Liam Neeson couldn't resist buying tacky souvenirs in Turkey, he has revealed.

The Irish actor was in Istanbul, where he was filming Taken 2, and admitted he went slightly overboard with the shopping.

"I bought s***, like little mosque fridge magnets and snow globes with mosques inside. I got obsessed, you know," he said.

"And you have to barter, so they say, 'That's 50 cents', and I say, '50 cents for that - come on?' I went crazy, I just got obsessed with it, I brought back all this tack. These Turkish rugs are like phenomenal, but I'm just not into rugs."

Liam - who next stars in action thriller The Grey, which opens in cinemas on January 27 - revealed he fell in love with the Turkish city.

"We were there for two months, just before Christmas. It's a beautiful city, unbelievable place," he said.

"The call for prayer happens five times a day, and for the first week it drives you crazy and then it just gets into your spirit, and it's the most beautiful, beautiful thing. And the mosques - there are 4,000 mosques in the city, and some of them are stunning. It really makes me think about becoming a Muslim."

Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace are set to reprise their roles from Taken for Oliver Megaton's sequel, which is scheduled for an October release.