The Spice Bazaar in Istanbul

Today we had a great first day in Istanbul the city of Asia and Europe. In the morning we went to the magnificent Blue Mosque built 400 years ago by the same stone masons that built the Taj Mahal! Its wonderful in Turkey how foreigners are welcome and able to enter Mosques, this should be the case everywhere. We have also been getting lots of Turkish tea, it comes in regular like a British black tea blend and fruit flavors, the apple is wonderful. I will definately be taking some home. Locals don't seem to add milk to their tea or coffee (yep Jenn I had one for you!) so I ended up buying buttermilk in the grocery store!

We went to the Grand Bazaar it was amazing and we will return but it was hot and crowded and little Jasmine fell asleep in our arms so took the metro to the galata bridge for fish. I tried to find a recommendation by a fellow blogger but with a sleeping babe we settled for one under the bridge and little Jasmine took her nap! it was cool as you could see the locals fishing over the bridge and see their lines in front of you!

Look at the fishing lines above!

I ordered some Meze very delicious vegetable dishes

We all shared a fresh grilled sea bass, caught right there, it was lovely

wow look how old the spice bazaar is, Istanbul sits between Asia and Europe and you can see the influence of Indian spices and ones of the Mediterrenean truly fascinating, again we plan to return I want the meatball seasoning and fish one!

Inside the Ancient Bazaar/Market

Beautiful lamps for sale

Spices and tea the smell is divine

Turkish delight we got a lot of samples as the store keepers kept giving it to Jasmine, folks here adore kids and are very kind to families, an older gentleman gave up his chair for me when Jasmine was sleeping and of course free cakes!

Going back here to get some to take to my Granddad next week this was his clever request

You can even find caviar in the Bazaar, they have a gourmet taste

Street Vender selling fruit, I love this as a dietitian there is fresh fruit available on most streets the cherries are so good

Simit folks tell me its like a Bagel there is a baker a few minutes walk from our apartment so I think this will be breakie!

Lunch is going to be a fish sandwich from here, this has to be one of the coolest things ever, little boats with chefs onboard grilling fresh fish from the sea and selling at a seaside restaurant. As recommended by @OneTribeGourmet on twitter, thanks for the awesome tip

Much love from Turkey