Turkey so far has blown us away. We always knew it would be an amazing country but didn’t realise how beautiful it was until we walked out of our hotel the morning after we arrived and every corner we turned we were in awe of another incredible site. The mix of ancient mosques, narrow cobbled streets, locals sitting out the front of their shops calling at you to come visit their store, turkish tea being delivered from store to store on silver platters, the smell of kebabs and pida from local eateries, the Turkish delight stores that offer free samples and the crazy bazaars selling everything from cheese to spice to turkish towels and rip off sunglasses and handbags made us fall in love with the city. Amongst all of this are funky small bars down side streets just calling for you to wander in for a glass of wine and basket of bread and meze in the afternoon.
We realised that to date Turkey has been the only place we felt we could buy countless souvenirs. If I had the room and didn’t have to lug it around for another 9 months I would have bought a beautiful Turkish rug by now, not to mention 100 Turkish towels that sell for $5 and up compared to the $50 I spent on mine from home. We have decided Turkey is a place we are going to return with a few empty suit cases one day!
Delicious turkish coffee
Spices anyone?
We spent our days walking around the city and visiting the main sights. The blue mosque and Ayasofya were beautiful, but there are a plethora of mosques scattered throughout the city that look as stunning. We visited the grand bazaar in the morning and we loved the liveliness of it, just wandering from stall to stall before sitting at one of the quaint cafes and people watching was a fun way to start the morning.
We bought some bread, cheese and meat and made our way to the water for a picnic for lunch and then just wandered the streets eyeing off things I wanted to buy.
Street art through a narrow alleyway
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