closed! It meant that we discovered some other delightful nooks and courtyards instead. There is so much to see and experience in Istanbul! Lunch was a quick snack from a roadside kiosk in the lines of a doner kebab, spicy and scrumptious.
Bidding Rob and Champs a sad farewell – their company was much appreciated andenjoyed – the rest of us joined a bus group of other tourists visiting the 30-roomed Beylerbeyi Palace on the Asian side of the Bosphorus.
Built by sultan Abdul Aziz between 1861 and 1865 the sumptuous palace was used for entertaining dignitaries and royalty.
At the time of its manufacture, the giant crystalchandelier from England in the main hall upstairs was the largest in the world and is now the 3rd largest. Ostriches and tigers were kept in the zoo on the palace grounds which lie ubeneath the Bosphorus Bridge, the 9th longest suspension bridge in the world. The 3rd last sultan was kept as a prisoner in an anteroom of the palace for 6 years and died there, almost forgotten, after being deposed in 1909.
A pleasant photo and refreshment stop on a nearby hill with magnificent views
followed. Charmaine, Rob, my mom and I chose to be dropped off at the Spice Market(Egyptian Market), which was bustling with Sunday afternoon visitors, but still enchanting. Spices, teas, fresh vegetables, pickles, honeys, sweets, deserts....a mouthwatering feast for all the senses.
A slow meander back to the hotel took us almost 5 hours as we stopped to enjoy a snack and beer in a colourful alley full of cushioned exotic spaces to relax and smoke a hubbly (or in our case watch others smoke the hubbly!). Before getting too settled and loathe to move, we ambled up to the pool between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque where the windless but chilly 15 degree C evening granted us the superb reflections we had hoped for. A tasty bowl of soup at a pavement restaurant was another salubrious stop before returning to the hotel, somewhat sad that our last evening in Istanbul was over.
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