Ella's Big Adventure: Istanbul

Horse and carriage ride - Princess islands - Istanbul

Mummy has been spending too much time at the beach and forgetting my travel blog. When we left Bath, we drove to Aunty Joanna's house in Leicester for a few days. I met my cousins Harry and Lewis for the first time. They're teenagers so spend a lot of time in their bedrooms. We then drove to Aunty Cecily's house in Essex and I saw Claire again who came to Sydney this year. I also met my cousins Ellie and Joseph. They are SO lucky as they have a trampoline in their backyard. I went on it all the time. Claire and Ellie took me to see The Lion King in London which was fantastic but I was a little scared sometimes. Claire and Ellie are big girls and we had lots of fun together. We then flew to Istanbul. On my first day we went to the Grand Bazaar and I bought a belly dancing outfit. I tried it out at a cafe and lots of people were watching me. While daddy was at the conference with Lynn, mummy and me went on 2 ferries. The first time we went to The Princess Islands and we got to ride in a horse and carriage around the island. That was lots of fun. I wanted to go around again but mummy said it cost too much money. The next time we went on a Bosphorous cruise and we saw lots of amazing palaces and houses on the water. We went out for dinner every night and my favourite thing to eat was fried calamari. Mummy and me went shopping and I bought some more dress ups. We stayed in a small hotel and the owner, Shanur was so nice to me all the time - she bought me a Turkish CD so I could dance in my belly dancing outfit. Daddy and me would race up the stairs and mummy would get the lift and we'd see who got to the top first. We caught the tram a lot and we had to squash in because it was so crowded. I also loved balik ekmek - that's a fish sandwich. We'd go down to the fish market and buy one from an old man. They were yum scum - fresh fish with tomatoes, herbs and lemon in a bread roll. Mummy said they cost only $3. I also love portakale su which is freshly squeezed orange juice which you can buy everywhere. I was pretty tired to be honest in the afternoons as it was really hot so sometimes I just got into bed and watched a DVD. I'm excited about seeing our villa for the first time. Time to pack my bag again.