Last day in Istanbul.... and last breakfast

So I just had to have some of the traditional cheese, cucumber, tomato and olives (minus the boiled egg). Gotta love it, eventually. Today there was watermelon, yeah. None yesterday, and I really missed it. Off to France tomorrow, at stupid o'clock, so this is our last Turkish breakfast.

We've been here for 4 days after our tour, so we've been to see a few more of the local attractions, walked around the coastline, and spotted several dolphins, tasted more Turkish delicacies, walked through the streets and markets in the old town area - same, same!

So much ceramic tiles!!

Chaos on the corner. Traffic, trams, pedestrians and people pushing loads of merchandise.

People are the same, in the streets and in the markets: over the top friendly! Just a slight pause in your stride will have someone coming up to you saying, 'where you looking for?' Of course they usually follow it up with, 'I not guide, no problem. I show you. You like to see my carpet shop.' Very hard to say, No.

Of course Lex, wearing his Akubra style (but really Argentinian ) hat, attracts comments like 'Hey cowboy', 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie ' and 'G,day mate', all of which have the same effect on him *shudder*.

Of course others just start with, 'Where you from'. They usually follow up with a list of places they know, or family members who live somewhere in Aust.

Other times he wears his driving hat (aka flat cap, or Andy Capp hat) just to confuse them. Some try to guess where we are from, speaking in German or French before they need to ask. Luckily the Peruvian beanie was sent home early!

Traders are very persuasive. Very. They try to engage you in conversation but it quickly turns to sales pitch, and an invitation into their store. At one place we visited on tour the phrase was, 'Hello maybe later.' And I really think they believed they were saying, 'Hello, see you later.' or even 'Hello, how are you.'

Still I think Turkish people are genuinely very friendly, and really pleased that you have come to visit their country, which they are very proud of.

On our last day here we opted for a slower pace, and less people, taking a boat trip on the Bosphorous. The trip takes almost 2 hours, arrives at a small fishing village with lots of seafood restaurants, and leaves a couple of hours later. Relaxing

We are still pinching ourselves. Hard to believe we are half way round the world, living out of a backpack, and still loving it. Who'd have thought.

We leave Turkey in the morning, back to Paris. Having already spent a few days in Paris, we have decided to head out of the city to Fontainbleau. Why there? Well my research for great places in France that are not on the top 10 most visited list highlighted the Fontainbleau Forest. So that's it. It's less than an hour from Paris and reachable by train. Da-da. So we have booked one night in Paris and three nights in Fontainbleau. The gap is filling, but we still have 4 days after that to wander..... No plans yet, and that suits us fine.

 

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