Best Western Hotel Amber Istanbul

... what freebies were included. The bargaining is way more extreme here than anywhere else we have been, but is always a bit of fun. After dinner we all chilled out and had a heap of drinks and Kyla's hotel room. After this, in the early hours of the morning, 4 of us went to Attys bar to hang out and have a few more drinks. Chris, Racha and I stayed out all night, ended up at Maccas for 6am breaky before we headed back to pack our bags and hop on the bus. It was a great night and heaps of fun.

... and mosques towering above it all...an image i hope to keep in my mind, not in my hard drive...

met a cute girl, planned my turkey trip, enjoyed the cloud bread, the cheap kebaps and the amazing view from our hostel over sultanamet...looking back on it-istanbul was pretty cool

Wow, what an experience we had in Istanbul! We both knew we would love it, but really had no idea how much. It was clean and beautiful! The Blue Mosque, the underground cisterns, the Turkish Baths, the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market...everything was great! And we certainly had our admirers...the men offering to ¨drink apple tea¨or ¨smoke some ...

... over there. He scrubbed me down which was pretty nice, and then he covered me in hot water - that was awesome. He told me what the Turkish word for nipple was...can't remember that now. He then asked me for a tip and I said, "I'm not like that mate", but then I realised he was a greedy man who just wanted money. He told me to have a shower and scrub my groin (no need to tell me mate!). I got out, got dried and then in the ...

... where the chariot races were held long ago. There are 3 monuments an Obelisk and 2 columns. One had been decorated with bronze, but that had all been "borrowed.", only the holes were left where it had been secured. Ben Hur would have been in his element, but Charlton Heston has moved on to higher places. We then continued to the inside of the Hagia Sophia that I mentioned earlier. Missed out on the tour of Topkapi Palace, but did have an ...

... atmosphere of Syria was left behind and it was clear that the women on the tour had more freedom in Turkey. We enjoyed a beautiful lunch in a little spot and visited a castle and had a great coffee at a little cafe. That night Turkey took a turn. At about midnight my phone rang and a Turkish voice was at the other end. I said he had the wrong number and then he asked, "Do you want to chat?" I said no and hung up. I received ...

Well my last day in Istanbul involved a planned trip to the Grand Bazaar, only to find it was closed - argh! Myself and Alex (one of the Australians from the hostel - who I better day is a great guy cos he might be reading this) therefore checked out some of the sights that can be seen near the bazaar, such as the Beyazit Mosque, Suleymaniye Mosque and the Aqueduct of Valens. Wandering the streets on a Sunday is much different to any other day of ...

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It took nearly an hour to bounce over to Turkey on the hydrofoil. Most of the passengers nodded off and it seemed like we were travelling with a consignment of zombies. We went into the Bay of Marmaris, where Napoleon once hid his ships before an offensive. The Turkish government was also hiding a few small war ships there.

Turkish customs was a breeze. I had to purchase a visa, an eventuality I had planned for by bringing a ten pound note (don't ask me why they ask for ...