Reunited and it feels so good

At last, we are back together again...the travelling duo are reunited.

Nic at the Palace

Matt travelled from Athens to Istanbul by bus, and I took about the same amount of time to travel from Brissy to Istabul via Dubai.

Matt was waiting for me at the airport which was great!

We breezed our way into town...as the public transport in the city is really efficient and found the street of our reserved hotel easily....the problem came when there was no hotel in the place ours should be....except a building being renovated.....we couldn't believe our eyes...we had booked thru ratestogo.com and had done so in the past without incident....but not this time..

With a plethora of nearby hotels to choose from, all with vacancies even on the Saturday night, it was a small hiccup in the grand scheme of things...stern emails have been sent to the company...and you never know we might get a night at the Hilton or something to make up for our suffering.

Matt and nic

So we survived our first test travelling again within the 1st hour without a fight...things are looking good..

Istanbul is an awesome city...very very big...and with a great atmosphere on the Bosphorus.

We saw all the big sites in the first couple of days the Palace, Blue Mosque, Haga Sophia and the Bazaars. Enjoying the great spring weather we took a cruise up the Bosphorus towards the balck sea to a fort, seeing just how big the city is.

The food is great. Every second shop is a kebab shop, lamb, beef and chicken doners...mmmm. Also, they know how to make sweets, turkish delight and bakalava are to die for.....it is hard to walk past the shop without sampling some.

it's spring

We are next headed to Canakkale to see Gallipoli. We decided to hang out in Istanbul a few days and see Gallipoli after the ANZAC day crowds had dissipated..

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lol

nic and matt.

inside the harem

nice doors

ladies in waiting

gold taps

in the harem

not quite a disco ball

nice windows

pretty shutters

tulips were out

front of the palace

inside Haga Sophia

mosaics in the mosque..that was once a church

inside Haga Sohpia

ditto

more mosaics

mosaics

the weather couldn't have been better

chilling the the park

obelesk

yummy pretzel like bread rings..

yachts...pic for dad

mosque

decoration

burka-ed up

blue mosque

fisherman on bridge to asia

catholic church

markets

strange custumes boys wear on circumsicion day

bosphorus

top of the bosphorus...black sea to the right

fort

mm kebabs....very cheap

tea and spics

very patriotic people...flags everywhere

more at the markets

grand bazaar complete with flat screen tvs...

matt couldn't miss out

picture perfect view

mosque

blue mosque by night

in the courtyard

istanbul by night

turkish delight

matt getting his fix of nutella and banana..