Finally Finding Our Way Round Istanbul

We have had two days to ourselves in Istanbul and we have definitely covered some miles.  After being in Turkey for two weeks, we have finally got the lay of the land in Istanbul and have found all the shops, museums and interesting little alleyways that I wish we had had more time to explore.  Iron is a master of saying 'lets get on this bus/tram/ferry and see where it goes' so man! We have seen some stuff!

Yesterday we went onto the tram and found ourselves down by the ocean.  We crossed the bridge and went up to Galatta Tower, which was built in 1348 and is the tallest building in Istanbul, at 219 1/2 m tall.  It also sits on a hill, which ensures it looks out over the city.  We bought a beautiful handmade throw for our bed, which took over six months to finish.  This morning Iron got up and went for a massive walk and found an underground mall not far from where we were staying.  It runs under the road and under a mosque.

The trams deserve a special mention because they are packed!  I have not stood that close to people in my own family and definitely not for that length of time.  The tram stops and the few people getting off move first, then the six million getting on move in!  People have no problem oozing into an almost gap and it's okay to carry huge parcels and not worry too much who has to climb over your stuff.  The cool part is that people are very respectful of older people and hop up out of their seats and also no one is smelly (because that would suck in a closed in space like that!)

This morning we headed out and managed to find the Archeological Museum.  Well worth a look around, but then again Iron and I might well be Museum junkies!  The bit that most excited me were clay tablet letters from around 4th Century and one was said to be the oldest love letter in the world.  They are clay tablets, with some about the size of a pack of cards, with script on them and some even have envelopes!

There is also the worlds oldest written peace treaty, which was between Ramses II and the Hittites and was written somewhere between 1279 and 1213 BC.  There is a copy in the UN head quarters, which I think is very cool, considering the age.

We then walked for a bit and found ourselves back at the spice markets, which really feels like something from the Silk Road. The spices sit in large baskets and the whole place smells......rich and exotic.




We had to be back for our airport pickup, so got back on the packed to the gunnels tram and now we are sitting pretty in a hotel in Dubai.  Jet setters, huh?