14. Apr, 2016

14. Apr, 2016

WEDNESDAY  22-4-15

Although the weather was rather wet today it did dry up a bit in the afternoon, and so we ventured out for a walk in to the city. I must say it looked awfully busy for a so called Public Holiday. We first took a look at the Grand Bazaar, much of this was not new to Rosina as she had been here before some 30 years ago. The place was heaving as I'm sure it is most of the time. There were indoor avenue after avenues of shops and stalls. But in the end it's no different to many markets - most of the traders are selling the same thing, pretty much limited to Turkish Delight and other sweet-toothed delights, lanterns and lamps, carpets, shoes and handbags, many of which are covered with sparkly glass, so much so that you could buy one, hang it from your lampshade, give it a twirl, shine a torch at it and Bam! - Disco lighting.

It is the Tulip Festival here at the moment and so next it was on to Gulhane Park, near the Topkapi Palace, which was laid out with lovely tulip displays, and was a very popular spot. That done it was off to the Sultanamet area, the main tourist destination to get a feel for it and taking a few photographs. By then time was getting on as we hadn't left 'home' until quite late in the day. This is the problem at the moment. Rosina is still not up to much and hasn't a lot of stamina, and so we are having to work around that kind of restriction.

On the way back we treated ourselves to a kebab, neither of us would normally each such things but you just have to do it when you're here. It was very tasty, and found it reassuring that we could eat some kind of local cuisine whilst out and about should the need arise.

14. Apr, 2016

14. Apr, 2016