opportunity to fully stock up on goodies at the Grand Bazaar without having the burden of carrying them around for two weeks!

Dried peppers at the Spice Markets

Mmmm :)

Drinking apple tea, and a very nuclear looking kiwifruit tea, at the Spice Markets after buying 1kg of turkish delight for Hamish. He demolished it within about 48 hours.

Spent nearly an entire day in the Grand Bazaar bargaining for turqouise jewellery, backgammon sets and other trinkets.

Lanterns in the Grand Bazaar:

Sharife, a friend of Steph's, who we spent an evening with. She lives on the Asian side of Istanbul and these photos are taken on the ferry crossing from the European side.

Steph having her fortune told by rabbits:

My rabbit 'told' me that I was going to meet a powerful person in an unexpected circumstance and that the meeting would change my life. Apparently all my life's dreams would come true because of this person. I'm still waiting.......

We also spent our last day looking around Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque:

The most spectacular scaffolding I've ever seen!

Needless to say, I wasn't going to pay this man to find out how much weight I had put on during my time in Turkey. Damn that baklava!

And to top off our last hour or two in Turkey we also managed to bump into the Prime Minister. He was entertaining another big wig at this meatball joint: