And some more Istanbul...

I have too many pics from this trip, it was hard to edit it down for here. There was just so much action and so many things going on in Istanbul...here's one last lot for this blog anyway. The rest can go in a photo book for coffee table viewing, when hopefully I can whip up sis on the bbq and maybe even some borek...

I wish I could have captured inside the Grand Bazaar better. It's a city in itself, with 4000 shops. It's been going since 1461. One of the things I remember most about Istanbul is tea! Little glass tea cups everywhere, left in doorways, being delivered on trays by lads that run all over the streets delivering the precious brew...

Nice street near Sultanahmet

On Galatasaray bridge - so many people fish off the bridge

Bulli and glass of Efes

Waiting for Christmas lunch

The Spice market was crazy crowded. There were also shops around that sold everything from Christmas decorations, rows and rows of tinsel that I'm sure end up in Crazy Clarks, to buttons that go fasten jeans. It did feel like a big trade hub

Aya Sofia at night

Underground cistern. Was undiscovered for many years until an Englishman (I think) discovered locals hauling up fresh water in their backyard. A scene from a James Bond movie was filmed down here

Excellent archaeological museum. Good for a rainy afternoon

As you can imagine we had some amazing food, but our favourite was this tiny family-run kebab shop in the Bazaar. We just let the guy order for us and it was so delicious. Soup, drink and a sis all for about a fiver.

Aya Sofia - Christian mosaics of gold, Islamic discs

Istanbul part two

We stayed in the most lovely family-run hotel in Sultanahmet. Was so beautiful walking past the Aya Sofia and Blue Mosque all the time. We'd get trams and funiculars around the city as well, went through a lot of tram tokens!

There were carts selling roasted chestnuts, corn cobs and bagel/pretzel like bread with cream cheese (can't remember their proper name) everywhere

Nevizade was one of the main restaurant and nightlife streets. Very buzzy once it got going.

Istanbul part one - Topkapi Palace

The unseasonably early and very heavy snow in London didn't stop us from getting out of town for Christmas and heading to the megacity that is Istanbul. We spent a good half day exploring the Topkapi Palace

Just me and the Bosphorus

Amazing mosaics. Inside we saw some interesting relics as well from biblical times

Peaceful spot away from the crowds of Istanbul

I think the Harem was one of the most interesting parts of the palace - not too many people were looking around there and you could really imagine it being the bustling centre of court life 200 years ago

Christmas at Win's

We had an early Christmas with Win, Dan, Jane and Lisa. Win and Dan cooked up an Italian feast, and Jane did a super job wrapping the breadsticks in parma ham ; )

The decorations were absolutely amazing, the food delicious and it was a super celebration, complete with home made gingerbread men to take home. A few days later we kept the festive spirit going when Jane, Win, Bulli and I went to the Panto at Wimbledon. The Hoff (David Hasselhoff) was starring in Peter Pan - so cheesy but heaps of fun and I must say the Hoff is a great entertainer!

Kellie was quick with a text in the morning to make sure we picked up the breaking news. Here's Jane with the day's big headline

Win, Jane and Lisa

Win's festive table

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We didn't buy a Christmas tree this year but we did still head up to Columbia Road flower market to enjoy seeing everyone else purchase their festive fir. There are just truckloads and truckloads of trees, it's amazing. The barrow boys are all shouting out the prices trying to entice buyers, then your tree is wrapped up in netting to keep it tight til you get home. I love seeing people wrestle their trees on the walk home. It was a lovely Sunday up around the Spitalfields area, the sun was out and we got some great empanadas from the Brick Lane markets as well. It's one of the best places to be in London on a Sunday morning.

Poinsettias aplenty

Fruit stall on Brick Lane

Mistletoe

Before it's wrapped...

Now to get the tree home

Sights

High Street Kensington on a rainy day...

Global village

To mark the weekend that the clocks go back it's important to get out and about, take your mind off the fact it will be dark at 4pm everyday....so the end of BST saw me French on Friday night (thank you Bleeding Heart bistro), Italian on Saturday night (we're all having the Spaghetti a La Barca please) and Iranian on Sunday afternoon at the delightful and unassuming Patogh, and maybe a night cap at the Curtains Up to round the weekend off nicely...

Bulli, Lisa and Dale at Patogh

Autumn

I love walking along and crunching the big leaves under my feet - I'll get off a few tube stations early for the pleasure...

Something weird about autumn - you notice more light shining in the bedroom window - as the trees become more bare the streetlights peek through...

Wine tasting

It's always fun when friends come to visit and this summer Mick Walker, wine and foodie extraodinaire, came from Oz for a break and to entertain the Shorrolds/West Ken/Loughton crew. So it was a great excuse for a wine tasting. Mick picked a great selection of French summer favourites, gave us a little spiel on each and all that was left was for us to sit back and sip away!

Mick and his wine selection for the evening

Parisian summer break

Visiting Paris on the August bank holiday weekend means two things - no Parisians in Paris, and long queues at the tourist sites, so it's different to other times of year. A definite highlight was the bike ride around the vast grounds of Versailles. The queues for the palace were way too much for us to bear, but a stroll through the gardens, past the fountains and down to the bike hire and we were away...

We rode along beautiful country lanes, past lovely ponds and Marie Antoinette's digs...

I'm the little speck you can see

The palace in the background

Bulli surveys the beautifully laid out Orangerie

The fountains dance to classical music

Meanwhile, back in the city - Place Madeleine

Sacre Coeur watches over the quiet city

I love to ride my bicycle

Bulli cruising past the thatched cottages

Well it was an adventure but once I remembered where we had to pick the bikes up, learnt how to use gears and stopped freaking out about cycling to our B&B before dark (with quite some additional distance given I messed up the bike pick-up), I loved loved loved our 100kms of cycling on the Isle of Wight. There are so many disused train lines on the island which are now cycling tracks, for a beginner like me it was the perfect cycling destination.

The view from our lovely B&B