Lots of Turkey but no st......

Departing from Istanbul for Bosphorus cruise
from the boat

Entrance to the Black Sea - end of the Bosphorus

We are nearing Konya in Central Anatolia – the centre of Western Turkey. It is some 15 hours by train from Istanbul. The train is a little old but OK. Overall the Istanbul city buildings are not so attractive but it contains some of the world's most famous buildings in a beautiful setting – mostly in the area of Sultanahmet; the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia museum (ie disused mosque), the Sulymanyie mosque, the Grand Bazaar and the Topkapi Palace. The Topkaki Museum contains the world's best religious relics. I have now seen the rod that Moses used to part the Red Sea ! and have been converted to true believer status !! The Treasury contains magnificent treasures such a the Topkapi dagger – the base ingredient in the film Topkapi. I did ask Kitty to ask where the famous huge diamond was that when held up displays an image of a Pink Panther. However she was not sure whether she could believe me. I will get Clouseau to straighten her out.

The Sultanahmet mosques are huge (but fairly simple inside). With their towering minarets they dominate the landscape. Carpet salesmen dominate the ground – after 3 hours of strong resistance from the spiel of an increasingly desperate salesman Kitty collapsed and bought a carpet (I usually find it takes about 3 hours of hard sell before she gives in !).

Dinner with the Lowens at the spectacular 360 restaurant on our last night was a success as was the 6 hour boat cruise down the Bosphorus – apart from the array of finger-pointing when we discovered all our Turkey guidebooks had been left at a restaurant far from Istanbul after one of our group argued with the owner over 2 lira on the bill. Such is life. Ruth Lowen deserves an honorable mention for surviving a quick race up a steep hill straight after lunch – we all lost money by betting she would not survive

And so to Konya and Cappodocia – land of the giant phalluses..