Istanbul, Turkey

The best piece of advice that we received was pick one Istanbul attraction each day that you really want to see and go early! We did that and were right at the front of the line to get into the Topkapi Palace. We headed straight for the harem and we basically had it to ourselves. It was quite interesting to see the living quarters and the built-in hierarchy in the architectural design. There are priceless artefacts on display in the other parts of the museum but this is where palace life actually happened.

A friend suggested that we visit the Cisterns. This a a massive Byzantine cistern near Hagia Sophia. The Ottomans did not know about its existence for over a hundred years after the fall of Constantinople. It is hard to believe the engineering skill of the people who created this over 1600 years ago.

Today we visited a 300 year old hamam that is featured in ‘1001 Thing To Do Before You Die’. Unlike our visit to the Ashgabat market at the beginning of the trip, this was an experience that deserves its spot. Having every layer of skin removed in a mound of bubbles lying on a hot marble slab by a burly Turk is quite an experience!

We met a few Australian friends for dinner at the top of the Istanbul Modern Art Museum. The food was pretty good but the view was fantastic. The museum is located across the Golden Horn, opposite Istanbul. As a result, you get a full view of the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque and the surrounding areas as the sun set and the lights came on. Pretty magical!