Hi Helen

I'm not an expert but I think it's because the dried saffron flowers and stems are classed as plant matter, import of which is not permitted.

I can't limit my selections, but am copying from a brief trip report I wrote in 2001.

One thing to keep in mind is that many of the major sights are within walking distance in Sultanahmet.

Especially loved:

-Loved the Spice Market
-Riding up the Bosphorous
-The smaller mosques
-The Mosaic Museum

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Our trip (from 2001)
*Istanbul: 4 nights at the beginning, 2 nights at the end:
Our hotel was the Mavi Ev(Blue House), which we loved. The location was great; our first room had a wonderful view of the Blue Mosque, which was just a short walk from the hotel.
We visited many of the major sights as well as some lesser-known ones in Istanbul, most of which are in Sultanahmet and are walking distance from each other.
Primary Sights: Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofya, Hippodrome, Yerebatan Saray (Underground Cistern), Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar, Suleymaniye (mosque), Chora Church, Archeology Museum, Galata Tower &Taksim.

2ndary sights/activities: Bosphorus cruise, Dolmabahce Palace, Pierre Loti Cafe, Rustem Pasa Cami & Sokollu Mehmet Pasa, Mosaic Museum, taking the ferry to the Asian side and walking around a neighborhood, taking a hamam, shopping at the Arasta Bazaar, seeing the Gates of the City and the old walls.

We enjoyed it all; some of the surprises, though, are the smaller mosques (beautiful and intimate); the Mosaic Museum (a small gem); taking the ferry up the Bosphorus and getting to the overlook of the Bosphorus and the Black Sea; the magic of seeing the Aya Sofya, with all its layers of history.

Prepare for the onslaught of the carpet dealers. They are everywhere and overwhelming; it's not dangerous at all, but exhausting to deal with. We found it easier to develop a sense of humor and a banter, and over time, it didn't bother us as much.

Favorite Istanbul restaurant: Daruzziyafe, opposite the Suleymaniye entrance. Excellent food, beautiful atmosphere.
Disappointment: Sarnic, overpriced bland food in a dramatic setting of an underground cistern. Mavi Ev's food was good, not great, but the setting on the rooftop is lovely.

Favorite food discoveries: lahmacun, a flat, thin bread with ground meat on it. Try it in the modest cafe/restaurant outside the entrance to the Sirkeci Train Station.
Lokum (turkish delight); zillions of flavors, and most are good. Of course, drink LOTS of cay (tea) and elma cayi (apple tea). I also liked visne (sour cherry juice) very much. The rice and the yogurt are wonderfully flavorful; and kebabs of all kinds, and eggplant dishes (imam bayaldi!), and the cheeses....well, you'll all find your favorite flavors, but these are a few of ours.
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Have fun! Istanbul is an amazing and exciting city to visit!

Paule

We will be in Turkey in September, so I guess,we would have to hide our saffron on the way back!!! :)

Are the hannams clean? And single sexed?

Trav08 I will get back to you on directions. I found that Haamam to be very clean.
I stayed away from saffron just because of it not always being the real thing..also, I don't cook with it, so I had no reason to get it. I had so much spice mixture and I had no problems getting it back.
As far as hamaams, the one I went to was very clean, as I stated above..and of course, men were separated from women...I don't know about other places, but the experience in Istanbul was sublime!!

Almost forgot, my husband learned a few Turkish phrases and you wouldn't believe how wonderfully that was received..he just bought and learned some phrases out of the book and they really went far. People were amazed to hear Turkish coming out of his mouth!!It was great.

Cemberlitas is not very far away from Dersaadet. Walk to Blue Mosk, cross gardens in the direction of Divan Yolu, walk 300 meters and turn right.
In total, may be 800 meters.
i ll be myself in Dersaadet, again, end of september 2008.

bookmarking

bookmarking also

Sorry for the ignorance (I really am computer illiterate). What does "bookmarking" mean, please? (I have a general sense that it means that the person is also paying attention to the post.)

Any post to a thread will make it come up when we click our name. So by bookmarking this thread it will be in my group when I click P_M. If I don't bookmark it, the thread will be harder to find if I want to read it again later.

Some people call it marking or flagging.

On a Mac one can bookmark by depressing the control key and clicking on the thread. It does not require an entry on the part of the person wishing to bookmark.