My (nearly) father-in-law is here at the moment and, because he likes dawdling round Istanbul as much as I do, we set off to have a two museum kind of day. He met us from our vapur and we crossed the Bosphorus from Kabataş to Üsküdar. First we made our toddler paced, in and out of interesting looking mosques, way to the Tomb of Aziz (Saint) Mahmud Hüdayı. This is a place of pilgrimage and was full of women murmuring prayers. As I had some thanks that needed whispering it felt like a good place to be. From there we walked at snail's pace past crumbly wooden houses which meant that we noticed the sign to a Kite Museum. Never one to turn down the chance to go to a new museum (I am trying to clock up 50 in a year) we turned right and went in. Mehmet Naci Aköz has been collecting kites from all over the world since 1986 and there is plenty to see. Our next stop (take the 11ü from Üsküdar) was the Istanbul Museum of Graphic Arts. We got there to find the doors locked but when we rang the bell a caretaker, looking like he had been napping for several months since the last visitor, appeared to usher us in and turn on the lights. We all really enjoyed the collection of prints and especially the beautiful display of bookplates (ex libris) on the lowest floor. It was a perfect, slow walking, exploring, three museum kind of day.

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