We got out of bed around 7:30 am and started to prepare for our day.\u00a0 We wanted to do some sightseeing on the early side to try to beat some of the tourists out of bed.\u00a0 We started with breakfast in the hotel, and again it was very good.\u00a0 They served hot coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice – squeezed right there in front of you while you wait.\u00a0 The staff of the hotel were really friendly, too.\u00a0 It seemed to be a family operation, but everyone spoke excellent English and they provided us with everything we could want.<\/p>\n
We headed to our first stop – to see inside the Blue Mosque.\u00a0 The first tour was already lined up around the back.\u00a0 The main entrance was reserved for people that are praying, and during prayer times they close the mosque to tourists.\u00a0 Our timing was pretty good, though.\u00a0 We lined up and got inside in under 15 minutes. Women had to heard some kind of covering of their head and arms (although this didn\u2019t look to be strictly enforced), and all visitors had to take their shoes off and carry them along in bag to the other side.\u00a0 Once we got inside we were immediately struck by two things – one was the beauty of the domes inside.\u00a0 They are built right on top of one another in some places and make for a dramatic spectacle.\u00a0 The second thing we noticed was that the smell inside was terrible.\u00a0 Thousands of sweaty tourists in sweaty socks walk through that place every day, and they have it carpeted inside from wall to wall.\u00a0 All that sweat sticks around in the carpet making for a pretty awful smell.\u00a0 Losing the carpet would do a lot to get rid of this problem I\u2019d wager.<\/p>\n
After we left the mosque and were free to gasp fresh air outside we decided to go to the Basilica Cistern.\u00a0 Just a few minutes walk from the main part of the historic district the cistern is used to hold water for the city in reserve.\u00a0 It was remarkable to go down the stairs and walk around the city, completely underground.\u00a0 It was cool, dark and beautifully lit. They also played some atmospheric music quietly in the background that reminded me of the old game Myst for the PC. There were even fish swimming around in the water below us as we walked around on raised platforms.\u00a0 The cistern was supported by many pillars, and two on the far side of the cistern were carved in the shape of medusa heads.\u00a0 Spooky!<\/p>\n
We stopped for a little break at a caf\u00c3\u00a9 for some fruit juice before moving on to the Top Kapi Palace, an ancient Ottoman palace that housed sultans for 400 years. It was in remarkably good condition, and there was plenty to see and do.\u00a0 They had treasure rooms full of treasures that sultans had attained over their reign.\u00a0 The sword collection alone was worth the price of admission.\u00a0 It was my first time to see just how big a greatsword actually is.\u00a0 Answer: bigger than me.<\/p>\n
The views from the palace were just a little better than from our hotel, except they were supported by golden structures and beautiful gardens.\u00a0 We also enjoyed the tile work that they decorated the palace with.\u00a0 It was a great visit, and it kept us busy for a long time.<\/p>\n
Next we did the old beer and the hotel rooftop routine, and hit a small restaurant outside the Blue Mosque for a kebab sandwich and a kebab roll.\u00a0 I had pomegranate juice (way too tart!) and Kuniko had cherry juice.\u00a0 Cherry juice is everywhere in Istanbul, and I can imagine in other parts of the country as well.\u00a0 It reminded me of the old Cherry Tree stores in Sonoma when I was growing up.<\/p>\n
We hid away at our hotel to beat the afternoon heat and took another long nap, and then went out one last time for a grocery supply run and to have dinner.\u00a0 The dinner this time was at another kebab place – this place had a good reputation on TripAdvisor.\u00a0 I had a pizza pide – delicious – and Kuniko ordered another kebab dish.\u00a0 The food was much better here, and more our size.\u00a0 It also came with the giant puffy bread, but we successfully ignored it.\u00a0 For dessert that gave us each baklavas, tea and coffee, along with a Turkish delight.\u00a0 Great meal, great coffee, great service.\u00a0 Does this sound like an ad for TripAdvisor?<\/p>\n
We were full from dinner, so we strolled home on our usual route.\u00a0 By now we were getting used to the lay of the land.\u00a0 There was no more festival going on at the main square, so it was just a quiet walk home and then to bed.\u00a0 We went to sleep wondering when we would get the morning prayer wake up call.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We got out of bed around 7:30 am and started to prepare for our day.\u00a0 We wanted to do some sightseeing on the early side to try to beat some of the tourists out of bed.\u00a0 We started with breakfast in the hotel, and again it was very good.\u00a0 They served hot coffee and freshly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOpl7-HM","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}