Istanbul with Neil and Christine - Day 2

Day 2 we visited Topkapi Palace which was the Ottoman's second palace in Istanbul. It is a beautiful and very large palace covering an area of 173 acres. It housed all the Ottoman sultans from Sultan Mehmet II (1478) to Sultan Abdulmecit (1856), nearly 4 centuries and 25 Sultans. It was turned into a museum in 1924.

Outside the Topkapi Palace

The visit to the Harem was the most interesting as this was where the family life was centered. The sultan had large rooms here and so did his mother, up to 4 wives, at least 300 concubines and his numerous children, oh and of course the Eunuchs!! Obviously it was a huge part of the palace.

Ben's wishful thinking, Christine wondering how much it would cost to do one a fireplace like this at home, and the ornate ceilings of the Harem

The sultan's mother was the most important and influential person in the harem. The eunuchs were mainly slaves from Sudan or Ethiopia, up to 200 of them, that guarded and served the harem. The main focus of the harem was as a family home and school. The children of the sultan where educated here as well as the concubines. After a sultan's death, the concubines that had given birth to a son remained in the palace whilst those that had a daughter or none where married out of the harem.

All of the rooms in the harem were spectacularly ornamented with Izman tiles covering the walls so they were all bright blues and deep reds. It was lovely. The baths were all marble and gold taps. In one of the sultan's private rooms there was an ornamental water feature!

A much needed rest after going through the Harem - just the rest of the palace to go!!

After the harem we went to the treasury where on display were gifts to the Ottoman's from other countries as well as swords, thrones, medals and jewels. The two main pieces were the Topkapi Dagger, which is encrusted with emeralds, diamonds and rubies, and the 86-carat, yes 86, diamond. It was apparently found in a bin and sold for 3 spoons, and then brought to the palace and was set in gold with 39 surrounding diamonds. Ben was more amazed at the small chest with uncut emeralds, all thrown in like a junk box!! Some of the thrones were quite amazing and looked like day beds rather than thrones. The Ottoman's certainly had comfort in mind for their designs.

The view from the Topkapi Palace

After the palace we went to the Cozy Pub for lunch. When Ben was here in
2003 with our friend George they came to the Cozy every afternoon for a beer.
The evening we decided to go to a restaurant with views over the blue mosque. Despite the earlier threatening rain it cleared for dinner and for Ben to get some night shots of the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofia before starting to rain on the way home.

Istanbul with Neil and Christine - Day 1

We flew to Istanbul to meet up with Neil and Christine after they'd finished their bus tour of Turkey. Our first day was a bit of a late start as we'd arrived very late the night before. We caught a taxi into the old centre and went to the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia, the Basilica Cisterns and the Grand Bazaar. As it was a Friday (the main religious day for Muslims) the tour of the Blue Mosque was very quick. Here we'd been "befriended" by a very helpful man who tried to then invite us to look at his carpet store and drink apple tea!! We managed to lose him though!
Inge, Neil and Christine in the Blue Mosque & the ceiling

The Aya Sofia was very interesting as in Byzantine times it was a Christian church. When the Muslims started using it as a mosque they just plastered over all the mosaics and slightly altered the layout. Now it is a museum they have started to remove the plaster to expose what was underneath.

The Basilica Cistern is from Roman times and where they stored the city water. The construction is quite amazing and as usual very ornate. The highlight here was the two Medusa heads to warn off evil.
Ben being clever with the light and reflection in the water!

Medusa's head to ward of evil & the expanse of the cisterns

The next stop after lunch was the Grand Bazaar which was a maze of little alley ways with so many stalls selling a hige range of goods. The jewellery stores were particularly amazing. Ben was amazed at the store that sold outfits for boys who were being circumsised. This traditionally happens at the age of 8 and the boys wear this outfit everywhere for weeks before the event, after which they have a massive party. We saw a few boys wearing it, and they all looked so proud, I'm not sure they really understood what was going to happen!!

Outside one of the entrances to the Grand Bazaar & the circumsision outfit!

Christine checking out the circusision outfits & one of the insides of a bazaar stall

Our day ended with a lovely meal at a restaurant across the road with beautiful Turkish food before collapsing into bed.

Iceland May Longweekend - Day 4

After another very long day, our fourth and last day was far more relaxing with a stop at the Blue Lagoon, which is not the same one as the movie! Here's some facts and photos...

"The Blue Lagoon geothermal seawater is a part of an ecocycle where nature and science work in harmony. The seawater originates 2000 meter/6562 ft beneath the ground where it is heated by earth’s natural forces. At this depth the temperature is 240°C/464°F and the pressure is 36 times the pressure on the earth’s surface. The geothermal seawater comes into contact with cooling magmatic intrusions and captures the earth’s minerals, resulting in this unique natural source known for its healing power and actives.The composition of minerals in the water is very distinctive and has a high level of silica. Its environment is characterized by high temperature and salinity level of 2.5% which is 1/3 of the ocean’s salinity level."







We've got a silica face mask on which they've got in big tubs around the lagoon!

Iceland May Longweekend - Day 3

Day three was another early start with our second tour starting at 8am. Today we were off to the South Coast and the Jokulsarlon Glacial Lagoon. It was a very long trip there, about 7 hours with two very short stops on the way and the same back. On the way out we stopped at Skogarfoss waterfall which is apparently guarded by a troll (see if you can see him in the rocks!) as there is a treasure behind it. Our second stop was for lunch which for necessity was very short! On the way to the lagoon we had some stunning scenery of the Oraefajokull glacier where it comes down through the mountains. This was where it was unfortunate that we were on a bus tour and couldn't just stop to take photos. Luckily on the way back Ben managed to get some out of the window, as well as there being a conveniently located toilet stop!!


The first sight of the lagoon drew gasps from the whole bus. All of a sudden, from within a landscape of black rock we could get glimpses of brilliant blue water with thousands of icebergs floating in the water. The lagoon gets bigger every year with 100m of the glacier breaking off more icebergs and the icebergs melting relatively quickly as the lagoon is a 50/50 mix of fresh and salt water. We took a boat out onto the lagoon to get a closer look and also got to taste some ice. The ice is crystal clear and very compact and is apparently 1000 to 1500 years old. It was very refreshing to taste and of course very cold!! It was quite amazing to be so close to these things and to remember that the small amount sticking above the water was only 10% of the total size! After the boat trip we were able to walk closer to the sea to watch the seals lazing in the water. They were quite shy seals and very hard to get a good photo of as most of the time they only just had their heads above the water. Luckily Ben had his zoom lens with the little extra bit to give him even more zoom (there's got to be a technical and shorter word for that!) so he was able to get some shots.


On our trip back to Reykjavik we stopped at a little town called Vik for dinner. Vik is apparently in a precarious location as if there's a sub-glacial volcanic eruption it would cause part of the glacier to melt and that would then flood Vik! At least the glacier would have already cooled the lava flow I guess!! We also stopped at another waterfall called Seljalandsfoss which just ended the day perfectly. Despite it being 8 at night the sun was still fairly high and setting perfectly infront of the falls basking it in glowing evening light. This made for a perfect setting and from some angles you could even see a rainbow. Ben just thought this stop made our whole trip as for once on one of his latest holidays he had the perfect light for taking photos!!

Iceland May Longweekend - Day 2

Day two was a quiet day for us. We wandered into the city centre and managed to bump into a girl I went to school with for 13 years, Mel Shaw!! She lives in London, but it was still funny to see someone from Adelaide in Iceland! We decided to do a whale watching and puffin tour to fill in our afternoon, it was supposed to last 3 hours but we ended up being out the for 5 as they were determined to see a whale. Unfortunately there were no whales, which was very disappointing as they did say we had a 98% chance of seeing one, but we did see some dolphins and we certainly saw a lot of puffins! I was very relieved to be back on shore though as I had gotten quite sea sick and it was so very cold. After a reviving meal it was time to watch the Eurovision song contest and get an early night as we were being picked up at 7.30 the following morning for another all day tour.



The odd things you see around Reykjavik


Thankfully this wasn't our whale watching boat - Ben trying to be funny by implying I'm a whale!!

The Puffins, the only thing we saw on the excrutiating 5 hours we were out at sea!