Day one was pretty uneventful. Flew to Istanbul and apart from being kept waiting for ages at airport because they had to cancel my resident's permit (even though it was out of date) and battling with my new backpack which turned out to be a disaster - never buy a Berhaus Jalan 65 + 15 unless you are much stronger and bigger than me, I met Sue in Sultahnamet. Hostel had mixed up our booking and we were taken to a flat which was a lot better than being in the hostel so that worked out ok.
Day two was spend in Istanbul and we went to Kucuk Aya Sophia which I had not seen as it was being restored when I was last there. I then was able to take Sue to a Mosque that I had been to in the past and that she did not know. Not easy to find somewhere that Sue has not been. The same miserable caretaker was there as before but the Mosque has beautiful tiles and it is worth braving his disagreeableness (is that a word) to see them. We walked through the Spice Market which was packed and then took a boat ride down the Golden Horn. It was good to see that the Iron Church (Bulgarian Church) was being restored. I will have to visit next time I am in Istanbul as last time I went by it was closed. I so love this city and can't wait to visit again. We then took the ferry to Kadikoy where we stayed the night in a very noisy and hot hostel. We ate in the town and bought supplies for the train in the wonderful market - delicious olives, cheese, mucver (zucchini fritters), tomatos and grapes.
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