Well, the day started in quite a normal fashion with breakfast and then heading out to explore. We managed to work out how to get on a ferry, then board the ferry and get to the Asian side of Istanbul. What was supposed to be a nice waterside walk was a trk through a construction site but we did find the little waterfront mosque we were looking for. For the first time, I was allowed to run riot and walk around at will. It was lovely, very tiny and had the tomb of a grand vizer. An elderly gentleman opened up the mosque especially for us, and then talked us around...in turkish.
Further we walked along the waterfront, stopping at a cafe on the side of the Bosporos with the most immense view of...well pretty uch everything...Sultanahmet, the sea of Marmara, the European side and Asian side. We whiled away many hours looking at the view but then decided to follow the walking tour. We had intended to go to 5 mosques but alas we only found the one!
Half way around I had a very urgent call of nature, so we found a mosque (not one we were looking for), which was derelict, no one around. While Phil kept a look out saying he would stall people in some mapreading conversation, i ventured into the unknown. I pushed a heavy steal door open, expecting animals to leap out but no, just the most awful smell but when you gotta go you gotta go! The worse bit was when I had to close said door and was in complete darkness with a hole in the ground! One of the highlights of the trip, I have a feeling it was the mens too. I resisted the bucket of brown water in the corner to wash the hands!
So, relieved we carried on and I was full of cheer. We failed to find any more Mosques, just walked around on the hottest day yet, with the sun blaring down on us. We eventually found our way to the port but stopped in a lonely planet recommended restaurant beforehand. I tried the doner kebab that turned out to be doner kebab meat on a side plate, a quarter of tomato, a chilli and 5 chips on top. Phil's was 'interesting', lamb in bechamel sauce! with liquid natural yoghurt to wash it down with. For dessert I asked for baklava, but yety again the waitor (that had recommended lamb in bechamel sauce for Phil) suggested I had shredded wheat for dessert. What i didn't know is that it would actually be shredded wheat, caked in sugar. If we don't get ill, I will be very surprised.
Back on the boat (we are old hats at this now), and walk back to the hotel having had the weirdest day of the trip, mainly due to being on a mosque walking tour and only seeing one out of five mosques, and using the toilet in a desserted mosque.
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