Top: The Sultanahmet - the Blue Mosque - Magnificent
Middle: The entrance to the Topkapi Palace
Bottom: The Blue Mosque lit up at night - I listened to a sunset call to prayer and watched the lights come on from my restaurant. A special moment!
Up about 6:30 am. Finished packing and had a large breakfast at the hotel. Very good. Great service at this hotel.
Checked out early and left the hotel mid morning and took a taxi into the Old Town part of Istanbul. I'm moving from one Doubletree to another that is much more centrally located and offers assistance with tours. The original one advertised that it was 2 miles from the tourist attractions! Well, after a 35 minute taxi drive that cost $35, I finally arrived to the area where all of the tourist attractions are - the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sofia, the Grand Bazaar - they are all right here. YEAH - I'm finally in the part of Istanbul where I originally intended to be. Thank goodness.
I got settled and set out immediatelyo "explore". Everything is so close. Walked down the main street where the Doubletree is and passed several beautiful mosques and Constantine's Column. I didn't realize what was in store for me.
I arrived soon at Sultanahmet - the Blue Mosque. The complex is large with some restoration going on. The call to prayer started while I was there and I sat and took in the moment.
I went through the grounds of the Blue Mosque but saving the inside for tomorrow. The architecture is magnificent. Sat there in the shade and took it all in.
Passed through Sultan Ahmet Square where there are beautiful fountains. Close by is the Hagia Sofia, but it was closed today - s that is also tomorrow. During my walk, I was approached by countless men wanting to engage in conversation. Their "gimmick" was always - where are you from, what do you do, where are you going, and finally come to my carpet shop and buy a carpet from me. These guys were hard to get rid of. Tim had warned me of this.
I ended up at Topkapi Palace and walked around the grounds. Will save this for Wednesday as today is "get oriented" day.
Headed back toward the hotel passing through the restaurant district and picked out a restaurant for tonight - Mozaik - it looked devine - so tonight will be my delayed birthday dinner since there weren't any special restaurants that I could find last night in the Asian side of Istanbul.
Ended up at the Grand Bazaar - lots of things for sale - booth after booth. Will come back here later this afternoon. Stopped and bought anoher doner - yum - and for less than $1 US! This one had french fries on it. The bread was so good.
Got back to the hotel about 4:30 and had a short rest for my feet. Called Tim and that was good for me. Headed back out about 6 and went to the Grand Bazaar - amazing. So many shops of shirts, jewelry, shoes, carpets, you name it they have it. I stayed there until they closed about 7:30. Then headed to my resturant for dinner. The Mozaic didn't let me down.
For dinner I started with kir - fabulous. They brought bread with hummus. This was the BEST hummus I had every had. It was like it had very creamy butter in it. Then I had lentil soup with foam - delicious. For dinner I had a half bottle of Turkish white wine and Palace Kebab - lamp chunks in a sauce with onions, red and green peppers, potatoes and mushrooms. It was devine. YUM. I'm glad I had this for my birthday dinner. So I splurged for another birthday dessert and had a chocolate souffle with vanilla ice cream - it was great. I got one more glass of wine since the 1/2 bottle didn't last as long as I had hoped. Followed by a cappuccino for the end. A delicious dinner. I may come back here on Wednesday but there are LOTS of other great restaurants in this area. The service was friendly - I think it was fmily run as they looked and acted like family.
After dinner I was stuffed so walked over to the Blue Mosque again to take it all in. Had a leisurely walk back to the hotel - still a lot of vendors out on the streets but things are winding downat 10 pm. Out in the distance there were colored laser lights in the distance - not sure what they are for but they were beautiful.
Arrived back at the hotel exhausted from a very busy day of exploring Istanbul. So glad I changed hotels!!!! Off to sleep.
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