Istanbul

We were both very excited about what Istanbul had to offer and worried about hitting one of Turkey's major tourist hotspots during Bayrami, the festival that celebrates the end of Ramadan and includes a sweets holiday. And we were right to fear it; the town was chock-a-block with international and Turkish tourists.

The sights in Istanbul were good. We checked out the amazing old basilica cistern which fed water to the city in the mid-500 AD and is gorgeous and a little eerie inside, even when it's packed with whispering tourists.

We were not particularly enthralled with Tokapi Palace, but dutifully walked around, weaving in between tour group and entering most of the rooms (except for the ones we couldn't squeeze in to). We paid the extra to enter the harem which was well worth the money because the rooms are beautiful and because tour groups don't bother to pay the extra.

Aya Sofya, built in the mid-500 AD, reigned as the greatest church in Christendom until the Conquest is 1453 when it was converted into a mosque. In 1935 the Ataturk changed it into a museum.

The interior is amazing, with a stunning domed ceiling that soars upwards. The ambiance of Aya Sofya is one of awed silence, with only muffled whispers exchanged between tourists and some slightly louder hissing of information from guides. Besides the gorgeous architecture, the mosaics that remain are amazingly beautiful, and the upper gallery that houses them gives some sense of the height and scale of the building.

Our last tourist stop was to the Blue Mosque, one of Istanbul's most famous and most photographed sights. Unfortunately the day we visited it was raining cats and dogs outside, so we were hustled in just before the closure for midday prayers with officials yelling 'Don't stop! Take off your shoes before you enter! Do not stop!' - an acrobatic feat, especially when you're squashed in with hunderds of other wet tourists with potentially eye-gouging umbrellas. Inside the mosque was very serene and nicely decorated. It was wonderful to see a living mosque, not just a historical relic/museum.

Because of the holidays, the Grand Bazaar was closed as was the interior of the Spice Bazaar. We made the horrible mistake of trying to visit the Spice Bazaar one of the days we were there and got squashed 'love parade' style between hundreds of locals, none of whom appeared to be moving.

In an attempt to escape, we stumbled upon Yeni Camii, another lovely mosque, and the Galata Bridge which is an area famous for its fish sandwiches. Phil bravely lined up and tried a sandwich that came complete with every bone in the fish; after a bit of picking he gave it up as lost cause. Still, it was great to see the fillets being cooked on the decorated boats as they violentely bobbed around in the waves.

We were more than happy to escape the 'bul which has its fair share of lovely people but a higher-than-average number of wankers.