After a late night we woke up quite late but breakfast went on until 11.00am.
We went to the Blue Mosque and wandered round, did some shopping.We decided as it was humid the best place to be was on the Bosphorous. We walked down there and had lunch first at one of the many cafes under Galata Bridge. 5tl for a fish sandwich and 2tl for limonata. Compare that to prices in the TRNC and this is a major city!
We then did a 2 hour cruise for 10tl each. You can also have an audio guide for 5tl, either in exchange for your passport or 100tl deposit. We left the deposit. On board and half way round we had a shower of rain but no one cared and we all just sat out in it. It was lovely as it was so humid. We had been on a cruise before but it was just nice to be in a breeze.
We managed to spend the entire day without being offered a carpet for sale!
The restaurant in our hotel is called Paşazade and serves Ottoman cuisine which really is delicious. We eat there every time we are in Istanbul. As it was August we had to reserve a table in the rooftop restaurant. They also have a restaurant at street level, with tables inside and out but the rooftop terrace is the best place to eat with stunning views. Paşazade is currently number 3 restaurant in Trip Advisor for Istanbul!
The meal was as good as always, the only difficult thing is choosing between the vast selection of dishes. They start off by putting 4 rolls for each of you with a dish of herby cream cheese! Then the Roasted Root of Spinach as a starter was so good, as were the other courses!
Service was excellent and not intrusive. I was taking photos of the views from the terrace, sunsetting and clouds behind mosques and the waiter came and asked if he could see the photos I had taken. The staff are very friendly.
We had Turkish coffees to finish and then they brought an enormous tagine size container of mint Turkish Delight! I guess they know after all that food you can eat very little.
