Kebabs, carpets and cobbled streets

It's me again...Lorraine. Yes, I'm sorry, but I'm back. I could have pretended to be Andrew, but I'm afraid you would all have seen through the thin facade...for starters, I'd be about 20 years too early. Never mind, at least you have something to look at now! I was sifting through our photos from Turkey today, trying to decide which ones to get printed...so here are a few memorable scenes from our time in Istanbul...

The Hagia Sophia in the heart of the old part of the city, Sultanahmet - formerly an Eastern Orthodox church, converted to a mosque in 1453 by the Turks, then a museum in 1935. It had an almost ethereal presence at night time, when it was brightly lit and encircled by birds in the misty night skies. Every mosque we saw in Istanbul and Edirne was very similar to this one - with a central dome and between two to six towering miniarets dominating the skyline.

After having come from vegetarian heaven in India, Turkey was a bit of a let-down for Shanks. He thought he would be scoffing down falafels by the dozen...alas, no-one in Turkey knew what a falafel was...or a vegetarian for that matter! For the first couple of days, Shanks survived on cheese pide (really just a glorified toasted cheesie), but later on he had his appetite satisfied with vegetable kebabs. I, on the other hand, was in a carnivore's paradise...the meal above was DELICIOUS and we just had to come back again!

The Grand Bazaar was a mind-boggling collection of ceramics, carpets, textiles, mosaic glass lamps and tea glasses...all very colourful and very beautiful. It all lost its gloss a little bit though when one of the shop owners was rude to us as we browsed the scarves displayed at his shop. Although we were in the hunt for gifts for friends and were willing to part with our money, we had a very hard time trying to raise the attention of any of the shopkeepers (very unusual in Istanbul!) so in the end we decided to leave empty-handed.

Did you think we could be in any country for any length of time without sampling the sweet menu? This gorgeous place had a mouth-watering range of sweet treats and I think we ended up coming here 3 times in 5 days!! The hazelnut tarts on the left were real winners!

Each morning started with a typical Turkish breakfast consisting of a huge basket of fresh bread, white cheese, cucumber, capsicum, a boiled egg and various spreads. The first hotel we stayed at also had lovely views over the Marmara Sea.

I think these are felted wool hats...I have no idea what they are called!

We were completely mesmerised by the intricate ceramic plates, tiles and vases on display in dozens of shopfronts and were almost ready to buy something but thought better of it at the last moment...

Instead we decided to spend our money on a Turkish carpet! We sat in this shop for over an hour while we were shown dozens and dozens of different carpets and kilims: silk ones, wool ones, big ones, little ones, cheap ones and very expensive ones. We downed a couple of glasses of hot apple tea before finally coming to a decision and making our purchase.

Another beautiful shopfront with the wool hat things and other stuff. I am very descriptive aren't I? It may have something to do with the fact that it is now 4:00am and I am getting slightly delirious.

Good Night!

Istanbul...city of mosques and cats

Istanbul. Although having seen very little of this city of 15 million people, Shanks and I are already moved to descibe it as a city of great beauty. We have confined ourselves to only one part of the old city, Sultanahmet, which is conveniently littered with the main tourist attractions that Istanbul has to offer. As we wend our way through city streets, we catch glimpses of ships afloat on the Sea of Marmara; the miniarets and domes of impressive mosques, even more beautiful at night when they are brightly lit and atmospheric, tower over the buildings around them; an amazing array of carpets and kilims are on display at every second shop-front; glittering jewellery, multicoloured mosaic glass lamps, and intricately worked ceramic tiles, plates and bowls decorate almost every street that we have ambled along. And around every corner, atop every stone wall, under every bench and seat are cats of every colour and description!

Our time here is short...we fly to Tel Aviv on Sunday at 2:30pm. But we will be back, I am sure of it.