Culture shock - nope!

ISTANBUL 
I learnt a couple of things by coming to Istanbul!
One: Istanbul is not the capital of Turkey ( totally didn't know that)
Two: the city is split over two continents europe and Asia. 
Three: I love it there! 

I was completely shocked when we arrived in Turkey. I though it would be really dirty and there be homeless people and beggars around everywhere! 
It was actually nothing like that many of the other cities we went to in western Europe were heaps worse than Istanbul for example Napoli, that place freaked me out! 

Anyways, I spent the day shopping in the bazar and brought some beautiful scarfs, we then headed to the Turkish bath! Apparently this is the 365th thing you have to do before you die according to some book! 
However it is not for people who dont  like to show a lot of skin because you have to bare just about all! 
Firstly you are given a pair of underwear and a sarong and get changed. You then head into a sauna like room with a big round stone in the middle which you lay on. After about 15-20 mins later you head over to the scrubbing ladies who scrub you down with an exfoliating glove and lather you up with bubbles they then through water on you and wash your hair. You then go and chillax in a spa bath type thing. You can then go and get an oil massage, mud mask and pedicure! 
All this is done in a pair of underwear!!!!! Its lucky that I am pretty blind so I didn't have to see old lady boobs lol!!' 

You come out so relaxed and your skin feels A-MAZ-ING!!! 

Another thing that was great to experience was prayer time! "Good" Muslims pray 5 times a day and at 12pm the towers outside the 2000 mosques in Istanbul say the prays. Many of the shops in the Bazars closed and while waking past mosques there were tons of people praying outside because the mosques were full! 

It was a really great experience and I would love to go back there one day! 

Xxx