Where Europe meets Asia

With Frankfurt being such a success, and the weather there resolutely defying the reports and refusing to rain, there was always the possibility of Istanbul bringing us crashing back down to earth... but thankfully just the opposite! Not only has the weather been so good (again, entirely contradicting the considered opinions of the meteorologists) that we've had our shorts on, but the architecture is stunning, the history is fascinating and the food is lovely.

As in Rome where even the basic local churches are more grand than our cathedrals, almost every mosque here looms over the surrounding shops and houses with minarets that can be seen far in the distance... and heard in the distance too (a feature which, at 5am prayer-time, light sleepers definitely wouldn't enjoy). A particularly impressive example, which from our rooftop breakfast room looks close enough to touch, is the famous blue mosque, covered inside by the tens of thousands of colourful İznik tiles that give it its name.

Next on the list to visit - being a stone's throw from the mosque and a particularly grand Archaeological museum stuffed with Byzantine sarcophagi, Trojan pottery and Hittite legal tablets - was the Ottoman Topkapı Palace, while across the Golden Horn at the mouth of the Bosphorous, moving from the opulently Ottoman to the extravagantly European, is the Dolmahaçe Palace which was designed to outdo the grandeur of the European palaces from which its style was copied... but almost bankrupted the empire!

Upon wandering past the İstanbul Üniversitesi (and no prizes for translating that one, though in general Turkish isn't the easiest language to pronounce from the written word) we noticed crowds of people being dropped off by cars or walking with determination, standing around nervously, and hugging each other... you guessed it, we'd stumbled straight into the middle of the students' exams. (On a Sunday too, how cruel these universities can be!)

Right behind the university is Süleymaniye Mosque which was unfortunately closed for renovations. While standing around working that out we were approached by a Turkish boy my own age with a few younger teenagers in tow - it turned out he was their tutor and they were all down from Ankara for the day and hadn't realised the mosque was closed either - and we had a very interesting chat, in impressively good English, about European (mis)conceptions about Turkey and Islam.

To top off the trip we took a chance (knowing how these things can so easily be tacky beyond belief) and went to a Sufi Music Concert & Whirling Dervish display, which turned out to be tastefully done, breathtakingly impressive and addictively photogenic (though don't worry, I'll limit which ones I post here)!