And here I was thinking today was going to be more relaxed! At days end here I am indeed having acquired a few extra blisters and removed an awful lot more fluid via the sweat glands. And I came back before Chris who hasn’t arrived home yet.
I skipped the Turkish breakfast this morning, which was lucky because Rose rang which made me happy!! Then we set out to buy a cappuccino in this very trendy area…very nice!! Down to the ferry via the backstreets rather than the more direct route by the sea. Chris wanted to find this street that was full of antique shops. We found it and it was indeed fascinating. All these shops that reminded me of the wizard’s shops in the Magic Wishing Chair or the like. dark, pokey and dusty with all variety of things on display as you squeeze yourself down the back.
That was fun. Then it was onto the ferry to go across to Enonimu to go to the Grand Bazaar. I had forgotten what a large area it covers with its twisted, steep little alley ways. We walked up and up and up to get to the bazaar and then the sensory stimuli overwhelm the senses. Everything is there and people, people everywhere. Not just shoulder to shoulder people both local and tourist but every now and again a motorbike will demand to get through, or men with loaded trolleys just charging on through, or women with massive shopping bags. All jostling with both scantily clad tourists and head to toe clad Turkish and Arabic women. Its nice to see it all melding here into a very mixed population.
Chris (mainly) bought a few things, agonising endlessly over each decision!! I bought another of those Christmas lanterns I have, this time in red…mainly for nostalgia sake!! But no presents this time guys…all too hard!!
We eventually had a bit of a break for some lunch and then we parted company, Chris to go in search of some ceramic shop and me to come back to ‘our’ side and pick up wine supplies and walk home. Well that’s where it all went wrong for me! There is a back way to our hotel up through steep and winding backstreets. I thought I’d be smart and try it, going via the supermarket to have some wine on the fridge. I walked and walked. I tried to get Maps Me to help me and it wouldn’t, only telling me to go back to the waterfront which I didn’t want to do. I could see the distance to home was increasing, not decreasing and the sweat was pouring off me. It was Happy Hour everywhere as I trudged along and the temptation to stop and get a beer was almost too much…but I didn’t because I thought I might never, ever find my way home if I did. So what did I do? And we must never tell Chris this…I ended up getting in a Taxi to get myself home. Shameful I know but it was SO HOT!!!
Anyway Chris still hasn’t shown up so maybe she’s lost too!! I hope not. I’ll finish this after dinner.
Well Chris did turn up…exhausted…and of course I ended up confessing that I’d got in a taxi. We had our p.d. white wine, rested and then headed off back to the beautiful restaurant overlooking the Bosphorus that we had gone to the first night. It was less crowded tonight and just beautiful sitting outside under the stars to eat stuffed mussels. My favourite dish ever. and grilled sardines. Just delightful. We were being indulgent so taxi’d there and back. A lovely night all together. Except we taxi’d back and told him to let us off in the wrong spot and although we were only a minute from the hotel we were again lost. I felt good about that because even Chris, with her Maps Me expertise struggled to get us to the right place.
Its now midnight and well over time for bed. Calamia, we have been worried about you but Rosa just forwarded me an email where you reassured us of your safety…you are a constant worry as you sail through turbulent waters (actually it’s the land that is turbulent!!)