Hail Hail the gangs all here

July 4th

Woke up and started the day enjoying a traditional Turkish breakfast which consists of cheese, olives, tomatoes, cucumber, honey, eggs, bread and pastries. Everything is served family style and we just help ourselves.

After breakfast our friends (and now tour guides) Mine and John showed us along fistiklal Cadasi (a main street in Istanbul). Eventually we came across the park where the recent riots started that we heard so much about in Canada. Gezi Park was in the process of being developed into a mall and already some 200 plus year old walls had been torn down and construction was starting. However, today they were reseeding the grass and reclaiming the park back to its original state. Amazing how when people come together as one voice, change can happen.

Footings were already in place for a new mall to be built.

But not going to happen today, above workers busy putting the park back together again.

And of course no riot would be complete without Fox news being there.

But the police are still ready with machine guns and water cannons. Although this battle may be over with the Government, the war still continues...

Taksim Square is right next to the park. Here everyone mingles around. Even with the police presence, a couple can get married

And a little girl still plays for food and money

And yes me being a softy threw a few lira into her tip box.

In the afternoon we were in for a real treat as Mine and John arranged for us to get onto their friend's yacht. This beautiful boat can hold up to 400 people and is used for special events and tours. Today a group from Macdonalds Corporation (yes the burger people) chartered the first and second levels of this yacht while we got the top deck all to ourselves.

Turkey is the only country I believe that is on two continents with the city of Istanbul connecting them. On the west is Europe and the east is Asian. The Bosphorus Strait runs down the middle. If you head north along the Bosphorus you will enter the Black Sea and south gets you to the Aegean sea.

Our hosts on board Barbaros (right) and Isegul (left) with Mine in the middle. Thank you so much for such a wonderful day and evening.

Speaking of evening, Barbaros and Isegul instructed their crew to head toward a private man made island for dinner. Unfortunately the battery in my camera had died, so no more pictures, but we were treated to a fantastic feast of seafood with Turkish appetizers. In addition to the great calamari I tried octopus for the first time and a couple different white fish as well. It was a great meal and a great end to the day. Tomorrow we head to Asia for the day.