A second helping of Turkey

It was much cheaper for us to fly to London from Czech and then get back to Turkey for our flight to Buenos Aires.  So on second time around, we visited the Blue Mosque (so-so) and had a Turkish Bath, as part of one of our Amazing Race tasks.

Unfortunately, it was so hot and humid for the first portion (laying in a sauna), that Jaime started to feel sick and nauseous.  Basically, a case of over-heating.  After laying down just outside and drinking some water, she felt better and we had our ´scrubbing of a lifetime.´ The scrub down was cool - they used super foamy hand mitts.  The massage was also nice, but not long enough and laying on a marble table isn´t the most comfortable of activities.  At the very end, they wrap you in a towel and wipe your head down.  Jaime almost barfed on the guy and the look on her face made him ´wrap things up quicker than he did with me.´

Still, it was a cool experience and I would try it again even though I know Jaime likely won´t.  Afterwards, she accused me of trying to kill her a second time with my tasks (the 1st was making her try ice skating for the first time in Prague).

We bought some apple tea bits / leaves / whatever from the Bazaar, visited our favourite bakery again, Cigdem, and had more great cakes.  Afterwards, while walking down the main tourist area, some kid threw a snowball at me and I looked at him and did a fake rush at him which hopefully scared him enough to not pester people again.  His other few friends laughed along with me and we walked off.  I was hoping they didn´t throw at me or else it was going to get messy.  At least it was better than  our fear of kids throwing stones at us in Jordan.

For our last night´s dinner, we were ripped off at a local restaurant and I berated the guy for cheating us but didn´t demand a partial refund.  I guess he got off lucky too.  There was a cat outside that followed us and literally, wouldn´t let me walk as he was winding through my legs non-stop.  If I wasn´t allergic to cats, I would have brought him home.  As such, I still played with him a while and then washed my hands off at the rip-off restaurant.

On the flip side, the hostel we stayed at, Cheers Hostel, was amazing (both before and this time).  The staff was great, remembered our names, and were super friendly.  Nice rooms, good food, and a friendly dog will greet you there if you ever decide to go to Istanbul.  Highly recommended!