Istanbul, Day 2

It was a BUSY and full day.  We had breakfast in the hotel lobby area. European and nice. Different. Cucumbers and tomatoes, granola, yogurt, scones, fruit.

We went to the Tram Station at the bottom of our very very steep street.  Honestly, I am huffing and puffing after a trek up that hill to our home away from home!  But even going down is rather treacherous due to fast traffic, cars parked on sidewalks and uneven walkways.

We had some help at the terminal to buy our rail/bus/ferry/metro cards. It was complicated, but we did it.  We boarded a tram to the old town area and got off and tried to get our bearings.  Eventually we opted to have a guide take us through the Hagia Sophia and the Basicilica Cistern.  Interesting.  Very old. Very facinating. Hagia Sophia was a Basicilica once, then a Mosque and now a Museum. But it doesn't fit my idea of a museum as a display of art or artifacts.  This is a very old and empty building. But the walls and ceilings are filled with art. And I was captivated by the doors, actually. And floors. Marble, marble everywhere.

We went to lunch at a cafe and enjoyed people watching, noon-time Islam preaching along with calls to prayer. We walked past a number of shopping areas. Lots of rugs. ha. And we wandered through the Blue Mosque's outer courtyard and grounds, but it  was closed for Friday worship. It's like their sabbath. It's really big and we hope to enter it tomorrow.  Aftern lunch and the mosque, and picking up some dessert at a shop, we went back to our room. We're getting the hang of the rail transportation. It is fun to see the old OLD wall the tram goes by and all the other interesting shops.  On our trek up the hill, we stopped at the little store down the street and bought bottled water and I hauled that  up the hill. Whew!  And a few pieces of fruit.  We spent the rest of the afternoon poring over maps and the Apmondia website to figure out how to get where we needed to go tomorrow to inquire about conference goings-on.

In the evening, we had an appointment to have dinner at a local home. We met our guide down near the old town area, he showed us around on the map first and then we went walking around and around. Suilyemen couldn't have been any nicer and we had a lovey time. Sariya was our hostess, she has 3 children and was delighful. Traditional Turkish food.

After that dinner, I went to a Hookah Bar. Bet you never thought you'd hear those words slip from my fingers! ha.  I abstained from tea after dinner, as well as the apple flavored smoke/steam from the shisha pipe.  We also were taught how to play Backgammon. It was a very full evening, with hikes up and down very steep streets of cobblestone, and a bit longer.  Long day, nice folks and good food. Basic food, actually.

And I'm beat.  If I can find any decent photos, I'll post them.  If not, go find Athena Contus' Facebook page because she posted some stuff there of us.

In front of the Blue Mosque

Inside the Cistern

Inside the Hagia Sophia. HUGE doors!!

Hagia Sophia. One cleaned marble pillar, other marble pillars NOT cleaned of all the centuries of soot and smoke from candles and lamps used to light the interior.

You can see the remnants of crosses that had been covered over in the window area. Crosses from when it was a Christian building; covered over when it became a Muslim place of worship.

Massive big halls, doorways, marble, and little signs on the walls indicating where inspections have taken place to show where things are safe (or unsafe?) for earthquake. Or damaged from earthquake?  They were inspection signs, at any rate.

Lots and lots of scaffolding in the interior as they continue to restore, uncover, clean.
Below is a closer shot of the cleaned pillar on the right.