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| At the Taksim Meydani Square. |
Before heading home, we had elected to add a short visit to Istanbul to our itinerary through Viking. It was good decision! We flew from Bucharest to Istanbul Airport. The airport is actually quite a long way from the city itself. The drive to town took a good 45 minutes with no traffic.
Now, Istanbul is a huge city, with a population of over 15 million people! The part of the city we stayed in and saw is miniscule, but really worth the visit.
Viking put us up at another excellent hotel, the Westin Istanbul Nisantasi on the western, (european) half of the city. We were a short walk to the Taksim Meydani square, a large public space with a large mosque and adjacent shopping areas. It was a bustling place!
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| The market area by Taksim Meydani square. |
Viking had a representative at the Westin lobby. We talked to her about things to do and asked about the tour that Viking had offered, which we had neglected to buy. She said it was still available and the price wasn't too exorbitant so we joined it. She also gave us a couple of ideas about places to eat, one was a small joint just down the street from us, the Cag Kebap, that we decided to try. They had a nice beer on tap and the food was pretty good and not so expensive so it became our go-to place for meals.
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| The view from Cag Kebap. |
The next day we began our tour. Our guide was good, he spoke well and shared a lot of interesting information. Our first stop was at the Spice Market, where we bought some spices and some "Turkish Delights", (a candy). Next stop was at the Topkapi. This museum houses tons of stuff! Many items from the past Ottoman civilization. The museum itself was once a palace for the Sultan. It overlooks the Bosporus, the narrow strait which divides Istanbul and connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and it can get quite windy at times! Incidentally, the weather in Istanbul was really quite nice, comfortable temperatures that were influenced by the bodies of water nearby. It was a nice change from the hot weather we had been encountering in eastern Europe. I'm told, however, that Istanbul can get quite hot in the summer.
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| It gets windy at the Topkapi! |
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| The Diamond, featured in the movie "Topkapi". |
That afternoon we took a cruise on the Bosporus, the straight that divides Istanbul and connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and eventually, the Mediterranean.
It was a fun cruise and I finally got to sample Turkish Coffee while on the boat! We put in on the eastern bank at one point which allowed us the chance to set foot in Asia!
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| I finally made it to Asia! |
After the cruise we returned to our hotel and decided to have dinner at a restaurant which was in a small mall next to our hotel. It was something of a disaster, the food mediocre and the servings were way too big despite our waiter's descriptions!
The next day's tour took us to the Hagia Sophia, originally a Christian cathedral, repurposed by the Ottomans into a Mosque. Yet the Ottomans did allow much of the Christian artwork to remain, shielded from the Muslim eyes by curtains. It's an interesting mix of Christian and Muslim artwork to be seen.
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| An example of the Christian art that still survives in the Hagia Sophia. |
Our next stop was the Blue Mosque. In this building one has to remove one's shoes and women must have their heads veiled. Another pretty spectacular looking example of Muslim architecture and it's amazing tile work.
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| The Blue Mosque |
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| Inside the Blue Mosque. |
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| The Hippodrome |
After the Hippodrome, we were brought to a large Bazaar for one last chance to buy stuff, LOL.
