final day in istanbul

last night we went out at sundown to eat with the ramazan revellers. just up from our hotel is the blue mosque, and there were many stalls set up around for families to eat and chat etc. It was quite an event. for some reason i had been under the impression that ramadan was a whole month of sombreness, but apparently it is just not eating through the day and saving the festivities for the evening. there were many many stalls, but the variety of food was not as great. really the only meal you could get was donair, but there were plenty of different sweets - sugar stuff on a stick, turkish delight, baklava, other pastries, a sort of ice cream, dried fruits etc etc etc. there were little jewelry stalls, and stalls that specialized in turkish coffee. the evening temperature was warmish, and there were lights above the mosque, so the atmostphere was definitely festive.

let me tell you some of the things you can get from sidwalk vendors in istanbul
chestnuts
corn on the cob ( not tasty at all)
donair
chicken rice and chicpeas
fried fish
pretzels, candy on a stick,
assorted nuts

i don't think i told you about going to the turkish bath. they have one in the hotel. it is just like a sauna only with marble instead of wood. you go in there for 30-60 minutes and sweat. i think you maybe are supposed to get on the marble slab and have someone exfoliate all your skin with these tough mitts, but the slab was too hot. and the room was too hot for us, we only stayed about 10 minutes.

have to go pack now, leaving the hotel tomorrow morning at 3:45