The next day we woke up, decided on our itinerary, and set off after brunch time.

We walked by Şehzade Mosque on the way to check out the Valens Aqueduct

…which was kinda neat

Then we hopped on the tram to Topkapi Palace

…where trees could grow out of dead trees. I really like trees.

The palace was filled with super ornate rooms, some old Chinese pottery, and tons of tourists, but we were feeling like crap. We made a side stop at Gülhane Park, which was really nice, and then we found a second pharmacy, bought more medicine, ate dinner, and passed out at the hotel by 7-8pm or so.

 

On our third and final full day in Istanbul, we took a tram towards the Karaköy neighborhood, which brought us to a bridge that crossed the Bosphorus, which provided good views of the old city

Karaköy, on the other hand, was less touristy, except for the Galata Tower, which we were heading to…

There were some cool 360-deg views from up top

All trip long, Karen had been giving me crap for not being able to pose as well as the hundreds of other Asian tourists that were around. I concede, I don’t got that game…

Our last stop was the Grand Bazaar, a lovely place if you need to buy fake goods, rugs, lamps, plates, silk things, and more fake goods, rugs, lamps, plates, and silk things…

Oh, and one could buy lamps!

and did I mention plates?

A local told us they sourced their lamps from Taiwan. We lol’d.

 

After all of this, we still felt a little crappy, so found a place for mandatory dinner. It was the last night abroad, so we lounged around a bit, and stayed out til 8pm! and then returned to the hotel, and packed up for our morning flights home…