Ankara to Istanbul

Sunday 1 May 2011
My fricken australian credit card has been blocked by the bank despite me telling them I was traveling and to expect some weird charges, useless pack of arseholes!!!!!
Went to Anatolya museum, showing relics of the ancient Anatolyan civilization from southern turkey, some were 8500 years old. I especially liked the little clay figurines of their goddess, the mother, big fat and voluptuous, holding her boobie or tummy to signify fertility.
Stopped at a ROADHOUSE! on our way to Istanbul for lunch, a particularly greasy weird looking serial rapist was working behind the counter, always happened to be stirring whichever dish I was standing next to. Staring at me the whole time with his evil eyes, CREEPY! Poor Noni got the same treatment. He followed me into the deli, and said some turkish words at me, so I bailed out and sat on the bus.
Chris said I remind her of Phoebe from Friends... Is that a good thing?
In Istanbul visited the Hagia Sophia monument, an old church built in 532AD, two groups of 5000 men started at each end and met in the middle, took only 5 yrs to build. At some point turned into a mosque, and now a museum. It was EPIC, massive, extravagant, the most impressive building I have ever been in. Beautiful gold tile mosaics of Jeebus and Mary.
Went to kebab shop for dinner, had the most traditional Turkish meal of the whole trip, awesome! Had a bit of fun and got our pictures taken behind the counter with the kebab boys :) Had my first proper Turkish coffee... Interesting!

Monday 2 May
Lots of sightseeing today, starting with blue mosque, proper name SultanAhmet. Very cool. Then the hippodrome where they used to have chariot races... didn't excite me much. Then visited the Topkapi palace, massive series of walls and buildings, grand display of the treasury items, gems jewels swords crowns etc. Wanted to get in to see the harem quarters but it cost extra money and the line was massive. Next stop, GRAND BAZAAR! It had 4400 stores, but it was the same shit over and over again. A bit disappointing. Did a bit of haggling, got nanna's birthday present and a new sling bag for myself. Goodbye trusty brown satchel bag, you will be sorely missed!
Leisurely cruise down the Bosphorus this afternoon, add a couple of Efes tins, great chats with the guys on the tour, phone call with mum and dad! What a great way to finish up a whirlwind tour of turkey.