Woke up around 07:00, then climbed up about 100 steps to the roof for breakfast. Now, when I’m at home I have toast or cereal for breakfast, but at a hotel toast and cereal is just a starter – I’m having everything. There was bread and several types of cheese, fruit, some kind of tinned meat which I decided to avoid, yoghurt, roasted vegetables, olives and juice. A pretty good spread. Filled up and headed out. Weather was overcast again and a bit chilly, definitely jacket weather. Walked up the road but didn’t get very far because we saw what looked like a decent cafe so stopped for a coffee. The coffee was OK, and it was also a patisserie and had lots of tempting danishes and cakes. It was just as well that we’d had breakfast otherwise I would have had something. Maybe tomorrow.
Walked up the road about 500 metres and towards the Blue Mosque, as we got closer we were accosted by touts offering hats, tours, carpets, tickets, guides etc. We see this everywhere and they are for the most part polite and don’t push it once they realise we’re not interested, and they’re only trying to make a living so I don’t mind.
Since the mosque is still in use, it closes to tourists for prayers, but we had plenty of time. We had to take our shoes off and Song had to wear a headscarf. There was a small queue but we were in quickly. Most of the mosque was sectioned off, so there wasn’t a lot to see, except for the domed ceiling, which was spectacular. There was a large central dome and two smaller ones coming off it. All were painted in blue with Islamic symbols. The floor was completely covered with a red carpet. We didn’t spend too long there since most of the area was closed. Oh, and surprisingly it was free.
Since we finished earlier than expected we decided to go to the other major attraction, the Hagia Sophia.
There was a bit of a queue for this, but we only had to wait about 10 minutes. This is no longer a mosque, but was turned into a museum in 1935 so we didn’t need to take our shoes off this time. The building was built in 537, and was more impressive than the other mosque in my opinion, at least in the inside. Unfortunately they were doing some renovations so there was scaffolding against one side, but we’ve seen this at a few places before and it’s inevitable really.
This is the third building I can remember we’ve been in that started life as a mosque, got remodelled into a Christian Church and then back to a mosque again depending on who was around at the time. We spent quite a while there, there was also an upstairs bit, and took lots of photos.
Left the mosque and sat on a bench in the park to decide what to do next. The sun was out, the Blue Mosque was to the right , the Hagia Sophia to the left , a fountain in front of us and people milling around. We sat there for a while to take it all in. Decided it was shopping time, so walked to the Grand Bazaar. This is basically the Chadstone of the ancient world – something like 3000 shops. It only took about 15 minutes which was just as well because it was shut, it being Sunday and I hadn’t read the guide book. So we hopped on a tram and went across the river to another part of the city but with no real plans except to get something to eat. By now the sun had come out and it was warm, but with a chilly wind.
Got off the tram and walked up the world’s steepest hill and came upon the Galata Tower. I was about to go up it but was still recovering from the hill, plus there was a big queue. So off we went to look for a restaurant from the lonely planet book. The map in the book wasn’t very good and we couldn’t find the one we were looking for, and another one from the book didn’t exist any more so we just picked a place that had people in and looked ok. I don’t think I’ve been to a city that has so many restaurants – almost every building on this street was a restaurant, and it was the same for where we ate last night. You’ll never go hungry in Istanbul.
The meal was good – we had a selection of meze, or cold starters; hummus, tzatziki, a green vegetable and marinated fish bits. Song had a mixture of fish for main and I had Grilled sea bass.
Waddled up the road and found what must be the main shopping street in Istanbul – Istikal Avenue. It was packed. Hundreds of thousands of people just walking up and down, so we joined them.
After a while we turned round and walked back down the steep hill, jumped on the tram again and staggered back to the hotel.
Tomorrow we’re going back to the Grand Bazaar for a few hours so we can actually get to see inside.
I’m wearing a fitbit flex tracker, and apparently we walked 13.6 Km today.
