We're off to Istanbul for food, culture and a relaxing time. Let's go.
We've arrived in Istanbul team!
We're getting a cab into our AirBnB.
Interesting fact to note is a lot of the cash withdrawal machines apparently you need like
a Turkish ID to use, so you have to choose wisely.
We just got blocked by the sheep crossing the road.
They were clearly goats, Eliska.
Anyway we headed to the Galata area which is where we were staying.
Right team, we are in our AirBnB.
I need to get to bed because it's late here.
We've got an early start.
We have a whole tour of Istanbul tomorrow and a cooking class and I am very excited,
so onto day two.
Good morning, and today we are doing a tour of Istanbul.
We got woken up at about 5am by a call to prayer which I don't know why I didn't think
would happen, but it went on for a long time and it was very surreal getting woken up by
that, I thought I was like in a dream or something.
Anyway, we're getting an Uber to our tour.
We have an array of odd shirts going on.
We started our day with a cheese and spinach puff from this lovely cafe called Maya's Corner
and we were off on our walking tour.
I'll link everything in the description below by the way.
We opted for a three and a half hour free walking tour which took us round some of Istanbul's
iconic sights.
Oh my god, this is the best thing I've ever seen in my entire life.
Walking round the city, with its views of the Bosporus and lavish architecture, you
can definitely tell this was once the capital of a great empire.
With a population of over 15 million people, the place is massive and there's only so much
you can cover on foot, but a walking tour is a great way to get a sense of the city's
culture and rich history.
So we're in the Suleymaniye Mosque.
Suleyman the magnificent's mosque.
It's a magnificent mosque.
The boys are wearing skirts because their shorts are too short.
I love Islamic architecture.
Very airy, very beautiful.
Like me.
It's airy and beautiful like Jack.
What's your highlight from the tour so far?
Highlight from the tour so far is... erm... was those cats.
There's some really good cats.
A lot of cats.
And this is also a lot of sweat.
shiny situation.
Excellent skirts.
What's your highlight form the tour?
Wearing a skirt.
You're actually in the mosque's colours.
Like the yellow and blue situation.
Highlight form the tour so far... erm...
I've just enjoyed walking around seeing the architecture.
Quite excited maybe to go to the Grand Bazaar sometime.
We're doing this tour on a Sunday, so the grand Bazaar is actually closed, which means
we have to go back for it.
So far, Istanbul is like really really beautiful.
People are so nice.
It's actually like a European city.
Can I be in this shot?
Yes, sorry!
It feels like a bit of a melting pot of Western and Eastern cultures.
As I try to put my shoes on and fall over at the same time.
Yeah, really beautiful.
Very hot.
Very excited about getting a Doner Kebab in a second.
that's my true highlight.
We trotted - well Jack trotted, the rest of us walked to claim our much deserved and very
delicious kebab at a place near the mosque that I won't even attempt to pronounce.
We have a kebab reward for walking around.
How are yours?
Good?Good.
Enjoying it?
Not happy about the single use plastics.
Yeah, single use plastics.
And the final stop on our tour was the Spice Bazaar.
Built in 1660, it's a beautiful if touristy spot to pick up some spices, surprise surprise.
Do you see the almonds hazelnuts.
So this is excellent quality from the shop that you can see.
The quality that you take to your mother.
And take it to our mothers we did.
For papa?
Yes.
Do a heart.
Ok, a heart.
After picking up some Turkish delight, we headed to the one place we'd missed on our
tour, the Hagia Sophia.
I'm doing bobble head because I'm so hot.
But we are in the Hagia Sophia which is really impressive actually.
The structure is massive when you go inside.
There's a huge amount of space.
We're in the third Hagia Sophia.
This is the third attempt and it is where domed ceilings were first invented and every
church every mosque, any other dome structure around the world is just a copy of this.
It's like the first computer.
Built in the 6th century, its massive central dome was and still is considered a feat of
engineering and the pinnacle of Byzantine architecture.
Originally a Greek Orthodox Church, then an Ottoman imperial mosque, the Hagia Sophia
is no longer a place of worship.
It has turned into a museum.
As a result, it's a rare place where you can enjoy Islamic and Christian symbolism side
by side.
I'm not sure if you can hear but there's an ongoing call to prayer coming from around
there, which I think is the Blue mosque.
Our last activity of the day and the thing that I'd been most excited for was a Turkish
food cooking class at a local restaurant.
This is the result, like what you're cooking right now the stuffed grape leaves with the
sour cherries is this.
So result will be looking like that.
Hopefully.
We learnt to make dolmas, which are rice stuffed vine leaves that a lot of you will be familiar with.
For mains, we made a meat or veggie stuffed melon.
The taste depends on what the animal feeds on also.
So that's why I mention always the Mediterranean market, the Lebanese market, the Greek market.
The goat is here.
Can I taste?
Sure.
Jack, can I have some?
He's been eating it for the last ten minutes.
Has he actually?
Yes.
So just then you pretended you were asking for consent.
And finally a borek pastry.
Salty and sweet.
Delicious.
I won best pastry.
That's coz he didn't see ours.
Was it better than that?
Definitely.
We ate everything we cooked of course and our guide even had someone pop next door and
get us a dessert we apparently could not miss out on, or so we were told.
This is a dessert made of chicken breast I'm told.
Chicken breast pudding.
So I'm about to try it.
Oh my god, it's sticky!
Tastes quite nice.
It's like rice pudding.
We're back from all the tours and now it's like 10pm and I am beat but I feel so much
better now that I've taken a shower.
I just felt so like hot and sticky.
It's been thirty degrees all day pretty much and it's very hot to be moving around in.
I'm not used to this kind of heat.
Istanbul first impressions I'm really impressed, I think it's so beautiful and I think like
the mix of the cultures and architectures is really stunning and everyone's super nice,
everyone always wants to talk to you and like is really friendly so I'm enjoying that quite
a lot, but anyway, I think I am going to end this vlog for today.
Thank you so much for watching guys, subscribe and we'll see you in the next one.
Bye!
Sorry what?
Sauted butter!