Istanbul

Ahhh Istanbul, where the call to prayer wakes you at 5am and sounds like someone is calling down the pipe of a vacuum cleaner! Grace hates it, I love it. We've had some wonderful chats with the locals here. They are such friendly people and I guess I wasn't expecting that, especially on the street. Night times are colourful with lights, stallholders and many people trying to get you into their restaurant for dinner. On our first night, we had to run the gauntlet of restaurant touters before we ate at a local restaurant and had a mixed grill with assorted salad veggies. Not the best but we were trying our best not to eat at a tourist restaurant. There were the usual cats hanging around and it's not surprising when the customers feed them under the table!

After that, we went back to a bar to sit on their bean bags and smoke a water pipe with apple flavouring and strawberry. An interesting experience and we all gave it a go. The girls were quite taken with the guys from the bar and their banter and charm.

The following day we headed for the Grand Bazaar in the blistering heat and we were pleasantly surprised at how the bazaar was so spacious and cool. I managed to slip a tea set into our backpack and have no idea if it will make it home in one piece but I'll give it a go. We wandered around, had something to eat perched on stools and then terry had a hair cut. This was entertaining, especially when the barber commented on the state of Terry's hair and then gave me a hard time because I was the barber in Mike Crouch's back yard. To be fair I had cut a chunk out of his hair as I was getting used to how they work. they really are quite effective.