Anyways, after breakfast we packed everything up and left out luggage with the hotel. We decided to go back to the Grand Bazaar (we double checked to make sure it was open this time.)
There is one of the stray dogs I was talking about. Just sleeping in the middle of the street! After about a 10 minute walk, we made it to the Grand Bazaar. Ohmygod. It's amazing. Shops cover the entire area. 
And the whole place is utterly confusing. Most of y'all know that I have a horrible sense of direction. I get lost just going to Lakeline mall. (Ask Jazmin, she has been with me when that's happened). And I know if dad wasn't with me, I would have been lost for sure. He always managed to bring us back to the main road. Although for maybe five minutes, we just wandered aimlessly. We didn't buy anything from there though, everything was way over priced. But the shops right outside the Grand Bazaar we looked at. There was this one guy selling bags and he looked just like that one guy from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". Not Charlie or the guy with the sister, but the guy with the scorpion tattoo on his right arm. I can't remember his name. But this guy looked just like him!! And was so nice. I've noticed most of the vendors, when trying to make a sale will look at me instead of dad about the price. I just tell them dad is the boss hah. So we bought a bag from that guy and then went on this side street to purchase tiles for momma. Actually, I lied. We bought a pair of shoes in the bazaar. They were originally 120 lira and then dad brought it down to 70. That vendor, though, was not happy. Ha, he looked piiiiiissssed when we left! But whatever, he sold us the shoes anyways! After all that tiring shopping, we went back to the hotel to drop off our stuff and then went to "the usual spot" - Palatium cafe. We had some water and dad had coffee. And then...we went for a spa treatment! I have never been to the spa before in my life and I've only had one massage (at project grad) so I have no understanding of the spa world at all. The place we went to was called the Ayasophia Hürrem Sultan Hamami and we got the aromatherapy treatment. (It was Dad's treat). They took me on the other side of the building to the women's quarters. Damn. It was gorgeous. They had me undress and get into a purple robe. All the floors were marble and we went into this bathing room that was completely marble. With gold plaited handles. It was a little weird being completely naked and having some one I just met pour warm water all over me but after a while, I got used to it. The lady (who was the therapist for me) changed into a robe also and then took me to another marble room. In this room she exfoliated me, head to toe. All the dead skin was disgusting. There was another woman beside me getting it done and she said to me "ayyyy it's so painful!" I didn't really think so. It felt really good. My skin was all red though. Then she rinsed off all the dead skin and took me back got the main room. I want to the describe this room in more detail though because it was utterly gorgeous. There were no lights. The ceiling was about 40 feet above cover with little squad skylights. There were four sections surrounding a main circular marble pad. In the four seditious were the places where you sat and got bathed. Everything was either white, marble or gold. When we got back to the main room, she brought me to the circular marble pad. There was a wooden bucket. And she took my robe (which looked like a purple shawl) and laid it flat out. She then had me lie face down. This part was the famous Turkish bath. I got covered in these bubbles and then she massaged me. It was the best bubble bath I have ever had. Then she took me back to one of the sections to wash the bubbles off. Then she took me to the lounge where I rested for five minutes and got the best drink in the world. Yep! She gave me pomegranate juice! Mmm mmm mmm. Tasty, tasty, tasty! Then she took my upstairs for my oil massage. We went up three flights of stairs and then she took me to a section for the massage. Oh my god. It was ahhhhmazing! My shoulders have always been really knotty from stress and whatever else (like the duffel bag I've been carrying) and she worked all that stuff out. She also put this conditioner in my hair that made it look sooooo good. After that massage I was done. I got a little bag as a take away thing. But I can't find it at the moment. Haha. Here's a picture of the men's entrance to the spa. 
I'm pretty sure a lot of tourists think its the real Aya Sophia. I can't tell you how many families took pictures in front of it and then went up to the info desk and left looking confused. Dad didn't agree with me, but what family with small children would take pictures in front of a massage place??
So outside of the massage place is a famous restaurant that is part of the massage place. We went there to have our last meal in Turkey. :( I ordered pomegranate juice...again. But this was from a vendor right beside the restaurant that had a deal with the restaurant. It was so bitter though! I still love it...
Ugh this post is so long. Stay with me though! There is still so much I haven't talked about!! Anyway. I ordered the lamb kebab. 
Y'all know how I've been talking about stray cats and dogs? Well this one kitty came right up to the table to beg for food. Don't worry, I didn't let him. He was all matted and raggedy looking. I kept trying to shoo him away, but I think he is so used to people trying to scare him that he just blinked at me giving me a look that seemed to say "come on. I've had worse." 
He kept sticking his nose in my face. He wasn't mean though and eventually he realized that he wasn't going to get any food from us so he left. After we finished, we headed back to the hotel to get picked up from the shuttle service to go to Nairobi!
The security system is totally different in Istanbul. Instead of just one main place where you get searched and your passport checked there are two. One at the entrance and one at the area to the gates. We had a lot of time before our flight so we just sat in a cafe and played cards. I got bored and took some selfies...
See how un-frizzy my hair is? Yeah. Thanks to that spa!! Haha. 
Versace, Versace, Versace! I kept asking for Drake but he wasn't there :(
Haaa there was a Popeyes in the food court!
And I should have taken this picture from the beginning but I kept forgetting. On my duffel bag I have a pin of MJ. 
Because who would steal from a bag with MJ watching over it?? So at the gate they put us on a bus to load us onto the plane. We didn't go through a terminal, it was straight on the tarmac. 
A final shot of the Turkish sun! Turkey was a wonderful and amazing place. So many nice people and the food was so good. Could have been more spicy but that's why I am going to India and Africa (; I'll never forget my experience here or the people. And if any of y'all wanna meet back up there or ummm take me there...I am game! I can be your tour guide in Sultanahmet! Hehe. I kept meaning to take a picture of one of the women in the burka, but I didn't want to offend them or get caught doing it. They just look so mysterious. I almost feel that burka's are most seductive than showing skin because you always want to know what they look like underneath. At least, I did. Especially when all you see are the "windows to the soul" a.k.a the eyes.
But I digress. I love Istanbul and hopefully I can go back again! I definitely recommend the Eski Konak Hotel in Sultanahmet if you ever go visit Istanbil. 
It's such a cute boutique hotel and the people there are wonderful! It's all family run and you know family run places are the best!
I'm going to put up another post for getting to Nairobi in a little bit. So stay tuned for that! -We are already here but we've done so much I have to try and write it all down!
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