Turkey - last days in Istanbul

We had a few days back in Istanbul - here are a few photos from that time.....

The hotel had a cat that lived in a box on the front door step - there are communal dogs and cats all over the city.  They are well fed and looked after, but don't seem to belong to anyone in particular.  They aren't really strays, as everyone looks after them.  The dogs are desexed & tagged, and both the cats and dogs are well fed, and well groomed.  It is nice in the mornings to go for a walk (sometimes at 3.30am thanks to jetlag) to be welcomed on each street corner by a random dog or cat :-)

When it started to snow, the hotel staff put out a box for the cat to sleep in.

At the Blue Mosque - this was just 24 hours before a suicide bomber blew herself up in the police station just near here - it makes no sense to us at all.

Steve on the ferry between the Asian side of Istanbul and the European side - we went for an adventure in search of Batman comic books in Turkish.

The view from the Asian side of Istanbul - there are beautiful mosques all over the city.

Jacqui & Nikki did a cooking class - where we cooked for a restaurant - people came and paid to eat our food :-)  It was great fun.  We made a soup, zuchinni fritters, stuffed eggplants, dolmades, and these semolina syrup cakes that Jacqui is plating up. www.cookingalaturka.com

It takes a LOT of garlic to cook for a restaurant

Steve, Nikki & Kierryn went to a performance of the White Rose dance at the Hodjapasha Theatre www.hodjapasha.com/en/white-rose  - it was a combination of ballet, modern dance and belly dance - it was fascinating & really beautiful.  The "set" was projected on the walls of the ancient circular building that the theatre was in.  It was like being at a performance of the Sydney Dance Theatre, in an ancient stone castle, with a mix of performance styles - it was really very well done, and we'd go back and see it again in a flash.

There are mosques and minarets everywhere - it was reassuring to hear the call to prayer during the day.

In the Spice Market (the smell was pretty overwhelming)

We did a lot of shopping - here is Kierryn with his new scarf, because he is an Air Force Officer/Model :-)

This is the coolest vending machine we have ever seen - this is a book vending machine in the Metro train station at Istanbul airport :-)

 The check in staff at the airport were working very hard - our flight was delayed quite a bit, so the ground crew took the opportunity to have a nap.