A day of travelling

We've arrived. After almost 20 hours of travelling from Calgary to London to Istanbul we are finally here! The hotel arranged to pick us up (will insert pic later) which made things very easy. We are staying at the Hotel Nena. It has A/C, wireless internet and roof top restaurant (like most places here seem to) where we eat breakfast. The rooftop restaurant has a great view (unbelievable really!) of the city especially the Blue Mosque (pictured below), the Hagia Sofia and the Bosphorous strait.

After breakfast we join a city tour on a bus accompanied by an audio guide. This lasts for about an hour and a half where we see the sites of Istanbul.

Lunch on a terrace consists of kofte which are essentially lamb meatballs - which come with rice and veg.

After lunch we wander around and find ourselves in the Grand Bazaar - a GIANT covered market. Apparently there are over 3500 shops and stalls here. The main things here are carpets (of course), jewelery, and leather, but basically you can get anything you want. We're not big shoppers but come away with a shall. A few other things caught our eyes so we may go back.

We head back for a nap after a trip to a grocery store for water and beer. There's not much for booze, but we are able to pick up some beer.

We don't head out again until about 9:00 and the temperature has cooled off nicely. The day was quite hot - not too humid, but hot. There are cats everywhere! Not bothersome, but everywhere you look. Dinner is a Turkish delight! Chris has a plate of various meat kabaps and I have "Iskender" which is doner meat with youghurt all on top of bread. After dinner our waiter sets us up at a cafe around the corner where we share a water pipe and play backgammon. Definately a new experience for me.