Istanbul

First stop was Istanbul which was so underwhelming that I realised on looking through my photos today, this was subconsciously reflected in the crap pictures I took. I could blame it all on the camera, but that'd be unfair on Sony, so I will admit that had I not had a brilliant travel pal with me, I would have been peeved. We had a good laugh - so many things went wrong...from a short taxi trip to a local restaurant ending up being 40km outside of the city, costing us $150 and the dinner at the other end costing us as much...for fried chicken and a salad. Everything was in Turkish, the menu and the bill (see below), and at that point we didn't care anymore! And that was just on day one...

The weather was awful - cold and rainy every day, and I am sure this didn't help. It is also the most outrageously expensive city I have ever been to. $8 for a can (a CAN) of coke. In terms of attractions, the Blue Mosque was very disappointing (see below #1). Hagghia Sophia was on the other hand, stunning (see below #2). The Grand Bazaar was another confusing attraction - why were the prices in the bazaar more than those in the stores? Odd, especially considering everything that was sold was either black market fake (with signs reading "Genuine Fakes") or just touristy tat.

The locals were nothing if not super persistent with literally dragging you off the street into their shops. After a few days this became unbearable. We resorted to being Spaniards who couldn't converse in English - it was a shame that the chap who accosted us happened to speak Spanish. The next time I ran into a man who looked just like him, but wasn't him and therefore couldn't speak Spanish, I was so confused about what language I last used that I pretended to be hard of hearing and partly mute. I should have just told him to sod off but of course I didn't want to be rude. Sigh.

The best part of the trip, and the one thing I highly recommend to anyone visiting Istanbul, is to have a hamam. Visit a Turkish Bath, the one we went to was excellent - Camberlitas Hamam.

The women's section is separate from the men, although both building interiors are identical. We chose the luxury package which was a scrub down, bathing and a massage. It was a bit of a treat to ourselves for having survived the city with our nerves and tempers intact. What a treat it was. We were scrubbed down, soaped from head to toe, lay down on a warm marble slab of a table (sauna like effect), sat in the jacuzzi, got washed down all over again, and then had a relaxing massage. It's a topless event (you're given fresh new knickers if you don't take your bikini bottoms with you) - but there's no need for embarrassment or awkwardness as the masseuses are also topless....I have to say that it was a little disconcerting at first to see the women walking around basically letting it all hang out (literally) but we got used to it, and it was really liberating to be surrounded by women who had shed both their clothing and their body insecurities.

Oh and did I mention that there were cats everywhere?

The Topkapi Palace was half closed unfortunately, but we did see the Treasury and gawped at the emeralds that were the size of duck eggs. We lef the last part of the Palace until the end, but then chatted for too long over a cup of tea and before we knew it, the guards were asking us to leave as the Palace had closed. Oops.

We did wonder why everything that could have gone wrong did...perhaps it was our room number.