ISTANBUL
Wednesday Sept 28
Ok, new plan of attack. We are going to try and out smart those cruise ship masses and go touring in the afternoon. We figure they do not want to miss a free meal and the afternoon nap.
So, this morning we stayed in the hood. To be honest, I could just hang out here all day. They have a street market once a week so we went there and picked up a few vegetables. Then we went for coffee, where one of the patrons insisted on taking our picture for us. We had lunch at a local eating place. There are several different types restaurants. The Lokanta is the name for family operation that mainly serves tradesman and they cook a limited menu daily. I like it because you can point and chose.
About 1 pm we hit the Pasalimani street again for Uskudar. First stop is to see the fisherman. The mussel man had just come out of the water, but the fishermen were on their boats having lunch.
On board the ferry, I had to go to the engine room with engineer to make sure everything was safe. I would tell you his name but with 3 large diesels running there was no talking. Oh yea, and the guy is still selling the juicers.
Smiles were breaking out when we passed the port as there were only 3 and 3/4 cruise ships in port.
There was hardly anyone at the Hagia Sofia relatively speaking and we were in quickly. The bottle neck on the attractions here is the ticket line. Just a one day visit by Mickey Mouse and these people could have this moving and making a lot more money.
Hagia Sofia was built on the site of a pagan church in 360AD. It was burnt, rebuilt, knocked down, rebuilt several more times in it's history. In 1453 it was converted to a Mosque. It is huge inside and the tile work is amazing. All the origianl mosaics of the chirstian church are still there.
Those little tiny tiles....
...are way up there.
Off we go to the Blue Mosque. We were in so fast I forgot to take a picture of the non-line.
Though women dress and go where they wish, in the mosque they are still sectioned off.
Back in Uskadar, we had another of the many RAK's. I had successfully recharged my transit pass at the automatic machine, but Vicki's was not cooperating. A kind gentleman tried to help us and despite repeated attempts he nor we could get it to work. We thanked him and headed for happy hour at the apartment.
Ok, we are done here. Checked all the blocks on the "must see" list and now we can get back to doing what I like best. Roaming the streets.
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