A little bit of Turkey before Christmas

Gemma - things we learned in the last 24 hours: If you want to rot your teeth and get diabetes; Istanbul is the place to be, Turkish men are very chatty, SO MANY CATS (if you eat outside you get a temporary free one of your own), sometimes cathedrals and mosques talk to eachother, Turkish wine is surprisingly good, sticking to the right side of the road is optional. 

After possibly the most comprehensive continental breakfast ever, today we took a stroll up to the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia. They face eachother across a large square, one a mosque, the other originally a church. At prayer time there are calls from both buildings. Similar in design from the outside but very different on the inside. Arguably the mosque is more attractive inside but I'm sure you can guess which one charged an entrance fee. 

Later we walked around the city park, along the waterfront, and the local bazaar in the cobbled narrow streets of the district where we were staying. 

Sad to say goodbye to Istanbul, I hope to come back and see more sometime.