Transiting through Istanbul

On our way to Istanbul we were very privileged to fly business class with Turkish Airlines.  We were allowed a total baggage weight of 112 kg as illustrated below.  Please note that the pienk polka dot suit case was bought by Alex and Alex alone.  Dirkie would like everybody to know that he did not have anything to do with the purchasing of the suit case fit for a Barbie doll (sorrie skattie). 

Although flying business class is fabulous, one does feel uncomfortable during the flight.  You are constantly pampered, asked if you need something etc.  We just ate (a three course meal selected from a menu with your name on it) and went to sleep.  A business class seat can almost completely flatten and has a massage function.  See the photos below.

 

 

The weather here in Istanbul is not really playing along, but we’re not put down by it.  We visited the Süleymaniye Mosque yesterday.  It was built between 1550 and 1557.  The inside is enormous and very intricately decorated.  See the photos below.  The dome that you see on the left of the photo is 27 m wide and 48 m high.  It is decorated with paintings, golden inlays and tile mosaics.  In the photo on the right is Alex just below the dome.  The entire floor of the mosque is covered by a hand woven carpet.  Again, Dirkie would like to mention the fact that himself and Alex look like two bright green traffic signs was not his idea (sorrie skattie, alweer).

The photos below were taken of the side corridor inside the mosque and a hemi-dome next to the main dome.

After a long snooze we went to one of our favourite places in Istanbul, the Süleymaniye Hamam.  Oh, so devine.  You are first escorted to a change room where you have to strip and wrap a towel around your waist.  Then you go to the Turkish bath.  Inside is a large granite slab that is heated to 60 °C.  Here your body absorbs the heat for approximately 30 minutes after which you are escorted to a granite massage table.  Two Turkish men then work on your body and do their magic.  And magic it is!  First one is scrubbed with a rough exfoliating glove.  This is followed by a few hard slaps on the back and then it’s onto the granite slab.  Warm soap and bubbles are massaged all over your body.  Any stress and tension simply drains from your body, hmmmmmmm.  The one man made a joke with Dirkie.  He started to count his ribs with his fingers and said to Dirkie that he must eat some Iskinder Kebap (see later) to gain some weight.  Below are a few photos of what the hamam looks like.  They were taken from the internet as Alex and I am not prepared to expose our own sexy bodies on this blog.

The food in Istanbul is fabulous!  Our favourite dish is Iskender Kebap.  The dish consists of thin slices of roasted beef resting on pieces of bread and covered with spiced tomato sauce.  It’s served with a generous portion of double thick full cream Turkish yogurt.  See the photo below.  Hmmmmmmm….”slurp-slurp”…lek jou lippe af!

Our favourite restaurant is called “Home Made”.  We always go and eat there when visiting Istanbul.  Here Alex had a spiced meat ball dish and Dirkie a chicken dish with coconut and saffron sauce.  Dirkie cannot pass through Istanbul without drinking the local beer; Efes.  See the photos below.

Our favourite delicatessen is “Hafiz Mustafa”.  Any kind of pastry or Turkish delight that you can think of can be found in this shop.  We always have our special corner where we sit next to a window with a view of the city life.

Istanbul is a breeding ground for cats.  They are very sweet and friendly.  Zach, since you like cats so much, this photo is for you and was taken at the Dolmbache Palace...a royal kitty...and all his brothers and sisters are also fed by the Palace staff!

This is it for now.  Our apologies for there not being a lot of outside photos but it’s raining day and night in Istanbul.  The temperature here is a wonderful, warm and cosy 7 °C.  Yes, we are trying our best to kid ourselves.......