The second day I was ill(migraine). So Nico went to have breakfast with the kids and they came back very enthusiastic about (a) the breakfast and (b) the view. The photos here were made by Roos that morning, from the (still covered) roof terrace where the breakfast was served.
In the photo to the left the Hagia Sophia (where we were the previous day) and in the photo below the Galatatower, across the Golden Horn (see day 4)
More about the breakfast in the Yasmak Sultan at day 5 (including video!) .

The Grand Bazaar

Nico goes to the Grand Bazaar with the kids.
Our hotel is situated very conveniently indeed and it is only a short walk. Roos took the pictures of the Grand Bazaar below. The last day we will go once more to the Grand Bazaar, all four of us, to buy loads of souvenirs.

They have a break at the Beyazitsquare, close to the university (photo to the right). Below some more pictures taken by Roos that morning.

When they've finished they buy sesameseed buns (simit) and drinks (visne, cherry juice)and come back to the hotel for a lunchbreak.
In the afternoon they go first lounging and reading in the park (the Gülhane - "realm of roses" - park, former garden of the Topkapi palace) for a while. The park is right at the end of our street.
Later Roos and Nico go to the Archeological Museum, which also has its entrance in the park.

Photo above: tiled pavilion at the Archeological Museum. Below piece from a wall from Babylon and details.
There are three buildings, Roos preferred the one about Babylon etc.

 

In the evening I have recovered enough to join the family for dinner. Happily so, because it is very nice between the cushions on the roof of Özler, in the street behind the hotel, the IbniKemal Caddesi.
There are a lot of tourists (especially Dutch, like us, it must be in some Dutch guidebook on Istanbul) on the roof, but the floor below is filled with Turkish men watching soccer on television.
In Istanbul we ate well every night but the food served by Özler was the very best of all and the most fun (lounging in the cushions).

On the hotelroom television I saw later that day we were lucky that our original plans (to go to Taksim and Beyoglu, this saturday, 1st of May, International Workers' Day ) were off because of my illness: There was an enormous crowd on Taksim Square because today it was the first Labour Day in 31 years that a demonstration was allowed at Taksim Square! (more about this on YouTube, CNN or wikipedia)

Drinking tea meanwhile has become a real ritual for Eva:
Add sugarcube after sugarcube until it is sweet enough.....

Finally we go to buy baklava and walk on to the Sirkeci station. The railwaystation that used to be the last stop of the famous Orient Express from Paris.
It still has a special atmosphere -but this goes for a lot of places in this city. The platforms look forlorn (clik the photo of the platform below to the right to get some -spooky- life).
We wander a little further, towards the Golden Horn, to the ferries near Sirkeci.