Attila's Pilgrimage: Last full day

Today (Saturday 13th October) was our last full day in Istanbul and my pilgrim colleagues are returning home. It's been a truly life changing experience. Following the journey of St Paul and the fledgling Christian church, visiting the 7 churches of St John's Book of The Apocalypse and being with our Bishop has been an absolute revelation into these men, the communities that created and inspired but also my own faith.

We began with a cruise around the Bosphorus and then celebrated mass at the Church of St Anthony with Fr Andrew. The rest of the day was spent making our way through the Grand Bazaar. This is one of the largest covered markets in the world with 60 streets and 5,000 shops, and attracts between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. It is well known for its jewellery, hand-painted ceramics, carpets, embroideries, spices and antique shops. Many of the stalls in the bazaar are grouped by type of goods, with special areas for leather, gold jewellery etc.

Bishop Anthony and me after he said our final mass.

Not the Blue Mosque, but impressive.

The traffic jams can be quite lengthy in a city of 13 million! So a variety of vendors service the cars - everything from these bread risks, bottles of water, blow up toys, fruit and believe it or not bows and arrows!