I'm sitting on the rooftop terrace of my hostel in Istanbul, looking at the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, and the moonlit Bosporus. The call to prayer has just started up from both of these mosques and a couple of others in the vicinity. It would be very atmospheric if the hostel's sound system wasn't playing retreads of 80s punk music.

I'm footsore and weary after  a very full day seeing all the obligatory sights, including the jaw-droppingly amazing places I just mentioned. Any self-respecting tourist would tell you all about the historic and cultural treasures I've seen.

But I know that you really want to hear about the food.

Here is lunch. I didn't really know what I was going to get, apart from vegetarian "kebap," but it turned out to be this excellent pureed eggplant dish. The red speckles on the onions are pomegranate flakes, which are a popular seasoning: very slightly tart and sweet.

Pomegranate is also used to make a popular drink, fresh squeezed as you watch.

I's a good thing that I like eggplant. because it's the foremost vegetarian option. I had it again for dinner, preceded by this traditional puffed bread with yogurt dip. The bread is hollow inside and crispy when you break it off.

(Don't ask me why this photo is sideways or why I can't rotate it.)

Oh, yes, I was going to give up drinking out of respect for Moslem culture, but here in this tourist quarter of oh-so-cosmopolitan Istanbul, full of barely dressed Aussie girls, I don't feel too scandalous having a beer with dinner.

Okay, you can't entirely escape culture. When they were digging around under the Blue Mosque, they found the remains of the 4th-century Great Palace of the Byzantine emperors. Fragments of the legendary mosaic floor were still there and were restored and moved to a museum. You can see the Greek and Italian influences in these delightful remains, even though they're sadly fragmentary.

More culture tomorrow, when I join the throngs at the Topkai palace.