Sunday evening and I’m too tired to be putting handles on several jugbirds that are waiting for them under plastic. Morning is better for that. But I can start on publishing selected photos from our fascinating tour in Turkey.

After flying from Heathrow on October 8th we spent the next day on a whirwind tour of the most well-known and beautiful buildings in Istanbul. It was rainy. We saw the Blue Mosque, Ayasofya Museum (bigger than the Blue Mosque, which started as a Christian Basilica, was altered to be used as a mosque and in the twentieth century became a museum), Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar. I’ll just post photos of some of the amazing variety of Iznik tiles which cover the walls, pillars and much of the domes of these buildings. These 4 were taken in the Topkapi Palace harem buildings.

These colours and designs are being painted on pottery and tiles throughout Turkey. It was good to see the original painting and patterns before visiting the potteries in Cappadocia. Unfortunately our tour didn’t take us to the actual Iznik city where I gather the clay is white.