Pre-cruise Istanbul

There's nothing like being awake for a trans-Atlantic flight and a 10-hour time difference to encourage a good night's sleep!  Both mom and I woke this morning refreshed and in sync with the local time and ready to sightsee!  We've 2.5 days here in Istanbul before starting a 12-day Eastern Mediterranean cruise, which I hope is plenty of time to do the highlights in a relaxed manner with allowances for afternoon siestas to escape the heat. 91F and humid is what we're expecting today....

Our Hotel Amira is near the water on the lower edge of Old Town, within walking distance of the sights yet still maintaining a lovely cool sea breeze on the rooftop terrace. I hadn't really planned on that when I made the reservation, being swayed by the glamorous decor and the little fitness center, but after a day of sweltering touristing it turned out to be quite serendipitous.  

If you look in the upper left corner of the above photo, you can see the minarets of the Blue Mosque, where we started our day.  Literally! At 5-oh-something this morning the BM's loudspeaker was the first of a quiet cacophony of Call to Prayers from all the nearby mosques.  Luckily it was muted enough not to wake Sheila and I rolled over to drowse for a few more minutes.

We came up close and personal with my new alarm clock at 9am.  As a functioning mosque we had to observe their customs by removing our shoes and covering our offending hair and bare legs. This certainly made for a new fashion statement, one we won't be following at home!  The interior was immense, decorated in wonderful intricate tiles. Mom commented on the smell but with millions of smelly socks padding through what can you expect?

From the BM it was a short stroll over to the Haghia Sofia, a church built in 537. It is even larger than the BM, with the main dome 183'h x 101'w.  Many of its splendid glittering mosaics and religious iconography were plastered over when the building was converted to a mosque in 1453 but are slowly being uncovered with restoration work.

Next we visited the Underground Cisterns, once a water supply for the city:

Then the Grand Bazaar.  A little letdown, I'm afraid. It wasn't teeming with people and no one coerced us into their shops to pour apple tea down our throats and foist magic carpets on us.  It was rather clean and orderly and touristy. We'll try again at the Spice Bazaar tomorrow...

Hee, hee - everything's for sale!