The last two days have been absolutely awesome! We have just been doing so much fun stuff and laughing a lot. Now we are all back at Simon’s apartment, absolutely shattered! Bree is having a nap and Matt and I have been sorting our photos. The jetlag is going really well, it is more an absence of jetlag.
Yesterday we left the apartment at 11.30 (this was early compared to the day before) and took the ferry to Asie, Kadikoy, where we had been sent by Simon to check out the fish and produce markets and to eat at a cafe called the Ciya Sofrasi. This place was amazing; it had a salad bar with a wide selection of Turkish food and a buffet with several Turkish dishes. Bree and I have already decided that we would like to go back if we have time. After lunch, we randomly walked around to explore the Asian side of the city, which definitely has a different feel to it than the European side. I thought it felt a lot more Greek; to me it was the architecture, shops and people’s dress and behaviour.
Our walking around bought us by a huge mall, so we decided to go in and explore. The mall was very modern and containt a lot of familiar brandnames. We went into the supermarket to go and explore some of the Turkish food items. We walked out with Haribo, Turkish chocolate, sparkling pink grapefruit juice and several other items. Simon came to meet us at the mall and informed me that my sparling pink grapefruit juice was not grapefruit but blood orange. This was definitely the lowlight of the day.
Simon bought us to a place called Ortacoy which is just underneath the Bosphorous bridge on the European side. There is a pretty mosque here, which provided the perfect setting for us to relax and eat a massive baked potato by the waterfront. Here I also met this Turkish girl while waiting for the toilet and started talking to her. Her English was minimal, but she seemed to enjoy making conversation. She was so lovely and had the prettiest eyes. We exchanged emails, so who knows, I might have made a Turkish friend.
Being stuffed with baked potato we went for a walk and discovered an outdoor fitness playground. There were the most interesting “machines” which we had a lot of fun trying to use. We used this locations to take lots of funny pictures and videos. it was very funny; my stomach hurt from laughing so much.
Today we had to get up early (8am), to catch our cruise down the Bosphorous at 10.30. We nearly did not make this because Bree’s visa was eaten (twice) by the ATM, so we had to go into the bank (twice) to sort this out. Luckily, they gave her her card back after signing a sheet (twice). The tour of the Bosphorous was great, but a bit chilly. We nearly reached the Black sea and we dropped of at Anadolu Kabagi. Here, we walked up to an old castle (well used to be a castle) and ate lunch in the sun with the nicest view over the Bosphorous. It had been a day of extreme temperature differences, but it was perfect in the sun 
Overall, Istanbul is a great and very modern city. Most people wear very modern clothing and are not covered. So far, the male attention/ harrasment, for which we been warned, has been minimal. Right, now I am going to try to upload my pictures, so hopefully, they will be on here shortly.