So, you want to see the Real Istanbul...

I think it's fair to say that everyone in our group had chosen the Rick Steves tour (www.ricksteves.com) of Istanbul because we wanted to see more than just the famous sites. We all wanted a deeper experience of Turkey, an opportunity to gain a real sense of the place and the people.

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.

Below: A famous pop star. Sorry, got no idea who he is. Wasn't listening. Still thinking about the desserts. But judging by the size of the crowd, he is very popular.

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.

Cynthia, Sue and I decided we wanted to return to an interesting arcade we'd been in earlier for some souvenir shopping. But things had changed in the hour since we were there. Now there were a lot of very serious looking and rather well equipped policemen. We asked a shop keeper what was going on, and he shrugged and said it was something to do with a prisoner exchange and not to worry about it.

Then I saw 5 riot buses (below).

And police who were armed and looked like they meant business. We decided to leave.

These were the protesters (below). The photos they're holding are of 12 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party who had been killed at the weekend. Apparently the protest ended up with rocks and bottles being thrown at the police, who responded with tear gas. But we were long gone by then.

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!