We decided on a group dinner and headed to another old underground water resiviour converted to a restaurant for a 3 course meal and drinks. The meal was amazing and again we were just happy it wasnt a buffet.
There were a few dancers and a man singing for some entertainment. They then decided to get woman from a number of different countries up for a bit of a dance off. Leigh represented Australia and did a pretty good job, but my favourite gal Tracey representing the Kiwis did a mad all body shimmy and won herself the biggest applause and took the crown!!
Despite wanting an early night we didnt get to bed till around 11pm. The body clock is definitely off.
The full day of looking around Istanbul began with a visit to the Blue Mosque. Everyone says its a must see in Istanbul, which I have to agree with, the outside is amazing. When we went inside we had to take our shoes off so the whole place smelt like feet which was a little offputting but once inside it was pretty cool.
Its not literally blue, its just called blue mosque because when the lights hit the blue tiles inside it gives off a blue hue. It was built in the early 1600's which is pretty impressive when you see the whole building.
We headed over to Hagia Sophia which was hands down my favourite part of Istanbul. The impressive building which was originally a church, later a mosque and now a museum was built around 600AD. It has a massive massive dome in the centre which isnt supported by anything. They say it was constructed by filling the place with dirt and earth while they built the dome, then they called in thousands of slaves to dig out the dirt once the building was finished. as incentive they put gold coins all through the dirt, when the slaves found a coin they got to keep it, it made them work faster and harder so they got it out pretty quickly.
The church is completely decorated in mosaics, depicting pictures of the virgin mary, jesus and other religious features. I really loved the place. It was incredible.
A trip to the grand bazaar was also a highlight. It is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world. there is over 4000 shops, all basically selling the same things, knick knacks, turkish souveniers, rugs, pashminas. Although not as agressive and persistant, there is a thailand market feel. Men calling to you to look at their shop, trying to bargain for everything and anything.
Mitch and I were walking along and a man called out and said 'oh youre beautiful', i kept walking, but mitch turned around and laughed. the man was a tad annoyed and said 'not you..HER'!! hahaha. it was pretty funny.
The afternoon ended with a cruise down the river along the coast of Istanbul, one side was europe, one side was asia. It was a pretty great way to end the official part of the tour and although we didnt look at the scenery much, it was great to have a whole boat to ourselves, having some drinks and talking to the great friends we had made.
Our very last night we decided to have a group dinner again which was the best meal I had in turkey. They also served some amazing cocktails!!
We found a great restaurant in the backpackers district then headed to a small pub in the same area. Weird thing was they stopped serving drinks, turned the music off and kicked us out at 12pm because it closed... it was a friday night!!! although i would say some of us welcomed this relatively early night as the whole 15 days of being on the go constantly had caught up to us and most people were pretty tired and exhausted.
Turkey was amazing. I absolutely loved every single part of it. The tour, the amazing people i met who i now think of as great friends, every single place we visited, the food... everything.
the tour made me completely change my mind and I am so keen to stay another year to do gallipoli and anzac day all over again next year... anyone else keen for a campout with me???
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