Books and towers

Istanbul

No cruise ships passed by our window this morning so we knew we were in for an easier day on the streets. K wanted to do a little shopping and we ended up having an interesting conversation with a shop assistant on our mutual thoughts about politicians and wars, confirming that people really are the same all over the world, and want the same things for themselves and their families.

We then caught the tram and a bus to Taksim to visit some book shops in the hunt for a children's book in English about Turkey. The long pedestrian street was a mix of western shops and Turkish shops, as were the people we saw. After a couple of book shops we bought a book, it was for an older age group than we were looking for but it was the best we were able to find. After walking up to Taksim Square we searched for the bus stop that Google Maps told us had to be there, we eventually found it down a long flight of stairs to an underground road, we thought it was the way to a train station so missed it originally.

That afternoon M walked across the bridge to Karakoy. This looked like a good area for bars and restaurants, so we think we'll try to stay in this area if we ever stop over in Istanbul again. Next it was up to the base of the Galata tower (which was closed), then back to the hotel via Gulhane Park.