Istiklal Caddesi

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  Istanbul, Turkey
Tuesday, November 13, 2007

We set off early on Monday to explore the street known as Istiklal Caddesi. This avenue runs from where we are staying up to Taksim Square and has heaps of enticing shops. Handicrafts, fashion, delicious pastry shops and many more captivated us as went on out journey. The biggest challenge for the day was which restaurant to choose, which pastries to eat and which scarf would look best. I found a bookshop that had a good road-map of Turkey to help me when we hire the car in a few days time.

We came home, dumped out purchases and then went back out to explore the streets around our apartment and climb the Galata Tower. We found the Camondo stairs and took a few snaps. With some trepidation we went into a rug shop and asked a few prices. Mehmet, the proprietor, turned out to be a really nice guy who told us a few tricks of the trade and showed us what to look for in a rug

Istiklal Caddesi

. He encouraged us to go and look at a few more shops before going back to him. He was confident in his merchandise and we both appreciated his soft sell technique. If we do want to spend $1000 on a rug we will probably visit him again.

We decided to tackle the Galata Tower. After trying to out-face the very rude girls selling tickets I had to give. Selling us tickets and explaining that Georgie at 11 had to pay the full 10 lira entry fee was clearly a huge chore for her. I felt sooo guilty for making her do her job...

I was a bit disappointed that the only way up was to ride the elevator - I had been anticipating the challenge of a climb. From the top the view is impressive. Jess stayed outside for about ten seconds - once the wind started blowing and someone pushed past here on the 30cm ledge that was enough for her. The girls took it in her stride and Georgie took great delight in capturing plenty of video.

After descending we went to a restaurant that Mehmet the rug man had recommended and had a great meal, including red wine for 60 lira. By this time fatigue was getting the better of us, although we had lasted much better than Sunday we headed home for an early night.

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