We were living in a relative ignorant bliss during the week in Istanbul thinking we knew what crowds were after walking in Taksim on a Thursday night. That was until the perfect storm of 3 mega cruise ships and the weekend – Only then did we truely know what crowds looked like.

Now I know that it can be great to be in a tour group (and will be joining a trip this evening) but it is no fun to be on the outside of one (or multiple) of these groups as they flock from one place to another. Trying to get to the internet cafe we had to walk past the Blue mosque and had to cross the path of about 4 of these groups (there must have been 50 groups of 20-30 people in the space between the Blue Mosque and the AyaSophya). Phil likened it to the buffilo stampeed in the Lion King (though in slow motion). I used the same strategy I use for crossing streets. Commit to it and then own the space till you get to the other side.. hehe..

Also watching them pile off and on busses was similar to a military attack. Dissembark, Attack, Retreat. Surgical turism strike. 🙂 In the whirling durvish show the other night we also notice what we have dubed ‘Camera-flage’ where a tourist seeing the ‘no photos’ sign will use a scarf/ bag et al to take sneaky shots.