Hannah's first birthday

mmm.. aren't first birthdays fun!
Today was my beautiful neice Hannah's first one, and what fun she had! Some photos in the albums...

Hannah's Bithday

Acapulco

I know I have been very tardy in getting anything up here about Acapulco, but here it is!

We went to the Estrella D'Oro station on Saturday morning and I successfully, in Spanish, bought three return tickets to Acapulco - first class going down and in the special Diamante bus coming home! Ta Da!!!
We headed off on a very comfortable and uncrowded bus, and some 6 hours and innumerable stops at toll booths later, arrived in sunny Acapulco. The scenery on the way was nothing short of spectacular, and worth the trip by bus just to get to see sme more of Mexico out of the city.

In Acapulco, taxis were plentiful, but seemed to be very downmarket compared to DF.... lots and lots of VWs everywhere! We stayed at the Boca Chica Hotel, as recommended by the Lonely Planet Guide. This is not your high rise touristy hotel, and while it certainly lacked a little in the way of conveniences (no internet - GASP!), dodgy lighting and beds out of the Ark, it made up for these shortcomings by being quiet, green and lacking in tourists and spring breakers!

The first night we went to see the cliff divers... La Quebrada. MMM.. well maybe we were expecting something a little more spectacular - even though it was dark they didn't jump with the lit torches! We were very underwhelmed, although the ride there and back in a VW nearly took out breath away!

Other than this, we went to see the Fort and museum. For more than 250 years (1565-1815), trade between Spain (and thus a large part of Europe) and the 'Orient' was funneled through the port of Acapulco. Fuerte San Diego was built to protect the shipping and trade from English and Dutch pirates. The museum is really well done, and being Sunday, was free! Anyway after that we wandered to the Mask Museum, then down to the Artesans Market where we were badgered into buying things we didn't really want (now there's a surprise!) and then went back to the hotel for beer and swimming! At least the air conditioners in the rooms worked well, so we could cool down a bit. We also moved from the side with a view overlooking the island to the side with a view over the beach, as the room was bigger. The fold out bedllooked like it hadn't been used for a verrrry long time, so we skipped that and Jess and I bunked in together. Not ideal but only for a couple of days. The new side to the hotel gave us a great view over a family beach, where we sat for a couple of hours just watching the comings and goings.
The next few days we just took it pretty easy - swimming in the ocean until the jellyfish and the oil slick came in, and then into the pool!

Acapulco

Mexico City on foot

On Monday, we walked down to the Zocalo, via the LatinAmerica building. Now that I have felt several earth tremors I can appreciate the fact that this building was built with earthquakes in mind! More later but photos here...

Mexico City - exploring the city by foot

Teotihuacán

Next day we organised for 16 PISA people to go to the pyramids at Teotihuacan, the City of the Gods. Our driver from Thursday and a couple of his mates took us out there for a very reasonable price, so we drove out through kilometre after kilometre of suburbs until we got to the pyramids.

This is the site of the Sun and the Moon pyramids, and was Mexico's biggest ancient city and capital of the largest pre-hispanic empire. The city was developed in the early part of the first century AD, and the pyramid of the Sun was built by 150AD. At 2300m above sea level, it was always going to be a challenge to climb , but we all did it! Daniel then climbed to the top of the Pyramid of the Moon - twice - because on the first climb there was no one at the top that he knew to take his photo, so he came down and went back up!

The Avenue of the Dead was the main street of Teotihuacan. It ran for more than 2.5 km, beginning at the Moon Plaza to the north and extending beyond the Ciudadela and the Great Compound complexes to the south.

The avenue divided the city into two sections. Apartment compounds with pyramidal constructions were arranged on both sides of the avenue, often symetrically and sharing the same orientation. This highly planned city-layout suggests that the avenue may have been planned since its earliest phases of urbanization.

The main sector of the avenue was evidently the section between the Moon Pyramid and the Rio San Juan channel. This part of the avenue was lined with long platforms. Access to flanking residential zones was confined to masonry stairways with balustrades. The width of the avenue varies significantly between different sections, ranging from 40 to 95 metres. A large long channel under the floor of the avenue gathered rain water from neighboring architectural units and drained it into Rio San Juan.

As originally built, the Sun Pyramid was approximately 215 by 215 m at the base, and about 63 m high. It was significantly enlarged at least twice in later periods, resulting in a final size of 225 m along each side. The pyramid was located on the east side of the Avenue of the Dead in the northern half of the city. If the area of monumental construction between the Moon Pyramid and the San Juan Canal is regarded as the central zone of the city, the Sun Pyramid is located at its middle. In addition to its geographic centrality, the importance of the pyramid is indicated by a cave located under the structure, which was used for ritual purposes.

The Moon Pyramid is located at the northern end of the Avenue of the Dead, which was the main axis of the city. The pyramid, facing south, was built as the principal monument of the Moon Pyramid complex. The five-tiered platform was attached to the front of the Moon Pyramid. It is said that the present pyramid has interior structures within it.

The consolidated structures around the Moon Plaza demonstrate that the city was highly planned symmetrically and was integrated into the local geography. This may be realized by standing on the center line of the Avenue of the Dead, namely on the main axis of the city. The top of mountain Cerro Gordo dominating the background of the Moon Pyramid exactly coincides at a certain point of the avenue with the top of the pyramid; a pan-Mesoamerican notion that the pyramid represents a sacred mountain seems to have been an integral element of the city plan. The Avenue of the Dead begins at the Moon Plaza, which was surrounded by 15 pyramidal structures including the Moon Pyramid. The Quetzalpapalotl Palace lies immediately to the southwest of the Moon Plaza. Like the Main Plaza in the Ciudadela, the Moon Plaza seem to have been one of the main ritual precincts of the city.

Teotihuacan

Mexico City - first impressions

We flew into Mexico City late on Thursday night. From a distance you could see the lights of this enormous city, and as we got closer it became obvious just how big it was. I can't even remember clearing customs and immigration now, but I guess we did!

Found the hotel, in the Zona Rosa district, which at night is teeming with activity - not always savoury - have seen quite a few prostitutes of both genders! However it's not that far from downtown, and has its own charm.

First album of photos on the picasa web page is sights around Mexico City.

On the first day we hired a taxi driver who drove us around all day for 800 pesos for the four of us - about $20 each. He took us first to the main bullfighting ring in Mexico City - the Monumental Plaza Bull Ring, which holds about 110, 000 people and has fights on a Saturday. It looked hot and uncomfortable, and for those of us with other than tiny derrieres, the concrete seats looked narrow and constricting!!! Next stop was the Frida Kahlo house in Coyoacan. None of us knew much about Frida Kahlo before we went there - only what we had remembered for those of us who'd seen the Selma Hayek film! Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera lived in this house during part of their marriage; they had a stormy relationship and divorced but came back together throughout their lives. They were both communists, and their paintings are passionate and strong and evocative of their times and lives. For example Frida had an affair with Trotsky. There's a lot more info here. The print I bought is shown and described here.

After this we went to Xochimilco...

In pre-Hispanic Mexico , in the valley where Mexico City stands was a lake called Lago Texcoco, which now has long been drained. The Aztecs, long before the Spanish came, dug a series of canals around the edge of the lake, and the mud they dug was heaped on the earth around the canals or on anchored reeds atop the water. These plots of land, appeared like floating islands called chinampas - hence, their name ‘floating gardens’.

To maintain soil fertility, farmers annually scraped muck from the canal bottom and applied decaying aquatic vegetation to the islands to prepare seed beds. The gardens became one of the most productive farming systems ever developed. By the time the Conquistadors came, the area of Xochimilco had become a rich agricultural district where many of the city's flowers, fruits and vegetables were grown.

Today this area, once on the edge of Mexico City, has been engulfed by the city. There are miles of these canals of which only 14 km, lined with farm homes and trees, dominated by the ahuejote, are navigable. The Gardens, besides still producing flowers, fruits and vegetables, have become a favourite spot where both locals and tourists come for a few hours to relax in the canals and enjoy their market culture.

Our trajinera (flat boat), like the 2,000 others that daily ply these canals for both work and pleasure, glided over the water with ease. Smaller trajineras, called chalupas came up alongside and continuously harangued us, offering drinks, food, handicrafts and much more - seemingly everything under the sun was for sale on these floating markets. Some were virtually floating kitchens, which offered a complete hot meal. Very touristy and yet not - there were many locals having parties on these boats, mariachi bands playing - it was all very festive and relaxing.

We went around the next day on the Turibus, which provided us with an overview of the main sights here. We also all got sunburnt, underestimating the strength of the sun as we sat in traffic for hour after hour after hour!

In the Zocalo we went to the archaelogical site of Tenochtitlan.

The Aztecs built their capital city, called Tenochtitlan, in the center of enormous Lake Texcoco. The Aztecs believed they were the “chosen people” of Huitzilopochtli and did everything that he desired of them. During the fourteenth century, Huitzilopochtli told the Aztec chieftain that their new homeland would be on the island in Lake Toxcoco, and when they reached the island they were to look for an eagle eating a snake perched on a cactus growing from a rock or cave surrounded by water. This would be the location where they were to build their city and honor him. They found this location and began to build their city around the year 1325 AD.

The city of Tenochtitlan continued to grow, having an estimated population of 200,000. The city grew to a point where there was no more room for expansion on the island and they were forced to move out into the lake areas. The agricultural portion of this expansion was successful because of the invention of the chinampas or floating gardens. The floating gardens were constructed by bunching twigs together then stacking mud on top of the twigs. They were not anchored at first and could be towed until the plants roots anchored into the lake floor.

The Aztecs connected the island to the mainland by three causeways that ran next to dikes that were built to keep the fresh water of Lake Texcoco separate from other salty lakes of the area. The dikes also protected the agricultural chinampas. Canals ran between the chinampas; they were used to convey traffic through the city, including to and from the market of Tlatelolco.

The city flourished until the year 1521 when Hernandez Cortes and his Spanish army invaded and captured the city. The Spanish also had two other advantages: a lot of tactical skills on behalf of Cortes and smallpox, which devastated the Aztec population. After he defeated the Aztecs, Cortes destroyed most of the buildings that they had built and constructed the new Spanish city on top of the ruins, even using many of the original Aztec building materials in the new construction. He built his home on top of Montezuma’s palace and his cathedral on top of the Aztec temple. After a battle in 1692 the Spanish destroyed most of the art of the Aztecs in the name of Christianity. More info from Wikipedia here.

Mexico City 2007

Mum's birthday

Mum's 70th last weekend - we all had a lovely time and I think she did too!

Photos here:

Gwen's 70th Birthday

Birthdays and concerts galore

This has been a big week - Michael's birthday, Mum's birthday and Roger Waters all on February 1st and then Eric Clapton on the 3rd!
Both concerts were amazing - one for the opportunity to hear some of Waters' new stuff, and also (mainly) to hear the whole of Dark Side of the Moon played live. Different than the version with just Dave Gilmore, but just as awesome.
Eric Clapton - well what can you say - he is still the master, and Layla and Cocaine were fantastic!

A couple of photos... that's all!

Roger Waters

Updates

Well.. I have now got a blogger web album, so I am going to change the way that I blog. Instead of the fomat I have been using up till now, I will post most of my pictures in albums at http://picasaweb.google.com.au/sue.thomson. I think it will be a whole lot easier than cutting and pasting into the blog page, and should make it neater as well. there's link from the blog site.

We've all had a relaxing Christmas - not blazing hot, but a pleasant 18 or so degrees. We had hail the day before that stayed on the ground and on cars - almost looked like a white Christmas!

Australia has throughly trounced the Poms and regained the Ashes - should never have lost them in the first place but it at least made this series a little interesting for a while....

Gallipoli

Gallipoli

At the mouth of the Dardanelles lies the town of Eceabat. The car ferry to Canakkale (and Troy) leaves from here, and we came back to here to go to the Gallipoli Battlefields. The fort below is Kilitbahir Castle. The name Kilitbahir can be translated as 'lock to the sea'. The castle was built by Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror in 1452 to control the straits and secure Istanbul. In later years, the castle was extended, with towers and gun placements being added.
In 1551, Sultan Suleyman repaired the castle, which has a seven-storey keep in the form of a clover leaf in its centre.
With our Turkish guide, we boarded the bus for the Gallipoli Peninsula. The mood was quite sombre, and we listened to the guide talk about the sacredness of the site - for Australians and New Zealanders, and for Turks as well.


The Gallipoli Peninsula has been a bridgehead, a barrier and a meeting place for different cultures over the centuries. In 1973, the Republic of Turkey made the decision to show 'that no war is cause for permanent hostilities but can serve as a basis for friendships as well'. In the spirit of this, the peninsula has been designated a National Park. It covers 33,000 hectares (330 square kilometres). Our guide described it as 330 square kilometres covered in blood and bone.
At the end of the Great War, the Allies returned to the Gallipoli Peninsula and cleared the battlefields of the bodies still unburied. In the nine months of the campaign more than 36,000 Commonwealth soldiers died and Australia suffered 26,094 casualties. The 31 war cemeteries on the peninsula contain 22,000 graves, but only 9,000 of these were able to be identified.
SHRAPNEL VALLEY
Shrapnel Valley got its name in the early days after the landing. As the Turks realised that this had become the highway to the front their guns rained shrapnel shells down upon this area. These shells made a particular whistle before they burst showering those below with lethal pellets. It was said that as the shells could be heard coming soldiers passing through the valley had the chance to take cover. Confronted with such danger, men became ‘fatalists’ and thought that a particular shell had a man’s name and number on it! – ‘Until that shell arrived, it was best to let others see them going proudly rather than flinching’.
Many an Anzac was introduced to war as he moved up these valleys to the ridge. For virtually the whole of the campaign, but especially in the early weeks, further up Shrapnel Valley where it turned to the right and became Monash Valley, Turkish snipers killed or wounded hundreds of men. The Turks held the high ground at places like Dead Man’s Ridge and the Bloody Angle and were never driven from it. Stretcher-bearers, and soldiers bringing up supplies, rations and water, were in constant danger as they made their way along the valley bottom. This sniping was at its worst during the early hours of daylight when the sun was behind the Turkish marksmen. It was while doing his duty in Monash and Shrapnel valleys on 19 May 1915 that the best known Anzac of all – John Simpson - ‘The Man with the Donkey – met his death.

ANZAC COVE
Some 27,000 Australian, New Zealand, British and Indian troops were put ashore in Anzac Cove between 25 April and 1 May 1915. While the great majority of these troops were Australians and New Zealanders there were also units that aren't usually taught to us as part of the legend - the Ceylon Planter’s Rifle Corps, the Indian Mule Cart Transport, the Zion Mule Corps, the 7th Indian Mountain Artillery and about 2,500 men of the British Royal Naval Division, Chatham, Portsmouth, Nelson and Deal Battalions. All of these units fought alongside the Anzacs.

"General Birdwood asked that the Beach between the two knolls, being the original landing-place, should be known as “Anzac Cove”; and the name “Anzac”, till then the code name of the Army Corps, was gradually applied to the whole area. Day and night the Cove was full of the noises and sights of a great harbour – launches with tows moving constantly in and out, the shrill whistles of small crafts, the hoots of trawlers, the rattle of anchor-chains, the hiss of escaping steam. At either end of the Beach was the hospital – the New Zealand station at the north end, the Australian at the south. Colonels Howse and Giblin would not display the Red Cross on their station, crouched as it was among supply depots which the Turks might justifiably shell. Along the middle of the Beach were long lines of picketed mules. Even by day the strand between the growing supply stacks and the water was a crowded thoroughfare. Odd men, parties, strings of animals, jostled through it, lucky if they escaped the kick of a mule. During shell fire the casual hands would quickly disappear behind stacks of biscuit-boxes; but the working parties carried on without regarding it. [Charles Bean, The Story of Anzac]

And so we arrived at Anzac Cove. Looking down from the road onto the beach, the thoughts in my head were all about what on earth was going through those young men's minds as they landed in this inhospitable place. For those that landed, it was an absolute nightmare, and of course we know how many didn't even land. This poem was written by soldier-poet Leon Gellert, who landed on April 25th, 1915 and was evacuated in July with dysentery.

Anzac Cove

There’s a lonely stretch of hillocks
There’s a beach asleep and drear
There’s a battered broken fort beside the sea.
There are sunken trampled graves
And a little rotting pier
And winding paths that wind unceasingly.

There’s a torn and silent valley;
There’s a tiny rivulet
With some blood upon the stones beside its mouth.
There are lines of buried bones
There’s an unpaid waiting debt
There’s a sound of gentle sobbing in the south.

The success of the Turks at Gelibolu was (very simply and in a few words) the result of the poor planning and arrogance of the Allies, and the inspirational leadership of the Turks by Mustafa Kemal. For the first time, Turks were fighting for their homeland. During the Battle of the Landing, Kemal has been credited with one of the most famous orders issued to Turkish troops during the whole campaign – ‘I don’t order you to attack, I order you to die. In the time which passes until we die other troops and commanders can take our place’. After the war, Kemal went on to be become the first President of the Turkish Republic in October 1923. He became known as Atatürk, meaning father of Turks, for his modernisation of the country after centuries of Ottoman rule.

more photos at http://picasaweb.google.com.au/sue.thomson/Gallipoli

Troy

The archeological site of Troy is that of nine cities.. the first from around 3000BC and the last around the first century AD. Troy is situated on the shore of the Dardanelles, and long ago was probably a lot closer than it is now, giving it the perfect strategic position to control shipping through the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus to the Black Sea.
Of course the legends of Troy abound, and most will know of it from the Homerian tales in the Iliad (or the godawful Brad Pitt movie!). Anyway the Tojan horse from the movie is at Canakkele, and the archeological ruins are at Troy. It is an amazing feeling to stand on the hilltop in Troy and look out over the fields on which the Trojan Wars were fought...

More adventures in Istanbul

Today we decided to explore some of the sites we hadn't been to on our grand tour!
First stop was the Basilica Cistern, built in 532 AD. This is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city. The cistern is an underground chamber of 143 by 65 metres, capable of holding 80, 000 cubic metres of water. There are 336 marble columns, each 9m high, supporting the ceiling, and two of the columns have as a base medusa heads. All of the columns have been recycled from other buildings at the time of building. Yerabatan Seray (Basilica Cistern) was constructed in the mid-500's A.D. during the reign of Justinian I in order to supply water to palaces located nearby. The water was brought in from water sources in the Belgrade Forest via aquaducts, and then stored in cisterns such as this one. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the cistern fell largely unused for centuries.
The acoustics are wonderful and they play classical music, which provides a beautiful, atmospheric experience.
The cistern was used in the Bond movie From Russia, with love.


We continued our meandering around the streets of Istanbul, heading towards our personal Mecca, the Grand Bazaar!


We stopped for a cup of (very bad) coffee in this cemetery - it's not often you are able to do this!
Then continuing on until we did reach the market, where we had some intensive retail therapy (again!), and recovered with PROPER coffee!!!

Then... an experience that I'll certainly never forget! arlier in the day we had picked up a brochure from the Cagaloglu Hamami - but I was unwilling to backtrack all the way there from the bazaar. Fortunately the Cemberlitas Hamami is just over the road, so while my friends went for tea, I went for a bath! Prices are shown for the Cagaloglu bath.. just to give you an idea!

OK, well first step, of course, is to strip off. Challenging... but all women, and the attendants are all just in their knickers, so it should be ok. GULP! They give you a locker in which to put your clothes, and a cloth (pestemal) to wrap around you, plus a pair of slip on shoes - the floor is marble, and both warm and wet.
Inside, you enter the hararet, or hot room. This is really a Turkish bath - very steamy and hot. In the middle of the room, underneath a domed roof pierced by windows so that it looks like stars, there is a large marble platform that you sit on to begin the 'cooking'. This is the room, but there were around 20 naked women in there having a bath, plus similarly naked attendants. It was quite crowded and very busy! Every now and then, the women attendants would start singing, which added to the enjoyment of all concerned I think.

After you've softened up, a masseur rubs your body down with a coarse glove, gives you a vigorous massage, covers you with soap bubbles, washes you front and back and finally dumps several buckets of water over your head. It's a bit tricky the first time she asks you to turn over on the marble slab - one because you have no idea what you're being asked to do at first, and then two because the marble is damned slippery and it's easy to slide right off it. It's hard to maintain dignity in all situations, however I just kept reminding myself that there was nobody there who knew me!!! After the sluicing, the attendant grabbed me by the wrist and directed me to a spot on the floor next to one of the basins, washed my hair thoroughly and then dumped more water over me until I was soap-free. After this I was free to either stay or go back to a cooler room to recover! Then back to the changing rooms, half an hour to get the knots out of my hair and out I went, feeling clean and invigorated!

Adventures in Istanbul - out touring

Today, with the PISA meeting all wrapped up, the Turkish Ministry of Education turned on the grand tour of Istanbul for us. With the weather overcast and cold, we set off in buses early so as to avoid the papal entourage again. And what a day they had planned for us!
First stop was the Sultanahmet area and the Hippodrome. Sultanahmet is the heart of Byzantium, Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire. The Hippodrome was the centre of Byzantium's life for 1000 years and then of the Ottomans for another 400. It was sacked by the soldiers of the fourth crusade in 1204. It's heady to stand here and imagine chariots racing around the streets, instead of the packs of dogs there now chasing every car that moves, particularly police cars! In the middel of the Hippodrome is the Obelisk of Theodosius, carved in Egypt around 1450BC. The Byzantine emporer Theodosius had it brought to Constantinople in 390AD, and erected on a marble pedestal engraved with scenes of his own life and times.

Next stop was the famous Blue Mosque. This was built by Sultan Ahmet in the 1600s, and it was built to surpass the beauty of the nearby Aya Sophia. It is the only mosque outside Mecca to have 6 minarets, and the courtyard is the biggest of all the Ottoman mosques. Inside there are tens of thousands of blue tiles, hence it's name, and more than 250 windows.


Next stop on our tour was the Aya Sophia. This was built by the Emporer Justinian in about 530.

It was constructed on Byzantium's acrpolis, which had been the site of two earlier churches, one built by Constantine's son in 360 and another built by Theodosius in 415 and destroyed in riots in 532. This one's clearly doing better! The Byzantine emporers were crowned here. It was the the greatest church in Christendom until the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, when Mehmet the Conqueror took posession of it for Islam and converted it into a mosque.
It is highly significant for both Muslims and Christians, and recognising this, Attaturk proclaimed it a mueum in 1934. It is being restored. Originally, the dome's interior was lined with more than 30 milllion gold mosaic tiles,and the 30m dome is supported by 40 ribs constructed of special hollow bricks, resting on four huge pillars which are concealed in the walls.

The Christian mosaics depicting Jesus and Mary were plastered over when it was converted to a mosque - these are in the process of being restored, and thetotal effect is fantastic. Outside the museum are some tombs - that of Selim (the Sot!) and five of his sons, murdered on the same night in 1574 to ensure the peaceful succession of his oldest son Murat III, and the graves of 19 of Murat's sons murdered in 1595 to ensure Mehmet III's succession. Times were hard in those days.




Next stop on our tour was the Topkapi Palace. Topkai was home to Selim the Sot, who drowned in the bathtub after drinking too much champagne, Ibrahim the Mad, who lost his mind after being locked up in the palace Kafes, and Roxelana, beautiful and malevolent consort of Suleyman the Magnificent. Mehmet the Conqueror built Topkapi in 1453, and subsequent sultans lived there until the 19th century, when they moved to Dolmabahce Palace.
This place is absolutely enormous, and I'm sure the short time we spent there barely scratched the surface of what the palace as to offer as a museum. Inside the grounds is a church built in about 540, which replaces a christian church and before that a pagan temple. One one side is a little fountain where the imperial executioner washed his tools after beheadings; the heads were then displayed on pikes above the gate.
Through the middle gate, all other than the sultan and his mother had to dismount, and the second court is where the business of runnig the empire took place. Topkapi is built as a series of pavilions, kitchens, barracks, audience chambers and sleeping quarters built around a central enclosure. The kitchens, down one side of the place, hold a fabulous colelction of pottery, glassware and silverware, and in the roof are huge chimneys. Must have been hot as hades in summer!

Moving around is the Gate of Felicity, or the Gate of the White Eunuchs, which was the entrance to the Sultan's private area. We didn't get to see the harem, which was disappointing.
Around a little further is the Sacred Safekeeping Rooms (sounds like Monty Python doesn't it?!) In here are such relics as a hair from the Prophet Mohammed's beard, his footprint in clay (very big!), his sword, and a tooth. In the room an imam chants from the Quran.
The Topkapi treasury holds a fantastic collection. There is the sword of Suleyman the Magnificent, the throne of Ahmed I, and the arm and skull of John the Baptist, which were in the hands of the Byzantines and fell to the Ottomans with the Conquest. The Topkapi dagger is stunning. There are three huge emeralds set into the hilt and a watch in the pommel!


There is also the famous Spoonmaker's diamond - so called because it was originally found in a street dump and bought by a street peddler for three spoons... it's only 86 carats after all, and the fifth largest diamond in the world!

This armour looked like it came straight from lord of the Rings!


Last stop on our trip, well so we thought anyway, was the Dolmabahce Palace. By this stage of the day we were getting a little overwhelmed by all that we had seen, and Dolmabahce is the glitziest of the lot! Firstly, you have to don little pink plastic booties in order to protect the flors.


The interior was designed by the same guy who did the Paris Opera. There is a Baccarat crystal balustrade on the staircase, Bohemian crustal chandeliers weighing between 1000 and 4000 kg, crystal candelabras, git ceilings and walls, intricate parquetry floors covered by Turkish carpets and a crystal piano and chairs. It's VERY hard to describe it.... you just have to see it!!!



The other famous thing about this palace is it's where Ataturk died, and all of the clocks in the palace are stopped at 9.05am, which is when he died. This is the bed in which he died...
Ok, we were pretty much all palaced out by now, so back onto the bus we went, ostensibly for home. No, there was one last stop... something special ... planned just for us.. oh god, I thought, it's going to be bloody carpets!!! No, wrong, it was a special leather show, for which the tour guide no doubt got a cut. Some of us boycotted this and went next door for a very good cup of coffee. We then organised the buses before the guide came back out - one to go directly back to the hotel and the other for those not totaly knackered who wanted to put themselves back into the hands of the tour guide. We found out later that night that this group went to a rug outlet... buhahahahaha!!!!