Anyone been. staying there tonight on way home on wondering if anyone’s got any top tips? what’s the night riding like? ;O)

Oh I thought you were referring to this magical evening!

I dare say you’ll find something to do. I’d go for a kebab, personally….

Blue mosque and grand bazaar is the obvious choice, taxim sq for s bit of grimy real life local “what have you” !

Watch Midnight Express?

Watch Midnight Express?

Note to self, don’t try and smuggle drugs out of Turkey.

blue mosque / topkapi palace / aya sofia are amazing..

Basillica cistern is an interesting underground break from the heat if its hot..!

the grand bazaar is rubbish.. think miles and miles of corridors market stalls selling tat..

the spice bazaar and area around there is much nicer..!

Kara Deniz restaurant for Pide or lamb in clay pot..

Sultanahmet Köftecis near blue mosque for kofte..

Leb-i Derya restaurant above the richmond hotel in beyoglu is a bit pricy but very nice!

fish boats across from the spice bazaar offer a cheap and tasty snack..

er.. thassit from memory..!

some pics here..

Have a proper Turkish Bath. Some nice ones in Istanbul. You’ll basically be assaulted by a fat Freddie Mercury lookalike, but its wierdly enjoyable.

There are some great rooftop restaurants as well. Its a pretty amazing city to look out on at night while drinking bucket-loads of Efes and eating kebabs. It doesn’t get much better than that.

You’ll basically be assaulted by a fat Freddie Mercury lookalike, but its wierdly enjoyable.

WTF? Are you sure of that?

Aye. Its really good. Though when you describe it, it sounds well dodgy.

A gert big moustacheod Turkish bloke (think Freddie mercury after loads of pies and some pretty severe sunbed sessions), gets a grip of you, pummels you senseless and generally bends you into improbable positions, while your body protests by issuing loud cracking noises.

Told you it sounded dodgy. It leaves you feeling unbelievably refreshed though.

Oh… and treat yourself to a ‘proper’ shave at one of the many barbers in the morning. Proper cut-throat razor, then singe all your neck hairs etc off. Again… refreshing stuff

To quote airplane

Joey, have you ever been in a… in a Turkish prison?

thanks all for the advice. weirdly once I’d posted, the site no longer became available- dodgy local connection or ‘big brother’ censorship?
chuckled about the Freddy Mercury bit, oddly I chose to avoid.
Binners, I had several Efes- odd thing is they list rice in the (normal other beer) ingredients.

anyway, back in Calderdale, surviving prisons, culture, etc etc and broke swing arm yesterday, so an action packed weekend in all.

thanks again for the Singletrack Rough Lonely guide.
Holmesey