Cymbals, kangaroos and yurtles!

OK...last post about Turkey I think. In the last blog I got a bit confused between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque...which should be quite difficult to do when you actually compare them! Oops! Here are some photos so you can play spot-the-difference!

The Blue Mosque (it's blue on the inside!)

Hagia Sophia in the daytime

Another shop filled with delicious treats - this time we only stopped to look!

The main mosque in Edirne

We have no idea what this shop was selling, but we are sure that it had nothing to do with kangaroos or anything even remotely Aussie!

Anyone for tripe (Ted??)!! The YTL in the photo refers to the Turkish currency (Yeni Turkish Lira), however, we ended up making up our own name for the money - yurtle! This was just a private joke between us until the day I asked our Turkish-carpet-selling friend "How many yurtles is that?" and he looked at me very oddly indeed! Luckily he probably just thought we were crazy foreigners!

Andrew couldn't resist the opportunity of a street-side fruit purchase in Edirne!

Our final Istanbul adventure involved a half-hour taxi ride to a desolate part of Istanbul on the quest of the famed Bosphorus cymbals. We were given a tour of the tiny little factory where these cymbals are produced. In this picture, a circle of men all have a go at bashing the cymbals in order to achieve the required shape...when they have finished adding their touch, they pass it on to the next chap to have a go! Each cymbal is then finished off by one of three master cymbal makers. Maybe Andrew will post a blog with all the photos we took at the factory and give the complete rundown on how these amazing instruments are made from start to finish (in our dreams maybe!!!).

Perusing the wide selection available, Andrew ended up buying a ride, crash and pair of high-hats at about half the price he would have paid for them in Australia (or on E-Bay for that matter!).