This was our final day in Istanbul. To say that we have had an extraordinarily memorable experience would be an understatement!

Today was dedicated to food. We booked a Secret Food Tour (found all around the world) that began at 10AM. The tours are a combination of history, architecure, and food. They are just fascinating tours.

Our stops were:

• Cheese and olives - a standard breakfast offering
• Spice market - we learned how to distinguish real and fake saffron; and we all came away with crystal menthol (not meth).
• Discussion of Turkish coffee types and how it is roasted
• Oldest coffee roaster in Istanbul
• Soup maker - long simmering lamb shanks, vegetables and spices
• Turkish pide restaurant - flatbread with vegetarian or meat toppings; highly spiced but not hot
• Simit stand - simit is a circular bread typically encrusted with sesame seeds; more like a cross between a bagel and pretzel
• Kebab restaurant - tandoori oven inside with a person making lavash, a wide variety of mezze plates, lettuce wrapped something (I forget) and a wonderful chicken kebab (roasted over open wood fire) wrapped in the lavash
• Mackerel stand - who would have ever thought mackerel could be so flavorful?
• Mussel stand - specially prepared, double cooked mussels mixed with rice or bulgur
• Baklava and coffee - freshest baklava ever with rich Turkish coffee

We made a game-time decision to go to the Asian side of Istanbul to experience another hamam. There were two other people on the tour with us and they said that had visited it and it offered everything the historic--and expensive--ones (which we visited on Day 4) do for a fraction of the cost. Not ones to miss a bargain we headed out on public transportation to the neighborhood Turkish bath. It was truly local, rustic neighborhood place. Our experiences were funny, frightening, relaxing, painful, embarassing, and wonderful all at the same time. The price? $15. Which one would we do again? The local place!

Our final stop was at a hotel bar just down the street from our condo. The sign over the elevator was just perfect. It's the header for this post.

Tomorrow we will board the Queen Victoria for a 7-day cruise to Rome. I caught a photo as the ship was entering the port at about 6AM.

Cheese and Olive stand

Spice Market

Oldest coffee roaster in Istanbul

Soup Maker

Pide restaurant

Simit Stand

Kebab Restaurant

Mackerel Stand

Mussel Stand

Dessert

No caption necessary 

Queen Victoria entering the harbor on Sunday morning