Last Days - Countdown - Day 5

Had breakfast with our friends, took a farewell photo - Warren, Jon, me, Lyn, Armando, David, Donna and bus driver Hussein. Fred left for Italy.

Then we hitched a ride on our bus to the Sultanamet - Jon offered us a ride since they were going that way anyway - and bid a sad goodbye to our friends.  We couldn’t check in to our new hotel until noon, so we took the tram north to see the new palace, but it’s closed Thursday so we’ll try again tomorrow. Went back to the hotel and saw the room and decided it was a dump, got our deposit back and went down the street where we found a much better hotel for less money. We are right on the main drag so it will probably be noisy, the tram goes right by the front door, but the Blue Mosque is right across the street and the view doesn’t get any better!!! All these were taken right out the window.

Well, this one wasn't out the window.

Pretty warm today. We went to the Grand Bazaar and walked around in and around it. On the streets behind it gets even crazier and more crowded if that’s possible.

Look at all the buttons! And at the end, around the corner to the left, there are even more buttons!!!

Answers to some of your comments:
The blue sky you see in some photos is real. It didn’t even look real to us when we stood and looked at it, but it was. Around Istanbul it’s often hazy, and I noticed smog around several of the cities. Even in Cappadocia I saw some smog.

Someone asked if there are restrictions in Cappadocia about where tourists can go in order not to destroy the rock formations. I’m not sure, but a lot of what the balloon flew over is not readily accessible without a lot of hiking. I would guess most of the tourists come by bus and are shepherded around.