Istanbul Day 4, and finally seeing the sights
So today is our big sightseeing day, FINALLY!!
That morning we asked the friendly/goofy young guy at our hostel about the outdoor concert we saw last night and he said the guy performing was really famous. I wish I could remember his name. Oh well.
First we took our dirty clothes to a laundry to be cleaned – I only have 2 pairs of pants and my jeans must be be full of Cappadocian dirt from sliding down hills and climbing into caves.
Then we went to Aya Sofia, the place that is supposed to make us speechless when we walk in the door. Let me explain – Aya Sofia is right across from the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque is more visually stunning from the outside, but the Aya Sofia more stunning from the inside, apparently. Either way, the sight of these two buildings across the way from each other is awesome. Anyway… Aya Sofia was beautiful but the scaffolding inside hurt the view a bit. Unfortunately it stunk a little like cat pee, too. But obviously it was awesome, etc etc.
Afterwards we saw some women with the full black robes that cover everything but their eyes. I can’t imagine wearing that all day!!!
Next we went to Topkapi Palace. Some of the coolest parts were seeing part of John the Baptist’s hand and skull, Moses’ staff'(!), Mohammed’s sandals and beard hairs(!), and Joseph’s turban!!! We are wondering how on earth they can verify that these things belong to them!?!
One of the entrances to Topkapi Palace
View of Istanbul from Topkapi Palace
We waited in line to go to the Harem but it was just too long and we left and had a lame lunch.
Later we went to the Blue Mosque, and I borrowed one of the plain headscarves to wear inside and was surprised to see many women tourists not wearing the headscarf. It was beautiful inside and a little weird that people were there praying and we were staring at them. On the way out there was a closed off area for “women only” to pray in. Hm.
Inside the Blue Mosque (click for big pics)
That night we went to Beyoglu yet again because it is absolutely DEAD in Sultanahmet!! Not a soul is around. When we got to Taksim Square, we heard music again and found yet another outdoor concert. I was so bummed I didn’t bring a camera. There were Turkish flags everywhere, hanging from buildings, buses, power lines, and people everywhere had them. There were big pictures of Ataturk hanging on buildings, too. The guy performing was named Mustafa Sandal. We watched for a while. There were SO many people there, dancing and singing and having a great time!! It was a fun atmosphere.
Then we left and had dessert and coffee at a cafe but there were so many people smoking we couldn’t take it so we left immediately afterwards and came back to the hostel.
That day we talked continuously about what we were gonna do with so much extra time in Istanbul. I felt very down about it, because I planned our trip and obviously didn’t do a great job. I didn’t want to try to see too much like we did in Spain last year, but I over compensated. We searched on the internet and at travel agencies to try to find a cheap flight somewhere for a couple days but we were striking out on all counts – Budapest, Bucharest, Paris, Athens, Rome, etc. I was really bummed about it because I love Istanbul but it’s getting harder to find ways to spend our valuable time and it’s starting to rain (note: it rained the majority of our last days in Istanbul.)
Random: Guy carrying bread on his head. Bread head.
Tags: Travel, Turkey 2006
Kelly
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