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Well i have to admit the bus journey here wasnt half as bad as i imagined. The bus was extremley comfortable with loads of leg room, free drinks, Tvs showing movies etc. i slept almost the whole way only waking up to lean on Oz a different way :D oz on the other hand didnt get a wink-poor soul...however this was down to them showing his fav shows on tv so he was quite happy. The ferry crossing was good as we got to get off & get fresh air (felt like we were off to Arran) we arrived at the hotel 11 hours later-our room wasnt ready as we arrived at 9am and werent due to check in until 2pm so we were taken to the exec lounge for some refreshments :) they had our room ready about an hour later so were happy! Room is luch-upgraded twice, first to an exec room with city view then an exec room with sea view-coudlnt ask for more! the room is really big & comfortable and the bed is huge!! we even got a pillow menu to select which pillows we want! the staff (Alper in particular) have been spoilng us with room service (gorgeous food, wine and rose) :D anyway enough about our hotel.....
We spend yesterday wondering around Taksim-we managed to find Wagamama & we popped in for a chicken Katsu Curry-mmmmmm, we chilled at the hotel later & had an earlısh night-Oz was especially tired after travelling the night before without sleeping. Today was much more eventful-we got up after a lovely long sleep, had breakfast and got a taxi to old istanbul (about 15mins away) the taxi driver didnt have much change on him so he said we were to give him it later! we went to SultanAhmet mosque first (blue mosque) it was gorgeous...and you dont pay anything to enter. The story is that the King asked for a gold mosque to be built but as the word for gold in turkish is the same as ther word for 6-the mosque was built with 6 minarets. it was built between 1609-1616. We took lots of pics which we will upload later. We then went to Yerebatan Saray which is a spooky underground ' sunken palace' with 336 marble colums can hold over 21 millon gallons of water-it was really facinating to see althought a bit spooky (and slippery at parts) and the eerie music didnt help! a must see though!
Next stop was Topkapi Palace-amazing! The home of the Ottoman Empire. The harem was amazing, actually the whole palace is amazing and huge-we spent about 3-4 hours there although you could easily be there from open til close. its also home to the worlds biggest diamond-86 caret!! with another 49 diamonds surrounding it-unfortunately your not allowed to photograph it :( as the legend goes apparently the diamond was found in rubbish by a poor man and he sold it to a jeweller for 3 spoons-when it was realised it was a diamond the Sultan ordered it to be brought to the palace. i really cant begin to describe the palace it was just fantastic. Our camera battery ran out whilst in the palace but we still managed to get lots of pics....(wish i listened to Oz when he suggested getting a spare battery)
By this time by feet was killing me-dont buy Crocs anyone whos reading this! they are comfy at first & you will think they are the best thing ever (i brought 2 pairs here) but they kill your feet :( we walked up to the Grand Bazar for a nosey but didnt stay long as i was in pain! Had a gorge lunch then got a taxi back to Taksim....wondered around for a bit & got a few bargains. it was so busy & the riot police were out with all their gear on, water trucks, and lots of armour that we decided to call it a day!
pics coming soon :)
Been a fantastic day-both loving istanbul!
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