First we trekked off to the spice market. Along the way we managed to get lost and found the photography district (Adam, you would be in heaven), the garment district and then finally the spice market. As we made our way through the garment district we found all those tacky tourist items at half the price as at the Grand Bazaar. A pair of reading glasses I bought from a street vendor outside a restaurant for 30 Turkish lira (that was the price I negotiated him down to) were 5 lira here and three spinning tops I haggled down to 10 lira from a five year old boy at the Bazaar were priced at 2 lira each. So note to self, leather, jewelry and rugs - go to Grand Bazaar, everything else, just get lost in the city and you'll find it cheaper.
After lunch we had to pack up and move to a different part of Istanbul. Our taxi driver managed to get lost several times but in Turkey men don't seem to have a problem asking directions, as he shouted out to anyone who would listen, asking where our apartment was. In most cases all he got were shrugged shoulders which led us to believe what sort of place had we book ourselves into? Eventually he did find the place but even as he parked his taxi outside, we were not totally sure this was the right place until Ege, the manager, came running out to great us. four flights of stairs later (no elevators here), we were resting in our one bedroom apartment. The place was very nice and clean and we happily settled in.
We toured around the area a bit and then waited for our friends to arrive from Vancouver (via Paris). Samantha spent her time staring out the window until they arrived.
Back row, Steve, Leean and John
Front row, Mine, Sheryl, Nya, Samantha, Asena and Kylor (missing from photo)
Behind the camera, me
Although jet lagged, everyone was hungry so we grabbed a quick bite and then had the most fantastic dessert called lokma, which is best described as a puff pastry covered in chocolate syrup.
Tomorrow, we cruise on the Bosphorus.
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