Ramblings of a Spoiled Gen X-er: Full Day in Istanbul

May 18 - Since we are going on a tour at nine I'm up just before seven. Breakfast is at 8.

It's a pretty nice spread. Someone was standing in the way so don't get a picture of the other side.

Various things to try for round one. They also have drip coffee. I don't capture round two buts it's mostly breads. Including a moldy one that Aparna catches before I eat it.

Our driver arrives at 8:43. We are with an Indian family. Cool this will be small. We arrive at the hippodrome or more appropriately the former hippodrome site. Another couple joins us. We get some background on the hippodrome and our guide gets a call. Another five will be joining us.

This mounument was originally covered in brass to make it look like a solid gold obelisk. Those tricky Romans.

This was three twisted snakes taken from Delphi. The heads came off. Two are in museums and the last is lost.

Another trophy.

Besides the history there isn't much else here from the hippodrome. On to the blue mosque.

Men's area for washing.

All these low strung lights make taking pictures difficult.

It is impressive tile work in here.

The courtyard.

The Hague Sofia is just a few steps away. It was the largest cathedral for 1000 years. The dome is 55 meters and even the blue mosque built hundreds of years later doesn't have a dome this large. It was converted to a mosque and in the 1900s into a museum. Amazing the Muslims didn't remove all the Christian works but just covered some up.

Unlike in Asia where the Buddhists removed all the Hindu gods.

I think this is restoration work showing what was covered up.

Mihrab is off center since the church doesn't face Mecca.

Some killer stone work on the column heads

A huge marble jar from BC.

From there we walked over to a rug shop. That's the one thing about most of these tours, they take you to some place to try to get you to part with your money. It was interesting though. Single versus double knot style. How to tell silk versus cotton - silk won't shed. He also said now is the time to buy as tourism is really down. I wonder how down it is. The last stop for us is the Grand Bazaar.

We start into the bazaar and are immediately accosted by vendors. We aren't buying anything here and we are hungry so we head out after a short walk in. I pull up my app and find a restaurant nearby. It's less than a half mile. Or not. Failed again. We wander the streets and we must be in the shoe district. Finally I break out Google maps and find a place that rates well.

Puffy bread.

Stuffed grape leaves. The rice was hard in these.

We order the lamb cooked in a clay jar.

It gets poured into this hot stone dish. It was really good. The lamb was tender and tangy from the tomatoes.

Side dish. French fries are everywhere.

As we leave they ask us to rate them on Trip Advisor but to give them 5 stars since they are like 4.6 or something. I'm conflicted. They are probably mid 4s but you can't pick that on Trip Advisor. Do I want them to go up or down based on my rating? In the end I won't create an account on Trip Advisor.

After lunch we go back to the shoe store. They remember us.

Seems to be a good deal for $33.

We head to the Basilica Cistern. This is top on my list. It's a huge water reservoir built by the Romans.

It's 12 columns by 28.

Some column heads and bases are ornate and others are plain. It's interesting since this was just a reservoir.

Things get more interesting as you move to the back.

And finally the Medusa heads.

Here's what it looks like above ground. You would never know its here. I guess that's why it was lost for so long. We have walked a lot and head back to the room. We have dinner at a government run restaurant along the water.

The sunset reflecting on the buildings on the Asia side.