Ticking off the big sights - Part 1

We did things a little backwards in Istanbul compared to usual and we went on a tour of the city today, just as we come to the end of our time here.

This was probably pretty much Dale Day as other than going to the bazaars (🎵 how bazaar, how bazaar 🎶) this was a history tour hitting just about all the big sites around Istanbul all the way out to the Theodotian Walls and up the Golden Horn to see the Ottoman forts and get a seaside view of Galata Tower that held the one end of the chain that protected Constantinople from attack by sea for near 900 years.

We did break the number one rule of tours though - “never buy from the first shop the guide takes you to”. Turns out we bought some very overpriced chocolates and nuts at the Egyptian Spice Bazaar…about four (identical) shops down they were a third of the price 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Dale thought the Hagia Sofia was absolutely breathtaking - so much history, so much engineering. The Blue Mosque was very pretty, and looked much more comfortable as a mosque than Hagia Sofia did, and it was pretty cool getting to see one of the obelisk’s from Karnak - that we only just visited less than 2 months earlier in Egypt.

I think we all thought the boat ride was pretty cool though. It really brought home how big and actually quite pretty Istanbul is - and showed us where the richy smichies live whilst Taki bf a break from the heat 😜

…to be continued in Part 2Read more