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And the tour of Istanbul begins:

We stayed on the Northern side of the Golden Horn and so had to cross the bridge each morning to get to the main touristy parts. This is the first of many many many mosques you see. It is called Yeni but I think it is also referred to as the New Mosque. Hmmm its all relative when the first one was built in the 1400s. But apparently it was the last of the great classical mosque complexes to be built and so retained the name of New.

Slightly older, we have the Aquaduct of Valens. This was built by Constantine, completed in 378AD and has 800 odd meters of the original 1000 meters still standing (the rest was pulled down for the building of...you guessed it...mosques)

As in most gigantic cities you have big roads with lots of cars and many people who need to cross. So you go under. But why waste that valuable um potential retail area. Like South African robot shopping, you can buy almost anything under the roads of Istanbul. The difference being, here even the namebrands have stores. You can buy nokia phones from a nokia store etc etc all inbetween the stores selling things "Made In China" Hmmm we did encounter a problem when too many people stop to shop...the passage is only 4 people wide and these shops are not the kind you actually go into...

Ok OK so i STILL havent got a handle on this blogging picture things. So please forgive the random order of pics. Here we have some of the things you can buy in the Bazaars. Yip, leeches. We never did find out if they were medical, food or fish bait...

But its not all slimy bloodsuckers. Among the leeches, carpets, clothes, antiques and spices we have my favourite stalls...Turkish delight!!! Mmmmm the Turkish idea of Delight is not restricted to jellied rosewater. oh no. It is everything from what we would call the creamiest, nuttiest nougat to the better known jelly types but why not include nuts and coconut and chocolate and and and and. Mmmmm and its all so fresh its somehow solid and yet chewy without sticking to your teeth. In a word...perfect