Monday, May 19, 2008

A trip to Istanbul

As i was getting ready to go to Istanbul, i must've been extremely confused, because all i could think about was that Turkey is an extremely warm country, so i should pack sandals and tops.

But i couldn't be more wrong, it was freezing cold in Istanbul at the beginning of May, and it was just my luck that right before leaving the apartment i grabbed a light jacked and stuffed it into the luggage.



The first day we visited around, Aya Sofia and Topkapi Palace (the sultan's palace) being our main interest, beautiful places with lots of history hidden between those walls. I could not miss Grand Bazaar, were you can negotiate the prices and you can find great bargains (especially in gold jewelry) - but also a lot of fakes bags and t-shirts (there were shops literally with hundreds of Prada bags, or maybe Gucci or D&G - apparently the favorite brands here). Or a funny thing: some shops had on display exactly the same t-shirt, in several versions, only the brand being different (Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste etc). Also a nice place was the Olivium Shopping Outlet Center, the biggest outlet in Turkey, were i did bought some things.



The reason why we went to Istanbul was actually the F1 Grand Prix, that took place that weekend. It was still freezing cold, although sunny, so i bought my self a nice warm Ferrari hood that was my uniform for the 2 days race, till the Brazilian Massa won it.



On a side note, i simply loved the Turkish cuisine. I personally recomend you, if you ever go to Istanbul, to eat dinner at Feriye LokantasI, a great elegant place near Bosfor or at 360, that's a hip hot restaurant/bar, located at the last floor of an old building, with a superb panorama over the city.

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