To continue from where I left off last week, we finally received a copy of the Police Report for my friend's stolen wallet. One week later, and after two visits she went to the police station with a lady friend of hers from Morocco. This lady speaks Turkish and Arabic. The ladies were treated with the greatest of respect, and had the report and translated it in no time. People at the station all of a sudden could speak English, Arabic and Turkish. The issue, believe it or not was the fact that all along, the police thought that my friend was from Syria, when in fact she was born and raised in Iraq. Two days later, the president here announced that Turkey would soon start to send a million Syrian refugees back to their home country.
Yesterday was a time for exploring, so we went by subway into the main part of this old city to the world famous Grand Bazaar. This is the largest covered market in the world, with over four thousand shops, and more than 66 streets. It covers over 330,500 square feet, and in addition to the shops, has banks,Post Office,Restaurants, police station, and its own Mosque. We walked and walked, but did not buy. At no time did I see a price on anything. Thousands of handbags and such with world famous names, but probably all made in Asia. We were here briefly in January, and the only change is the fact that tourist season is in full swing here.
The weather is forecast to be sunny and in the mid twenties until the weekend so we will pick a day and do a one day tour of Prince's Island. This is actually a group of ten small islands a little over an hour by boat from a dock here on what is known as the Golden Horn. The islands are in the Sea of Marmara. For about the equivalent of twenty five Canadian dollars per person, we get picked up here at my hotel, the round trip boat ride, tours on the larger islands and lunch. I will report on this adventure in my next update.
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