Istanbul Day 2

Today we sampled the extraordinary delights of the Topkapi Palace, the symbolic and political centre of the Ottoman Empire for four centuries. Here the Sultans operated the cruel institutions of the Harem and the Cage amongst opulent splendour. We ate lunch in the palace gardens in the sunshine, surrounded by the scent of tulips and hyaccinths. All was calm. Then we set off to the Spice market.

I will admit to having a romantic idea of what this would be like. We arrived and instantly realised our error. A market on a Saturday. We basically were sucked into the market by the crowd and emerged some twenty minutes later breathless and laughing. How anyone manages to buy anything from the central stalls is beyond me. There were small children and old ladies being trampled under foot!! As we caught our breath at the end, a motorcyclist actually stopped and contemplated taking his bike through it. It was quite an experience, so today's blip is a shot I somehow managed to take on the way through.

Our final tourist stop of the day was a visit to Yerebatan Sarnici, the Sunken Cistern, an enormous underground cistern built under the core of Sultanahmet. It was probably built in the fourth century by the Emperor Constantine and was supplied by aqueducts with water from the Belgrade Forest. For something so prosaic, it was deeply atmospheric, the columns cleverly uplit and carp swimming lazily through the low lit waters.

Dinner was taken at the 'world famous' Pudding Shop, a stopping point for people to leave messages for other travellers on the hippy trail back in the 60s.