Istanbul Turkey Day 2

This morning we were awakened by our 7 a.m. wake up call.  We were scheduled to leave the hotel at 8:30 am.  We boarded a nice bus and our tour of Istanbul began.   We were joined by a local tour guide, Sermin Uthes, who did an excellent job describing what we were seeing.   We began with a stroll through the Grand Bazaar.    We had expected the bazaar to be similar to Marrakech’s market, but were surprised.  It was very clean and we felt very safe.  

 

We would occasionally see a young boy around the age of 8 years old that was dressed in what appeared to be a royal costume.   Someone told us that this was part of the celebration that the boys had recently been circumcised.  Apparently there is a huge festival and the boys get to dress up like this.  Hmmm....

Afterwards, we traveled to the Topkapi Palace, which was built in the 15^th century by Mehmet II.  It was initially built as his primary residence, but served as the seat of government and also contained a school.  The palace was eventually abandoned in 1853 and was reopened in 1924 as a museum.   Some of the pieces we found of interest (and I might add some speculation) were a staff that supposedly belonged to Moses and a hand bone of John the Baptist!

Next we visited the Blue Mosque, which is still an active mosque.  We removed our shoes as we entered and the women with bare arms were given a scarf to cover themselves.   We weren’t required to cover our hair because we weren’t entering during a time of prayer.   The floor of the entire Mosque was covered in Turkish  carpet.   

On our way back to the hotel, we asked to be let off the bus near the spice market.    Although we felt we might be labeled as the renegades of the group by our fellow travelers, we enjoyed a leisurely walk through the spice market and then were pleasantly surprised to find restaurants that lined the underside of the bridge that crossed the Golden Horn (connecting the two parts of Istanbul).   We walked back to the hotel and then later ventured out on our own and found a large pedestrian street that was full of nightlife.    There were numerous local restaurants hidden in narrow alleyways.  We picked one out (or actually they picked us out as they had barkers standing outside each and every one, trying to get you to come in and eat).   We enjoyed a light dinner of tapas (stuffed mussels, grilled shrimp, and lots of bread).    On our walk back to the hotel, we stopped at an ice cream stand and were entertained by the young entrepreneur  that used a long ice cream scoop to put ice cream on the cone that I had been given.  As I was taking the cone, he pulled the long scoop back, taking the ice cream off the cone.  After several jovial tricks, I received my ice cream cone and Richard began playing the same game with him, only this time with the Lira that he was anticipating for his pay. 

Upon returning to the hotel, Richard selected “R” in the elevator and we were totally amazed to find a rooftop bar and restaurant that overlooked the city of Istanbul.   The views were absolutely breathtaking!!!   We could see the Hagia Sophia off in the distance lit up with a Ramadan sign in lights.  All this topped with a full moon.

What a day!   What an adventure!   We are so blessed to be able to do the things we do!