Incredible Istanbul (22nd - 26th Nov 07)

Istanbul is on the geographic border between the Europe and Asian continents, seperated by the Bosphorous river. So before arriving in Istanbul we expcted the city to have more of an European feel that the rest of Turkey.

Istanbul was more prosperous and sophisticated than the rest of Turkey yet it still maintained its distinct Turkey vibe. And we absolutely loved the city.

Here we met up with a friend of Nats, Scott, for the weekend. He flew out from London to catch up with us. It was great to see a familiar face and to explore the city with him.

Scotty and Nick enjoying Pomegranite juice with a local lady


There are so many sights to Istanbul. Agia Sofia was a massive church built around 500AD that was later converted into a mosque. Other than the grand status of the building, the conversion into a Mosque made it even more interesting as mosaics of Jesus and Mary were painted over with Muslim design. Only some of these layers of the paint have been removed to show the Christian aspects underneath, but it still has a very mosque-like feel.

Other sights of interest were the Blue Mosque and the Toplaki palace.

The Blue Mosque


And no visit to the city isnt complete with a few hours at the Grand Bazaar (market place), boat trips up the river, lots of Turkish food and of course Baklava.

Mouth-watering Baklava on sale all over Istanbul


Then of course there is the most hilarious aspect of the weekend. The hostel we were staying at hired a belly-dancer for a show. The women could definately get those hips of hers moving. But then to keep the audience entertained she got people out of the audience to have a go dancing with her. Scott was one of her first victims, and when trying to give the women a tip, she quickly moved her body away teasing poor Scott. It took Scott quite a few attempts to get his note of Lira into part of her costume.

Scotty with the Belly-dancer

(this photo is for you Jane to see what your lovely brother got up to)

Then later it came to Nicks turn. He got his hips giggling with the women, and after he sat down the women came over with a look of her face 'wheres my tip?'. Nick didnt have a single cent on him as his bag was downstairs, so Scott came to the rescue. But the smallest note that Scott had was a 20 euro note (about $40nzd). When that came out, the women had the 'give me' look on her face, so reluctantly the money went over. She did damn well out of Scott in the audience, but it was well worth the very entertaining evening.

So overall it was a fantastic weekend in a great city with great company. From Istanbyl we flew to India to spend the next 5 weeks.