Istanbul (or was it Constantinople)

Having read Orhan Pamuk’s “I am red” while travelling around Turkey I had an idea what 15th century Istanbul would look like. Pleasingly most of the sites described in the book are still there and, for a fee, open to the public. Walking around the old town felt like I had hoped into the pages of the book. Women still wove carpets behind half closed doors, men still sat on the street or in coffee hoses smoking shisha. The rest of Istanbul, though, has moved on and the city is now an eclectic mix of old and new, secular and religious.

A bit of haggling, a few of the big sights and two good nights on our hostel’s terrace and that was our time up in Turkey. We had so far been unable to find anywhere to serve us some Turkish bread and dips but luckily on our first night, found a great little place that did both. Turkish food in Turkey is definitely not what it is at home. For instance a kebab is meat on a plate, not in bread as in the rest of the world. For the supposed home of the kebab, theirs are not really up to the standard available pretty much anywhere else. Good local food though, was fantastic, just not what we expected.
Photos
1: A bus passes in front of the famous Blue mosque at night.
2: Shopping anyone? The Istanbul markets
3. A million scarves to choose from
4. Kel picks up some cheap bread