We're up to around day 4 today & loving Istanbul. The culture and the history here is amazing. We've spent the last few days exploring some wellknown spots. First up was the Topkapi Palace (see pic on right), where sultans of ages past have lived. We hired audio guides & explored all of the nooks & cranneys for around 4 hours. The Harem & the Treasury were both gorgeous. In particular the massive 86 carat diamond & the Topkapi dagger with 3 massive emeralds on the hilt, both in the treasury took my breath away. Also in the treasury was the arm & skull piece of St John the baptist which were encased in gold and precious stones - spooky.
Yesterday we went to see Aya Sofya which was originally a Christian Church when it was built in the 6th century, and then later converted to a Mosque, and finally to a museum. It was huge and filled with detailed mosaics from ages past (see pic of the roof which doesn't do justice to the collosal size of the place). We also visited the small Aya Sofya which is still in use as a Mosque & which was also gorgeous.
The tulip festival was on recently as well & the city is filled with amazing tulips of every colour. Beautiful! (Pic to the right). We also visited a hamam yesterday which means turkish bath. It involved an hour of steaming, exfoliation & massage. I've never seen that much skin come off all at once & Richard is still recovering from his massage which involved being walked on by a big heavy turkish man. 
Finally, we also saw a whirling dervish demonstration (video uploaded to MySpace at http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2026062444 ) and went to visit the 7 towers which has in the past been a fortress, a prison, a treasury and currently hosts music festivals (what an awesome venue!). They were huge! (see pic to the left).
Anyway, heading off on an overnight train tonight to the capital of Turkey, Ankara & expect to arrive tomorrow afternoon (18 hr trip). More updates to follow!
