Further afield on Friday

Having spent almost the whole time so far in Sultanhmet, we decided to extend our wanderings on Friday to take in the Asian district on the other side of the Bosphorus, and Beyoglu - the area on the other side of the Golden Horn. So we hopped on a ferry over to Uskudar and stepped off the boat on to Asia - the first time for both of us! It's similar in feel to Sultanahmet, perhaps slightly more conservatively Muslim. There were noticeably more women in headscarves, fewer tourists and a mosque on every corner. This area was conquered by the Ottomans 100 years before the rest of Istanbul and is very proud of the fact - there are a number of monuments up to the Ottoman Empire, as well as to Attaturk who unsurprisingly you find everywhere here. We walked up the coast road to see the views of Sultanahamet which were great despite the rain and fog (we've had to stop ourselves saying, "this must look amazing in the summer" as it started to become something of a catch phrase for the trip....). After visiting several local mosques, one of which had slightly offensive posters up urging a boycott on any shop with American and Jewish connections from National Geographic to Wonderbra, we stopped in a bakery for the inevitable tea and baclava. I'm trying not to think about the amount of sugar we've consumed this week..... On the positive side, however, we can now say at least one phrase in Turkish: ici cay lutfen (two teas please)! We're both developing something of a taste for black tea and it's wonderfully cheap here.

Mid-afternoon we took the ferry over to Besiktas which is on the European side, and walked along the coast past a totally over the top Baroque palace, built while the Ottoman Empire was crumbling around it. This was where Attaturk died and the whole area is plastered with posters depicting his life. Then it was on to Taksim Square - glamorous, urban, surrounded by expensive hotels and the kind of high street chains you'd find in London. This part of Istanbul could be any European city in the world, and as such, is not particularly interesting, but it is another side to the city so we're glad we visited. The whole area is packed full of sophisticated young Turks who looked with evident scorn on two bedraggled Britishers counting their lira to see if they could afford a coffee! We found a cafe full of students for a cheap but filling supper and then went to the cinema as we noticed that "Revolutionary Road" was being shown. It had Turkish subtitles and was shown on a screen that flickered in and out of focus. For reasons best known to the management, Sarah and I were put in the "courting seats" at the back, so we snuggled down together to enjoy the film! It was perhaps not the best choice for us as it's about two people who turn to travelling to sort their lives out, but it all goes horribly wrong and one ends up dead - just to spoil the ending for you. Ah well, at least we don't have two moronic children who wander in and out saying "but Mummy, I don't want to go to Paris". Feeling slightly depressed, we headed back to the hostel around 11pm and had a rather interesting time trying to find a bus - the public transport in the city remains a mystery to us and most of it seems to stop after 9pm. Safely back in the hostel eventually, we crashed out on our bunks.