So after seeing all the popular historical wonders of Istanbul in the old part of the city, Mert took us to see the city center, where people live and work. To get there we took a tram and then crossed the river. As with any other area of Istanbul where you can reach the water, there were lots of people fishing from the bridge.
It looks like any other European city, teeming with cars and people.
There's even a MacDonald's! To be fair, it's always good to see one of them, because you know where you can find a clean loo.
Here's Richard, my food hero (below) headed into a sweet shop. Yes, of course I was right behind him. I left clutching a box of Turkish Delight. My third. You can never have too much.
Mert took us into this cafe (below) to try some desserts. We sat 4 to a table and shared 4 different puds. They were, without exception, delish. Amazingly, no blood was spilt during this potentially lethal arrangement (me- sharing dessert?!), but I was a tad miffed that they wouldn't let me use my special sharpened sharing spoon.
And here's Mert at our rendezvous spot where we were to meet him 2 hours later (below) after we all went our separate ways.
And police who were armed and looked like they meant business. We decided to leave.
Later that evening, some of us sat in the lobby of the hotel chatting about the day with Mert. Suddenly he was looking at the lights. They were swaying. "I think we're having an earth tremor," he said. We were indeed.
I tell ya- a riot and an earth tremor, all in one day? That Rick Steves really knows how to put on a good tour!
2 comments:
I never got to see the riot buses and didn't know that there was some bottle throwing going on. All I knew was to get the heck out of there when I saw the riot police suited up!
To be honest, we didn't stay for the bottle throwing and tear gas either, just legged it as soon as I got my photos.
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