Big Yellow Taxi

LT
17 June 10pm
Every taxi here is bright yellow. And every second car in Istanbul is a taxi. There are lines of them in every direction at every intersection. And they scream around at full speed, slowing slightly, or swerving, or tooting, if someone gets in the way.  Pedestrian crossings with the lights do exist, but it pays to be a bit vigilant when crossing!  (Still better than Cambodia - the zebra crossings in Siem Reap are considered some kind of road art with no actual practical purpose and absolutely zero significance in terms of people's driving.  But we were warned!)
What Cambodia was to dogs, Istanbul is to cats.  Cats are about as numerous as taxis. In the streets, in the parks, near the mosques, in the town squares. One of the carpet shops near the Blue Mosque had a mother cat and six kittens trying out one of the carpets. Some of the cats look a little worse for wear, but the one that lives outside our window and invites itself inside when we open it is super friendly.  As a friendly dig at my neuroticism (sp?) Peter has named the cat Rabie.  Cute.
After another fairly slow start, today we hit the tourist trail again, this time starting with a picnic lunch in Gulhane Park, near the entrance to Topkapi Palace.  After walking the wrong way round the palace to find the entrance, we circled back and got our tickets.  Once again the place was absolutely crawling with tourists, which did reduce its impact a little.  But even with cameras flashing and people in every direction, the palace is very impressive, four courts of various buildings and council rooms and libraries and kitchens and galleries etc.  Some of the displays were quite amazing too - kaftans once belonging to 15th century leaders, and even one cloak dating back to the 7th century. As well, they had on display a sword dating back to the 10th century BC. Imagine how many bodies that sword has impaled in its life. Not so many in recent times I guess.
We then headed back to the Blue Mosque, our other "must-see" attraction for the day, passing through a mini-bazaar of sorts on the way - the perfect place for the kids to blow a few more tourist dollars.  At the entrance to the Blue Mosque you have to remove your shoes and then ladies are provided with a scarf to cover their arms and shoulders (and heads if they wish), and both ladies and gents have to cover their knees, and a wraparound "skirt" is provided for this purpose if your own clothes are inadequate.  The mosque is in current use, so there are men and women praying in some areas (segregated of course, and the men's section is about 30x the size of the women's section.)  The architecture is stunning, similar in some ways to Aya Sophia, though about a thousand years younger.  The sheer number of people in every direction and the ever present whiff of stinky feet did distract a little from the wonder of the place though.
Grateful for patient children who had endured lots of boring buildings, and lots of walking every day in Istanbul, we decided to try out Turkish McDonalds for dinner, just as a scientific experiment to see if it was the same as in New Zealand.  It was.  But quite a bit cheaper - bonus!
Now back at our flat for one last night as we head to Italy tomorrow.  We met some lovely friendly Italian people on the train today - and learned some very important vocabulary...."uno gelato per favore" :)

Taxi?  Or should I say Taksi?