Turkish Nights, Turkish Delights

I'm very sorry that the Baptism post came so late. Wanna know why? It's only because I've been on a business trip to Istanbul all blooming week. 

You wanna know what it was about? It was a conference about Public-Private Partnership financing arrangements for renewable energy schemes in developing countries... now are you wishing you didn't ask? Do you want me to just talk about Turkey and pretend like the "business" part of the trip never happened? Your wish is my command.

So sadly, I only had one night of exploring at my disposal, but don't worry, folks, I made the most of it. I was staying in Beyoğlu, which, regrettably, is not the Old town, so I quickly had to give up any dreams of visiting the blue mosque or the grand bazaar. But all was not lost, the İstiklâl Caddesi was about 1km from my hotel. Beyoğlu is an old immigrant district in Istanbul. The İstiklâl Caddesi is a beautiful old cobbled street, lined with 18th century French apartments, confectionery shops, perfumeries, old bookshops and a handful of  Starbucks' and Burger Kings (oh globalisation... where would we be without you?)

 

A vintage tram runs up the middle of the street and it's all fully pedestrianised. It's really lovely, and it was raining a bit, which made everything all shiny and beautiful.

My fingers went numb from the half-European cold and so I treated myself to some roasted chestnuts. I'm sure it was my first time having chestnuts, but they really look better than they taste. They don't really seem to have much flavour at all! Anyway, everyone was eating them, and I didn't want to feel left out.

At the foot of the İstiklâl Caddesi is the Galata Tower. My picture doesn't do it justice, it really was breathtaking. I couldn't go up, no matter how much I batted my eyelashes, the guards assured me it really was shut - we're not in Africa anymore, Toto.

Then, I did a little bit of shopping - possibly made some mistakes - would you still love a girl in real Turkish harem trousers?